December 24 movie: Since You Went Away. This is one of my favorite war movies, as I've said before several times. But I'm feeling cranky because our heat is still off, so I'm going to gripe about my one problem with this movie: the family maid played by Hattie McDaniel. Claudette Colbert can't afford to pay her while the husband is at war, and she takes a job with an "uptown family." But McDaniel misses Colbert and the girls. So she comes back to stay in her old room. They welcome her with open arms, but they still treat her like the maid. So now poor McDaniel has to get up early every morning and take a bus across town to her job, then come back and work her other job for free every night. I think McDaniel had it worse than any of the rest of the family (except Jennifer Jones), but her hardships are only briefly addressed & always as comic relief.
Okay, now let me balance that out by saying something nice. I've developed an appreciation for Robert Walker. I heard that he and Jennifer Jones were really married, but while they were filming their scenes about falling in love, in real life their marriage was disintegrating. It makes the longing in their eyes all the more heartbreaking. There's something sad and vulnerable about him in every performance. I always want to give him a hug and make him feel better. I wish he had made more movies. I heard that he suffered from depression and came to a bad end. I ought to find a biography of him.
2 Comments
wow, were you up really late on the 23rd too? i totally watched this entire movie, which was a little too propagandistic for my tastes. i did like robert walker a lot though.
Actually I recorded it and watched it the next day. I love the hyperpatriotic movies made during WWII. It's like a window into a different time and frame of mind.