Since You Went Away (1944)

Introduction

Since You Went Away is a 1944 American epic drama film directed by John Cromwell for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It is an epic about the US home front during World War II that was adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the 1943 novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret Buell Wilder. The music score was by Max Steiner, and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes, George Barnes (uncredited), and Robert Bruce (uncredited).

The film is set in a mid-sized American town, where people with loved ones in the armed forces try to cope with their changed circumstances and make their own contributions to the war effort. The town is near a military base, and some of the characters are troops serving Stateside.

Though sentimental in places, Since You Went Away is sombre at times about the effects of war on ordinary people. Some characters on the home front are dealing with grief, loneliness, or fear for the future. Wounded and disabled troops are shown in the hospital scenes.

Outline

“This is a story of the Unconquerable Fortress: the American Home…1943”

In January 1943, Anne Hilton is an upper-middle-class housewife living in a Midwestern town near a military base with her two teenage daughters, Jane and Bridget (“Brig”). Anne’s beloved husband Tim Hilton has volunteered for US Army service in World War II. Anne has just returned from seeing her husband off to Camp Claiborne, and she and her daughters must adjust to Tim’s absence and make other sacrifices for the war effort, including food rationing; planting a victory garden; giving up the services of their loyal maid Fidelia who nevertheless offers to continue working part-time for the Hiltons while foregoing wages; and taking in a boarder, the curmudgeonly retired Colonel Smollett. When the Hiltons travel by train in a failed attempt to see Tim one last time before he ships out, they encounter or travel with many other people whose lives have been affected by the war, and they end up not getting to see Tim because their train is delayed to allow a defence supply train to go through first. In contrast, the Hiltons’ socialite neighbour Emily Hawkins complains about the inconveniences caused by the war and engages in unsupportive behaviours such as hoarding food and criticising the Hiltons’ efforts.

The Colonel has a strained relationship with his young grandson, Bill Smollett, because Bill “was kicked out” of West Point and is now serving in the US Army as a mere corporal rather than an officer. An old friend of Anne and Tim’s, US Navy Lieutenant Tony Willett, also visits the Hiltons while awaiting his orders. Bill quickly falls for Jane, who has a crush on Tony, who in turn has long been attracted to Anne. However, after Tony leaves, Bill and Jane’s relationship slowly develops and they fall in love. They become engaged, but Bill convinces Jane to wait until after the war to get married. Bill finally is sent overseas and Jane tearfully runs after his departing train to tell him goodbye. The Colonel, who under his gruff exterior really does care about his grandson, conveys his good wishes to Bill via Anne, but arrives too late to say goodbye in person.

Jane is determined to do more for the war effort and begins volunteering as a nurses’ aide at the nearby military hospital, where returning veterans with physical and mental injuries are sent to recover. The family learns via telegram that Tim Hilton is missing in action in the Southwest Pacific. Shortly after Bill’s departure, the Hiltons receive word that he was killed in action at Salerno. The Hiltons and the Colonel grieve together for Bill. Jane and Anne finally tell off Emily Hawkins after Emily suggests that it is unseemly for Jane to volunteer at the hospital, and Anne decides she herself must do more to help and trains as a welder for defence work at the shipyard.

Tony returns on leave and talks to Anne about his feelings for her, but she believes that he only keeps her as a romantic ideal because she is married to his friend Tim and therefore unattainable. Anne and Tony decide to leave things as they are and remain friends. On Christmas Eve, Fidelia places gifts under the tree that Tim had given her months earlier to leave for his family, and Anne is moved to tears. Anne then gets a cablegram by telephone informing her that Tim is safe and is coming home, and she and her daughters joyfully embrace.

“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.”

Cast

Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker played young sweethearts in the film, but in real life they were married at the time and going through a break-up. They divorced not long after the film was completed (Jones married Selznick after his marriage to Irene Mayer Selznick ended).

Claudette Colbert as Mrs. Anne Hilton
Jennifer Jones as Jane Deborah Hilton
Joseph Cotten as Lieutenant Commander Tony Willett
Shirley Temple as Bridget ‘Brig’ Hilton
Monty Woolley as Colonel William G. Smollett
Lionel Barrymore as Clergyman
Robert Walker as Corporal William G. ‘Bill’ Smollett II
Hattie McDaniel as Fidelia
Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Emily Hawkins
Nazimova as Zofia Koslowska
Albert Basserman as Dr. Sigmund Gottlieb Golden
Gordon Oliver as Marine Officer seeking room
Keenan Wynn as Lieutenant Solomon
Guy Madison as Sailor Harold E. Smith
Craig Stevens as Danny Williams
Lloyd Corrigan as Mr. Mahoney, the Grocer
Jackie Moran as Johnny Mahoney
Uncredited:
- Wallis Clark as Man at Cocktail Lounge
- George Chandler as Taxi Driver
- Dorothy Dandridge as Black Officer’s Wife in railway station
- Warren Hymer as Convalescing Soldier asking for Tutti Frutti ice-cream
- Rhonda Fleming as Susie Fleming, girl at dance
- Byron Foulger as High School Principal
- Andrew V. McLaglen as Former plowboy
- Edwin Maxwell as Businessman in Cocktail Lounge
- Terry Moore as Refugee Child on train
- Adeline De Walt Reynolds as a Grandmother on train
- Ruth Roman as Envious Girl in Train Station
- Butterfly McQueen as WAC Sergeant (deleted scene)

Release

Home Media

Since You Went Away was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on 19 October 2004, in a Region 1 fullscreened DVD. It was later released on Blu-ray by Kino Classics on 21 November 2017.

Trivia

The farewell scene between Jones and Walker at the railway station was parodied in the film Airplane! (1980).
Claudette Colbert originally resisted taking the role of a fortyish mother of a teenager.
- However, Selznick’s insistence that the film would help Wartime morale and a salary of $150,000 convinced the actress to do it.
Film debut of Guy Madison, who plays a sailor in the film.
- He was in the US Navy at the time of filming.
This film came about because David O. Selznick wanted to make a film that showed his support for the war effort.
- He deliberately did not want to make a traditional war movie.
The original novel by Margaret Buell Wilder is in epistolary form – i.e. it consists of a series of letters that she wrote to her husband whilst he was away at war.

Production & Filming Details

Director(s):
- John Cromwell
- Edward F. Cline … (uncredited)
- Tay Garnett … (uncredited)
- David O. Selznick … (uncredited)
Producer(s):
- David O. Selznick … producer
Writer(s):
- Margaret Buell Wilder … (adaptation)
- Margaret Buell Wilder … (book)
- David O. Selznick … (screenplay: by the producer)
Music:
- Max Steiner
Cinematography:
- Stanley Cortez … (photographed by)
- Lee Garmes … (photographed by)
- George Barnes … (uncredited)
- Robert Bruce … (uncredited)
Editor(s):
- Hal C. Kern … supervising film editor
- John Faure … (uncredited)
- Arthur Fellows … (uncredited)
- Marsh Hendry … (uncredited)
Production:
- Selznick International Pictures (A Selznick International Picture)
- Vanguard Films (uncredited)
Distributor(s):
- United Artists (United States, 1944)(released by, theatrical)
- United Artists (United Kingdom, 1944)(theatrical)
Release Date: June 1944 (Los Angeles, US).
Running Time: 177 minutes.
Rating: Approved.
Country: US.
Language: English.