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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2013 - 11:08 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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.....with magnificent cinematography by Lee Garmes.....
The great Stanley Cortez is also given co-credit, I believe, and with a Selznick production one or two is never enough, so George Barnes (who had exquisitely photographed Selznick's Oscar-winning REBECCA and won an Oscar himself for it, then later photographed Selznick's SPELLBOUND), Robert C. Bruce (the cameraman, with W. Howard Green, on the first outdoor full-Technicolor feature, TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE), and Charles G. Clarke (on loan from Fox where he had been shooting pictures like HELLO, FRISCO, HELLO and MOONTIDE, and had previously contributed mightily to MGM films like Selznick's VIVA VILLA, Thalberg's THE GOOD EARTH and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY in the 1930s)---each shot additional scenes or sequences for SYWA.
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Posted: |
Nov 1, 2013 - 6:44 AM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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Although this film may seem maudlin and overly sentimental and melodramatic to some viewers today, the depictions within it were very familiar and everyday to me then. I actually lived through the time period depicted in the film (although I was very young), and I've always had a very tender spot in my heart for the film because it seemed to reflect a lot---and pretty accurately---of what I remember about the incidents and tenor of the times then, even in the eyes of a child.
The extreme tension of not knowing where your loved ones were on the battlefields and if they were surviving or wounded, the terrible sadness if you found out they hadn't survived---these were elements which accompany any wartime exploits, but in WW2 seemed magnified because so many were involved in the effort.
I remember the rationing---gas and food and other essentials, I remember the flags in the windows representing members of the household who were off at war---or who hadn't survived, I remember the masses of soldiers on leave and living a frantic high life as if it would soon be ended (which it was for some), I remember quick romances (and sometimes quick weddings), and I remember the masses of war workers---particularly plane assemblers, who worked in shifts 24 hours a day and you could see carrying their meals in lunchboxes on the transit systems or pooling with other workers on their way to work. (My extended family--- mother and father, aunts and uncles, were part of the airplane construction working force in Southern California in this period, so I got to hear about it firsthand.)
The pace of life seemed incredibly quickened. It felt like there were large numbers of people doing something, anything, going everywhere on buses, trains, streetcars (cars were a real luxury then because gas was rationed, and there were no new cars being built---everything like that was devoted to the war effort).
The world was busy---even my small world was busy. The movie theatres ran long hours (to accommodate workers who had odd day and nighttime shifts). My uncle then owned a small-town movie theatre, and I can remember being plunked down in a seat to watch the evening's movies while female members of the family helped out with concessions and ticket sales. I saw many movies in the early 1940s, sometimes several times each---comedies, musicals, Technicolor specials AND dramas---some of which I remember fondly even today! Bowling alleys and roller-skating rinks were a particularly popular way to let-off-steam and relax for older adults, and as Andy Hardy-ish as it sounds today, the drugstore/soda parlors were a very popular place for young people to meet and socialize.
When I see the film again today, I am always extremely touched by Alla Nazimova's very short but effective moments onscreen. She is an immigrant who has managed to make a life for herself in the US and now is a co-worker in the factories with Colbert. Her "conversational" speech to Colbert is a major piece of wartime propaganda about the war effort, but she does such a good job of performing it, and is so sincere, that even today you feel you must stop and take in the points she makes.
I think you can't quite comprehend today how much everyone then was involved in the war effort, but this film shows an overview of that involvement on a very basic family level.
Steiner's score assists the film tremendously, from the dramatic train departure to the comic moments with the dog, to the romantic moments of Walker and Jones in their idyllic afternoon in the country, to the wartime dance, and the interpolation of the song, "Together," which is THE love song of Colbert and her husband.
This film hit a real nerve in 1944, and for those of us who lived through that period, it remains a memory-evoking touchstone to those times, whatever might be its later merits or demerits as an "art piece".
If you've never seen the film, I can't imagine that when you do, if you allow yourself to flow with it, you'll not be swept along in the current of the situations and story and characters, even if the times are foreign to you. And revel in the lovely and iconic Oscar-winning Steiner score.
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Originally released in 1944 by United Artists at 172 minutes (which excludes the Overture and Entr'Acte), the film was shortened by 37 minutes when it was re-released by Eagle-Lion in 1949. It was restored to its original length when it was re-released again in 1956, by Selznick himself.
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Posted: |
Nov 1, 2013 - 4:55 PM
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By: |
edwzoomom
(Member)
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Although this film may seem maudlin and overly sentimental and melodramatic to some viewers today, the depictions within it were very familiar and everyday to me then. I actually lived through the time period depicted in the film (although I was very young), and I've always had a very tender spot in my heart for the film because it seemed to reflect a lot---and pretty accurately---of what I remember about the incidents and tenor of the times then, even in the eyes of a child.
The extreme tension of not knowing where your loved ones were on the battlefields and if they were surviving or wounded, the terrible sadness if you found out they hadn't survived---these were elements which accompany any wartime exploits, but in WW2 seemed magnified because so many were involved in the effort.
I remember the rationing---gas and food and other essentials, I remember the flags in the windows representing members of the household who were off at war---or who hadn't survived, I remember the masses of soldiers on leave and living a frantic high life as if it would soon be ended (which it was for some), I remember quick romances (and sometimes quick weddings), and I remember the masses of war workers---particularly plane assemblers, who worked in shifts 24 hours a day and you could see carrying their meals in lunchboxes on the transit systems or pooling with other workers on their way to work. (My extended family--- mother and father, aunts and uncles, were part of the airplane construction working force in Southern California in this period, so I got to hear about it firsthand.)
The pace of life seemed incredibly quickened. It felt like there were large numbers of people doing something, anything, going everywhere on buses, trains, streetcars (cars were a real luxury then because gas was rationed, and there were no new cars being built---everything like that was devoted to the war effort).
The world was busy---even my small world was busy. The movie theatres ran long hours (to accommodate workers who had odd day and nighttime shifts). My uncle then owned a small-town movie theatre, and I can remember being plunked down in a seat to watch the evening's movies while female members of the family helped out with concessions and ticket sales. I saw many movies in the early 1940s, sometimes several times each---comedies, musicals, Technicolor specials AND dramas---some of which I remember fondly even today! Bowling alleys and roller-skating rinks were a particularly popular way to let-off-steam and relax for older adults, and as Andy Hardy-ish as it sounds today, the drugstore/soda parlors were a very popular place for young people to meet and socialize.
When I see the film again today, I am always extremely touched by Alla Nazimova's very short but effective moments onscreen. She is an immigrant who has managed to make a life for herself in the US and now is a co-worker in the factories with Colbert. Her "conversational" speech to Colbert is a major piece of wartime propaganda about the war effort, but she does such a good job of performing it, and is so sincere, that even today you feel you must stop and take in the points she makes.
I think you can't quite comprehend today how much everyone then was involved in the war effort, but this film shows an overview of that involvement on a very basic family level.
Steiner's score assists the film tremendously, from the dramatic train departure to the comic moments with the dog, to the romantic moments of Walker and Jones in their idyllic afternoon in the country, to the wartime dance, and the interpolation of the song, "Together," which is THE love song of Colbert and her husband.
This film hit a real nerve in 1944, and for those of us who lived through that period, it remains a memory-evoking touchstone to those times, whatever might be its later merits or demerits as an "art piece".
If you've never seen the film, I can't imagine that when you do, if you allow yourself to flow with it, you'll not be swept along in the current of the situations and story and characters, even if the times are foreign to you. And revel in the lovely and iconic Oscar-winning Steiner score.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories. They have truly touched my heart. How appropriate in light of the upcoming Veterans' Day. I shared it with my twenty something daughter and she commented that "he must be a very sweet man". Just thought I would share the sentiments of a millenial.
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Posted: |
Nov 1, 2013 - 11:28 PM
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By: |
PFK
(Member)
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Although this film may seem maudlin and overly sentimental and melodramatic to some viewers today, the depictions within it were very familiar and everyday to me then. I actually lived through the time period depicted in the film (although I was very young), and I've always had a very tender spot in my heart for the film because it seemed to reflect a lot---and pretty accurately---of what I remember about the incidents and tenor of the times then, even in the eyes of a child.
The extreme tension of not knowing where your loved ones were on the battlefields and if they were surviving or wounded, the terrible sadness if you found out they hadn't survived---these were elements which accompany any wartime exploits, but in WW2 seemed magnified because so many were involved in the effort.
I remember the rationing---gas and food and other essentials, I remember the flags in the windows representing members of the household who were off at war---or who hadn't survived, I remember the masses of soldiers on leave and living a frantic high life as if it would soon be ended (which it was for some), I remember quick romances (and sometimes quick weddings), and I remember the masses of war workers---particularly plane assemblers, who worked in shifts 24 hours a day and you could see carrying their meals in lunchboxes on the transit systems or pooling with other workers on their way to work. (My extended family--- mother and father, aunts and uncles, were part of the airplane construction working force in Southern California in this period, so I got to hear about it firsthand.)
The pace of life seemed incredibly quickened. It felt like there were large numbers of people doing something, anything, going everywhere on buses, trains, streetcars (cars were a real luxury then because gas was rationed, and there were no new cars being built---everything like that was devoted to the war effort).
The world was busy---even my small world was busy. The movie theatres ran long hours (to accommodate workers who had odd day and nighttime shifts). My uncle then owned a small-town movie theatre, and I can remember being plunked down in a seat to watch the evening's movies while female members of the family helped out with concessions and ticket sales. I saw many movies in the early 1940s, sometimes several times each---comedies, musicals, Technicolor specials AND dramas---some of which I remember fondly even today! Bowling alleys and roller-skating rinks were a particularly popular way to let-off-steam and relax for older adults, and as Andy Hardy-ish as it sounds today, the drugstore/soda parlors were a very popular place for young people to meet and socialize.
When I see the film again today, I am always extremely touched by Alla Nazimova's very short but effective moments onscreen. She is an immigrant who has managed to make a life for herself in the US and now is a co-worker in the factories with Colbert. Her "conversational" speech to Colbert is a major piece of wartime propaganda about the war effort, but she does such a good job of performing it, and is so sincere, that even today you feel you must stop and take in the points she makes.
I think you can't quite comprehend today how much everyone then was involved in the war effort, but this film shows an overview of that involvement on a very basic family level.
Steiner's score assists the film tremendously, from the dramatic train departure to the comic moments with the dog, to the romantic moments of Walker and Jones in their idyllic afternoon in the country, to the wartime dance, and the interpolation of the song, "Together," which is THE love song of Colbert and her husband.
This film hit a real nerve in 1944, and for those of us who lived through that period, it remains a memory-evoking touchstone to those times, whatever might be its later merits or demerits as an "art piece".
If you've never seen the film, I can't imagine that when you do, if you allow yourself to flow with it, you'll not be swept along in the current of the situations and story and characters, even if the times are foreign to you. And revel in the lovely and iconic Oscar-winning Steiner score.
Manderley, Thanks for your memories of the WW2 era. I remember back to 1950 and through most of the 1950s many people spoke as you just have.
Since You Went Away is a wonderful film and Max Steiner's score is both moving and beautiful. 
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