Why did she get a telegram saying her husband was killed? Just a mistake I suppose... but a tad far fetched imo. That was my only complaint.
sharewell since his plane crashed, and no one knew until later on that he was on the island, he was persumed dead im guessing
~*~ speak what's on your mind, no one else will ~*~
I just saw the movie today. I wondered the same thing. However, I don't remember seeing the camera showing us the exact wording in the telegram.
As a result, I suspect that is said something like "Your husband in missing in action and presumed dead". This could happen when the serviceman is either captured as a prisoner of war, or when men get separated from their unit during combat action.
*********************SPOILER ALERT**********************************
I just saw the movie today and was very confused. I never heard anything about his plane going down. I just saw the girls reaction to the telegram and assumed the telegram said he was killed in action. Did I miss something?
Towards the end in the letter that Barbara receives from her husband, she reads out loud to the other girls that his plane had gone down and he was marooned on the island until he was rescued.
Lorraine
I just saw the movie again tonight on TCM. In the scene where the postman delivers the first letter, he bumps into one of the other girl musicians (I think it was Rosalind) and states that he has a War Department letter for a Barbara Ainsworth. He then asks Rosalind if she is Barbara Ainsworth. Rosalind admits that she is not but that she knows her and will give her the letter. Then the other girl musicians appear as Rosalind opens and reads the letter. I noticed that we are never shown the contents of the letter nor does anyone say what is in the letter. But before the postman walks away, he mentions that he has been delivering a lot of these War Department letters. That gives us the impression that they all are reporting the death of someone in the military since bad news during a war usually involves death. And when the girls decide not to inform Barbara about the letter, that seemed to reinforce the conclusion that Barbara's husband (Joe) had been killed.
The letter could have mentioned that Joe was killed, or the letter could have mentioned that he was missing in action and presumed dead. We, the audience, don't learn that from this scene. We just jump to conclusions (which is what I believe the script writer wanted us to do).
It is not until near the end of the movie, when Barbara receives another letter, do we learn of what happened to Joe.
If you don't get too wrapped up in the story, the real purpose of the letter is to bring June Allyson, the most notorious crier on the MGM lot, to the point of tears but never to let loose until the climax. Until then its a very calculated lacramosa interuptus.
shareGood synopsis SealordJohn, except that it is a telegraph that comes from the War Department, not a letter, and it is a Western Union courier the girls run into, not a postman. Trivial distinction, perhaps, but it's part of the ambiance of era that the movie captures. That's the 1940s-era equivalent of an IM pop-up, but that's how things were handled back then.
Telegram. Yes, back then, telegrams were generally a sign of bad news.
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