I saw this film for the first time this week-end and while I did enjoy it I must say the propaganda was heavy-handed to say the least but more than anything it was really long. Don't know if I could have sat through it in a theatre for three hours.
Good performances for the most part but Robert Walker seemed rather goofy. Not someone a young, beautiful girl would fall for. Hard to believe that was the same actor from Strangers on a Train.
I love Robert Walker in this movie, and everything else I've ever seen him in. And yes, it is hard to believe he was Bruno in "SOAT." Goes to prove how good an actor he was.
I agree this movie is waaay too long. One of the subplots should have been cut. The Jennifer Jones-Robert Walker story is good; ditto Monte Woolley-Robert Walker and Woolley as the boarder. But for the life of me, I really get tired of all the time Colbert and Cotten are together. I have never understood what Cotten is doing in this movie. Moving in on Colbert's hubby? Doesn't he have a ship to be on or something? Don't get me wrong; I really like Cotten as an actor and character in movies. I just don't think his character moves the arc of this story along here.
That just goes to show you. You go someplace and there you are.
I disagree. The first hour in particular needed trimming, and Joseph Cotten needed to be better integrated into the movie (I couldn't figure out if he was going to end up with the mother or daughter), but his scenes were among the best in the movie. He's a fine, underrated actor and very charismatic. The movie needed some masculine energy (we weren't getting that from Woolley and certainly not from Walker) - someone to cheer up these women. Some of the earliest scenes with Woolley and Temple went on too long or were the corniest or most boring, but once the movie really got going, especially after Cotten's first exit when Jones starts to fall for Walker, that's when the movie felt richer and more moving.
shareCotten was the only one I could stand in this film, the rest was a chore. So I disagree.
shareI just watched it and I thought it would NEVER end. Scene after scene kept coming when I was sure it was time for the happy ending. For me, they could have left out Joseph Cotten's and Agnes Morehead's parts entirely, likewise all the cutsey moments with the dog, Guy Madison's sailor bit, Brig's oddball buddy, Gladys (totally pointless), and a lot of Hattie McDaniels' parts.
I think it could have bewen just as good with an hour less.
I've never seen it without commercial breaks. Maybe without them it wouldn't be as bad. The first time was pretty close to all-night!
shareI agree, I don't mind a 3 hour movie if w was an epic like Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, The Godfather, or LOTR but it wasn't. It was just some war time propaganda I didn't enjoy except for Cotten.
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