Director: John Cromwell
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Max Steiner
Nominated for 8 more:
Best Motion Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Actress - Claudette Colbert
Best Supporting Actor - Monty Woolley
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Jones
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Mark-Lee Kirk; Interior Decoration: Victor A. Gangelin
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom
Best Special Effects - Photographic Effects: Jack Cosgrove; Sound Effects: Arthur Johns
Plot: While her husband is away, an old flame keeps making passes at a charming mother of two, who are all making sacrifices during the war.
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Max Steiner
Nominated for 8 more:
Best Motion Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Actress - Claudette Colbert
Best Supporting Actor - Monty Woolley
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Jones
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Mark-Lee Kirk; Interior Decoration: Victor A. Gangelin
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Stanley Cortez and Lee Garmes
Best Film Editing - Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom
Best Special Effects - Photographic Effects: Jack Cosgrove; Sound Effects: Arthur Johns
Plot: While her husband is away, an old flame keeps making passes at a charming mother of two, who are all making sacrifices during the war.
Since You Went Away (1944) is the penultimate film in my look at the five Best Picture nominees for the 17th Awards. It's a David O. Selznick film through and through as it was the most expensive film since his own Gone with the Wind (1939). It also took me by surprise to see how long this was - it runs for nearly three hours! Following a mother and her two daughters, this is essentially a slice of life story that deals with a family coping with their home lives without the man of the house, who is off at war. Claudette Colbert, albeit a bit reluctant to play a mother with two teenage children, earns her final Best Actress nomination. One of these daughters is played by Shirley Temple, more known for her acting a decade prior when she was a little girl. The other is played by the reigning Best Actress winner Jennifer Jones, who earns her second of four consecutive Oscar nominations. Out of the four, this is the only one in the Supporting category; however, it stands as the longest performance to be nominated in this category with over 75 minutes of screen time. Her real life husband, Robert Walker, plays her love interest in the film, but by the time the movie started shooting the marriage was failing and Jones was dating Selznick.
Out of nine nominations, the film only won one Oscar but it's a crucial element of the film - Max Steiner's score. He incorporates the beginning of the "I'll Be Home for Christmas" melody and morphs a lot of the scenes into sentimental affairs, which helps even out the themes of loneliness and grief. This movie could have been even darker but Steiner balances the scales as well as adding a sweeping, epic sound to the epic length. I still may yearn for the score of Double Indemnity (1944) more for this year, but you can never go wrong with Steiner. Out of all the middling to great performances, I would give Colbert my MVP award. She's motherly, calm, and understanding to her children, she's flirty with Joseph Cotten yet never seems unfaithful, and she's kind to her roomers (Hattie McDaniel and Monty Woolley). I've seen her in a lot of films from the 1930s but it's a pleasant surprise to see her work in the 1940s. I know she was hesitant to take on a role that put her in her 40s but it works so well. The cinematography is also a standout feature. In a year with noirs ruling this category, this had no shot at winning, but there are some fascinating handheld moments in addition to scenes shot in the dark. In a three-hour movie, the camerawork needs to be engaging and strong, and although it's not always consistent throughout the film, the camera never grows stale.
This was the only Best Picture nominee to be excluded from the writing categories. This exclusion is deserved as my biggest complaint is the length and shifting focus throughout the picture. Selznick wrote this himself and, as the boyfriend of Jones, he greatly expanded her role. As I stated previously, this is a rather long performance to be considered "supporting." She takes over the film at one point and it's the weakest moments of the picture. Her chemistry with Walker is noticeably shaky and she also seems a bit too old to playing a girl who just graduated high school. I also felt uncomfortable with her infatuation with the much older Cotten. Her younger sister is played by Temple, who is beyond her years of being a cute little kid. She's just fine here and I can tell she wouldn't set the movie world on fire as she got older. Still though, it was neat to see her in her teenage years. All in all, while I admire Selznick's efforts to provide a supportive war film, the script just isn't powerful enough to warrant its length.
Overall, this is a long drawn-out film that still boasts a few compelling performances, most notably Claudette Colbert. Max Steiner's score saves the tone from becoming too dark and the cinematography props up the bloated screenplay.
My Score: 7/10
Out of nine nominations, the film only won one Oscar but it's a crucial element of the film - Max Steiner's score. He incorporates the beginning of the "I'll Be Home for Christmas" melody and morphs a lot of the scenes into sentimental affairs, which helps even out the themes of loneliness and grief. This movie could have been even darker but Steiner balances the scales as well as adding a sweeping, epic sound to the epic length. I still may yearn for the score of Double Indemnity (1944) more for this year, but you can never go wrong with Steiner. Out of all the middling to great performances, I would give Colbert my MVP award. She's motherly, calm, and understanding to her children, she's flirty with Joseph Cotten yet never seems unfaithful, and she's kind to her roomers (Hattie McDaniel and Monty Woolley). I've seen her in a lot of films from the 1930s but it's a pleasant surprise to see her work in the 1940s. I know she was hesitant to take on a role that put her in her 40s but it works so well. The cinematography is also a standout feature. In a year with noirs ruling this category, this had no shot at winning, but there are some fascinating handheld moments in addition to scenes shot in the dark. In a three-hour movie, the camerawork needs to be engaging and strong, and although it's not always consistent throughout the film, the camera never grows stale.
This was the only Best Picture nominee to be excluded from the writing categories. This exclusion is deserved as my biggest complaint is the length and shifting focus throughout the picture. Selznick wrote this himself and, as the boyfriend of Jones, he greatly expanded her role. As I stated previously, this is a rather long performance to be considered "supporting." She takes over the film at one point and it's the weakest moments of the picture. Her chemistry with Walker is noticeably shaky and she also seems a bit too old to playing a girl who just graduated high school. I also felt uncomfortable with her infatuation with the much older Cotten. Her younger sister is played by Temple, who is beyond her years of being a cute little kid. She's just fine here and I can tell she wouldn't set the movie world on fire as she got older. Still though, it was neat to see her in her teenage years. All in all, while I admire Selznick's efforts to provide a supportive war film, the script just isn't powerful enough to warrant its length.
Overall, this is a long drawn-out film that still boasts a few compelling performances, most notably Claudette Colbert. Max Steiner's score saves the tone from becoming too dark and the cinematography props up the bloated screenplay.
My Score: 7/10