Since You Went Away (1944)

Since You Went Away, which was nominated for Best Picture of 1944, is a war movie that is set on the homefront. It's about what happens to the people who are left behind during wartime, the family members who have to learn to cope without always knowing where their loved ones are. This is an epic film in many ways, covering several years during World War II and several generations of one family. Since You Went Away was pretty unusual for its time, a film that showed that everyone, whether fighting directly in battle or not, must face sacrifices during wartime, and as such, it is a worthy addition to the list of Oscar-nominated films from the era.

The film begins as Anne Hilton (Claudette Colbert) returns from seeing her husband Tim leave for the war. She and her two daughters, Jane (Jennifer Jones) and Bridget (Shirley Temple), began to adjust to life without him by taking in a boarder and cutting corners wherever possible, including finding other employment for their maid Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel). Anne spends some time with a friend of the family who is in the Navy, Tony (Joseph Cotton), and Jane, after initially thinking that she loves Tony, meets and falls in love with a young soldier, Bill (Robert Walker), who is trying to prove to his grandfather that he is worthy of the family name. The grandfather, Colonel Smollett (Monty Woolley), is quite conveniently the boarder in the Hilton home.

You'll see from those names in parenthesis above that this film has an all-star cast, and they are all excellent here. Colbert is a warm presence, a woman who tries to keep her family together despite the enormity of the sadness she feels when her husband is gone. Jones is very charming as a beautiful young girl who has to grow into a woman during the course of the film. She faces a series of devastating events for someone so young, and Jones is particularly good at depicting the quickness with which young women can change emotions. Walker is very funny as the overly polite young man who wants so desperately to get approval from his only remaining family member. His scenes at the train station with Jones are some of the best of the film. I know that the scene involving the train's departure has been parodied numerous times over the years, but it still feels fresh here, thanks to Jones and Walker.

There are some interesting cameos here. Guy Madison, surely one of the most handsome men ever to be in the movies, plays a sailor on his last night in town who befriends Jones and Walker's characters. The legendary Alla Nazimova, the silent screen star whose life was as flamboyant as her film roles, has a bit part as a European refugee who works beside Anne at a factory. And, even though it isn't a cameo, I have to mention my beloved Agnes Moorehead, who plays a wealthy divorcee who wears out her welcome very quickly with the Hilton family.

Since You Went Away may seem overly sentimental nowadays, and certainly no one would make a film like this today without some sense of irony or sarcasm. Yet I think it earns its emotions honestly. So many mothers and children and other family members in real life endured what the Hiltons endure in this movie. When Anne says she wants to do more to support the war effort, you understand the source of her desires clearly. She is like so many women during World War II, who although still in the United States, felt a strong connection to their husbands fighting in far-flung parts of the world. So many young women like Jane fell in love with soldiers during a time of great emotional upheaval, and their love was real and honest. What this film manages to capture is the "other half" of a time period that has been so thoroughly discussed in terms of the battles and lives of soldiers. It's a tender, sweet film that very rarely rings false.