May 05, 2002 - 11:49 pm
this film won Best Picture for 1942 right during the height of the war. and it is what i would call a very pro-war movie. pro-WWII anyway. created by William Wyler (not to be confused with Billy Wilder), who made such wonderful films as Wuthering Heights (1939), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Ben-Hur (1959), this movie takes on the story of a very caring and kind woman and her family's struggle during the war. Winston Churchill was once quoted as having said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.
it deserves an 8/10. it's wonderful directing, acting and writing. it also was nice to see another of Walter Pidgeon's films. he was most recently seen in How Green Was My Valley (1941). hey-that's two Best Pictures in a row for him. 1941 and 42!
i'm really starting to like the melodrama of William Wyler. he is truly one of the great directors of the studio era of American film history. he gets his actors to bring so much soul into their acting. which reminds me that both of the lead female parts won Oscars for this film as well. including Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright who played Carol. she has got to be the most wholesome girl who ever lived. you can't help falling in love with her. Wyler also got her to star in The Best Years of Our Lives. if you have to pick one of the two films (this one encourages American involvement in WWII, TBYOOL is set after the war), i suggest The Best Years of Our Lives. but i probably wouldn't if she weren't in it.