|
Post by topbilled on Dec 19, 2023 0:12:49 GMT
Our next Home Front melodrama is David Selznick's adaptation of Margaret Wilder's book SINCE YOU WENT AWAY from 1944.
Selznick was going for another epic along the lines of GONE WITH THE WIND, so the film is 175 minutes long, nearly 3 hours. But it's a rousing, heartwarming motion picture.
Claudette Colbert is wonderful as the mother of two teen girls, played by Jennifer Jones & Shirley Temple. This was Temple's first more grown-up role.
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 19, 2023 16:28:17 GMT
Scene Selections
1. Overture/Main Title 0:00:00 2. Downsizing 0:10:47 3. The Best Room 0:21:53 4. Uncle Tony 0:33:52 5. A Great Big Prom 0:44:12 6. Together 0:54:06 7. Going-Away Present 1:05:55 8. A Real Date 1:17:25 9. Other People's Business 1:27:50 10. MIA/Entr'acte 1:38:43 11. Message of Comfort 1:52:22 12. A Wonderful Afternoon 2:01:03 13. A Soldier's Death 2:12:03 14. Happy Birthday 2:23:01 15. A Good Telling-Off 2:33:32 16. The Best Christmas 2:46:23
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 20, 2023 2:51:42 GMT
SynopsisSINCE YOU WENT AWAY Spoilers ahead...
On the 12th of January 1943, Anne Hilton (Claudette Colbert) returns home after seeing her husband Tim off to war. Lonely, Anne bitterly questions her husband's decision to leave his family and lucrative job as an advertising executive in order to serve his country. After comforting her daughters "Brig" (Shirley Temple) and Jane (Jennifer Jones, Anne bids a reluctant farewell to Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel), the family's devoted housekeeper. The loss of Tim's salary has created a financial hardship for the family, and consequently, they can no longer afford to pay Fidelia. When Mr. Mahoney (Lloyd Corrigan), a sympathetic shopkeeper, extends credit to the Hiltons, Anne pledges Tim's help in finding a job for Johnny, Mahoney's serviceman son, after the war ends. The country is in the grip of a housing shortage, and when Brig, Anne's youngest daughter, insists that it is their patriotic duty to take in a boarder, Anne surrenders her own room. Col. William G. Smollett (Monty Woolley), a stern retired army officer, answers the Hiltons' ad and rents the room, forcing the family to adjust to his demands. Soon after, Fidelia asks to move back into the house, offering her housekeeping services as rent. Anne warmly welcomes her home, but refuses to accept her offer. Later, at a crowded cocktail lounge, Anne meets her friend, Emily Hawkins (Agnes Moorehead), a self-centered divorcee. As the women talk, Anne is surprised by the arrival of Lt. Tony Willett (Joseph Cotten), an old friend of the Hiltons' who worked as an illustrator in civilian life. After escorting Anne out of the bar, Tony asks her for a place to stay, and Anne decides to move in with her daughters to make room for Tony. Jane, a high school senior, soon develops a crush on the suave Tony. One day, Smollett's grandson Bill (Robert Walker), an enlisted man, pays a surprise visit to his grandfather, who brusquely dismisses him. Overhearing their exchange, Jane feels compassion for Bill. Emily, meanwhile, contributes to the war effort by organizing a dance to entertain servicemen, and enlists Jane as one of the hostesses. Nervous and unsure of herself, Jane is asked to dance by Bill. She reluctantly accepts, regarding Bill as only a "boy" next to the dashing Tony. Anne attends with Tony, and there meets Johnny Mahoney (Jackie Moran), who thanks her for offering to help him find a job. Johnny is leaving for a training flight, and soon after he departs, word comes that his plane has crashed, and for the first time, the tragedy of war is personalized for Anne. As time passes, the irascible colonel mellows and becomes a member of the family, even accepting the Hiltons' lumbering bull dog Soda. On the day Tony is to leave, he presents Fidelia with a handsome sketch he has drawn of her. Jane, who contracted the mumps, bids Tony a tearful farewell. While bowling one evening, Bill and Jane become friends with a sailor (Guy Madison) after he bandages Jane's injured finger. After walking the sailor to his bus, Bill invites Jane to the soda fountain. Jane asks about his timidity. Bill explains how he bitterly disappointed his grandfather by being expelled from West Point, and then shows her a pocket watch that his grandfather had given him, inscribed with a reference to the Smollett family's proud military history. When Bill concludes that his failure resulted from personal weakness, Jane comes to his defense.The next morning, Jane informs her mother she wants to find a job after graduation rather than attend college, but Anne refuses. At breakfast, Jane criticizes the colonel's treatment of Bill, angering the old man. After Jane's graduation ceremony, the family receives word from Tim that he will be stopping between trains at a nearby city. Boarding the next train to the city, the family eagerly anticipates their reunion with Tim. Their train is delayed, however, and by the time they arrive, Tim has already had to leave. On the trip home, the family then meets a woman whose granddaughter was reported missing at the Battle of Corregidor. Touched by the woman's sacrifice, Anne agrees to let Jane work as a nurse's aide that summer. One day soon after, Anne is notified that Tim is missing in action. Devastated by the news, the family prays for his safety, and later, Anne tearfully reviews their scrapbook. [An intermission divides the story at this point.] One Sunday after church, Bill tells Jane that he has been ordered to leave at midnight. As Jane and Bill spend their last hours together in the countryside, Anne implores Smollett to see Bill off at the train station that evening. Claiming he has a previous engagement with representatives from the British army, the colonel promises to try to finish in time and asks Anne to wish Bill good luck. Meanwhile, in the country, Jane and Bill seek shelter from a sudden downpour and dream of marrying after the war ends. At the train station, Anne conveys to Bill his grandfather's concern, and as the train pulls out, Bill presents his watch to Jane as an engagement gift. Too late, the colonel arrives at the station. Some time later, Anne breaks the news of Bill's death in battle to Jane. Filled with recrimination, the colonel blames himself for driving the boy too hard, and Anne tries to comfort him. On the colonel's birthday, Tony returns and is surprised by how quickly Jane has grown up. Emily then pays an unexpected visit and voices disapproval of Jane's hospital work, causing Jane to berate her for her selfishness. When Emily criticizes Jane's behavior, Anne castigates her for her lack of patriotism and, realizing that she also has been remiss in serving her country, decides to work as a welder in a shipyard. In the factory, Anne is moved when she meets an immigrant woman who recalls her thrill at reading the inscription on the Statue of Liberty and likens Anne to the embodiment of that spirit. On Christmas Eve, Jane returns Bill's watch to the colonel, bringing him pride and comfort. Fidelia places the gifts under the tree that Tim sent before his disappearance. Anne tearfully opens her gift, a music box that plays "We'll Be Together Always." As she sobs, the phone rings. Upon answering it, Anne's expression turns to joy. She hurries to the staircase to announce to her daughters their father is safe and is coming home.
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 20, 2023 13:02:27 GMT
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 21, 2023 13:53:13 GMT
From TCM's article:
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY was producer David Selznick’s first big budget affair since GONE WITH THE WIND and REBECCA. It’s a sprawling canvas of American life during wartime, and his efforts created a memorable view of the wives and children left behind during World War II.
Selznick was looking for a project when he came across Margaret Buell Wilder's novel, a series of letters written by a wife to her husband off serving in the war. He brought Wilder to Hollywood to adapt the story, but decided her characterizations were flat and figured he'd write the screenplay himself. Working solo on the script, Selznick turned a series of incidents, in which the wife was the only fully defined character, into a modern-day Dickens tale filled with fleshed out supporting characters and incidents that depicted the life of a family keeping the home fires burning.
Stage actress Katharine Cornell, who had only ever appeared on screen as herself in STAGE DOOR CANTEEN (1943), was fond of Wilder’s novel and desperately wanted to play the lead role. However, Selznick needed someone with more box office appeal.
Among those considered for the role of the story’s protagonist, Anne Hilton, were Irene Dunne, Ann Harding and Helen Hayes. Fan favorite Claudette Colbert would snag the part, though not without considerable wrangling.
While Colbert wasn’t afraid to play her own age (38), she was hesitant to play the mother of two teen girls. Selznick was undeterred, deciding Colbert was the right choice, and he recruited Hedda Hopper to pressure the actress into signing up for the film. Colbert was eventually persuaded when Hopper convinced her the role in Colbert’s hands would boost wartime morale, and it'd be a good follow-up to Colbert’s effort the previous year, SO PROUDLY WE HAIL. Oh, and a $150,000 salary wouldn’t hurt!
With Colbert now in place, Selznick set out to cast the other roles, intent on signing important names to play the supporting characters. In addition to his own contract players Joseph Cotten (as Colbert's admirer), Jennifer Jones (as the oldest daughter); and Shirley Temple (as the youngest daughter), he hired Monty Woolley to play a crotchety boarder the family takes in; Lionel Barrymore as a clergyman; Hattie McDaniel as the family’s faithful housekeeper; Alla Nazimova as a factory worker; and Agnes Moorehead as a snooty society woman. Originally, Selznick tried to cast Ruth Gordon for Moorehead’s part, but Gordon wasn’t available.
Selznick also hired Neil Hamilton, who had worked for the producer a decade earlier in WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? (1932) to “play” Colbert’s husband in a series of photographs…his character (the title’s YOU) is away at war.
Smaller roles provided notable motion picture debuts for a few of Selznick’s latest discoveries. These included Guy Madison as a military man on leave; Rhonda Fleming as a party girl; and John Derek in a minor uncredited role. Of these newcomers, Madison was given the most screen time and certainly makes an impression as a friend of Jones and Jones’ boyfriend (Robert Walker, on loan from MGM, who was married to Jones off-camera).
Selznick started on the screenplay in August 1943, a month before shooting was scheduled to begin. Hired to helm the picture was John Cromwell, considered an expert at directing women. However, Selznick would have considerable control of the day-to-day filming. Besides Cromwell, several other directors were brought in to work on other sequences, especially when Cromwell took ill for a few days during production.
Selznick insisted that no scene be shot until he had seen it rehearsed. Such meticulousness and hands-on involvement with the on-set shooting kept Selznick busy when he might have been writing. As a result, he was finishing scenes barely in time to film them. And as he wrote, he added new characters and incidents.
He also used the story to build Jones' role, though to be fair, he never took the focus entirely from Colbert who remained the picture’s star. Selznick was so hands on with the production he included his own son's baby shoes as part of the set dressing and hand wrote the notes from the absent husband (Hamilton’s character) that are glimpsed on screen.
What emerged was an epic soap opera almost three hours in length. The original length of the picture was nearly four and a half hours! But Selznick made several cuts so that it would be able to play a certain number of times per day in theaters upon release.
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY became a huge hit with audiences when it reached screens in the summer of 1944. It earned more than twice its budget, which is remarkable considering Selznick had overspent during production. The film racked up nine Oscar nominations -- including Best Picture, Best Actress (Colbert), Best Supporting Actress (Jones), Best Supporting Actor (Woolley) and Best Score (Max Steiner).
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 22, 2023 15:14:40 GMT
Memorandum
There are about ten pages of memos in this book concerning the making of SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. I thought I'd go over some of the memos...
1. The first significant memo is a correspondence from Selznick to Katharine Cornell in 1943 about her desire to play the role of Anne Hilton. It's obvious reading the letter that Selznick appreciates her interest but has no intention of casting her in the lead. He tries to tell her that the family in the movie will be more middle class than in the novel, and implies that Cornell is just too grand to play a middle class woman. Basically, he's telling her that she would not be convincing as a typical American wife and mother. He does end the correspondence with plans to call Cornell, and I think his intention was probably to discuss with her whether she'd be willing to do one of the lesser character parts in the film. My guess is that he would have considered her for the role of the factory woman, which was ultimately played by Alla Nazimova.
2. There's a memo where Selznick tells one of his employees about how he intends to publicize the film when it's released. An early concern was that the public might consider it a new Shirley Temple movie. He specifically instructs the individual to play up Claudette Colbert's importance to the project first, then Jennifer Jones, then Monty Woolley THEN Shirley. This was Shirley's first film under contract to Selznick, and it would be her first more grown-up role. She had been off screen for two years. A later memo has Selznick admitting that Shirley gets the most fan mail of all his contractees...that she ranks first in fan mail, ahead of Ingrid Bergman, Jennifer Jones and Joan Fontaine. But at this early point in publicizing SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, Selznick wants to stress the fact Shirley is a supporting player...and that while the movie is technically a vehicle for Claudette, it is also a showcase for Jennifer and has a strong well-known supporting cast. In fact, he instructs his employee to compare the cast in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY to the cast in his earlier hit DINNER AT EIGHT, claiming both films have the most distinguished casts he's ever assembled.
3. There's a funny memo where Selznick admits to bringing some of his own furniture to the studio to help decorate the Hilton living room. But he has become very angry when the set designers have asked for some of his own outdoor furniture to use on the porch. He says he is not in the business of supplying all the props for this movie!
4. One memo talks about how Jennifer Jones has had to be coached to give her performances on camera. Selznick admits she is very soft-spoken but insists it is the job of the sound/mixing department to improve their process to pick up all her dialogue, even when she seems to use a whispery voice. He insists that Jennifer not have to worry about how to throw her voice to the mics and instead be able to deliver a more natural performance, like she did in SONG OF BERNADETTE. He does say there is a value in using stage trained performers (in the other roles) because they have experience with throwing their voice and using other vocal tricks without having to shout for a mic to pick up all their dialogue.
5. Another memo has Selznick upset at how sound is being recorded on location. Specifically, a scene filmed with Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker at a train station. He says that when he went to observe production, he found director John Cromwell and the sound man were redoing scenes if a plane flew overhead. Selznick thought that footage could have still been used with some of the actors' dialogue re-dubbed in post production to eliminate the airplane noise. He also didn't like how long Cromwell was taking to complete the wide master shots, and how much time was wasted between those shots and doing the close-ups of Jennifer and Robert. He didn't think there needed to be so much time spent re-situating the cameras. He claimed the actors were ready to go but the crew was not and that for every hour wasted, it cost $3500 and put them behind schedule.
6. There's a very good and ironically LONG memo about whether the movie is too long. Selznick is upset because some journalist who had seen the movie upon its release complained that the film did not need to be almost three hours long. Selznick of course had originally planned for it to be even longer (originally it was to have clocked in at 4 and a half hours). Selznick talks about when his father producer Lewis Selznick had begun during the early days of silent pictures and how his father had been criticized for expanding silent films from a half hour to an hour...but how the public wanted longer films. He also provides some good thoughts about making sure a film is enjoyable, regardless of length. He says when he made NOTHING SACRED and INTERMEZZO those films were barely over an hour (NOTHING SACRED was 77 minutes and INTERMEZZO was 70 minutes)...so he is not always in the habit of making long epic motion pictures. He says the length is determined by the story and however long it takes to bring the characters to a satisfactory resolution. He mentions how certain character arcs in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY require a certain amount of time for the characters' attitudes to change and for them to properly develop as people on screen. Selznick then goes into a discussion about how he does many test screenings and has viewers fill out detailed questionnaires. He states that if there are at least a dozen negative comments from one test audience about something specific they don't like, he will either edit the scene or film a retake with the scene changed. His goal is for there to be unanimous approval of all the scenes, and if all the scenes are liked, it won't matter how long the film is overall. According to Selznick, his questionnaire goes much more in-depth than the test screening cards the major studios use. Also he says that two questions on the questionnaire give the viewer a chance to indicate if the film is too long. Incidentally, he says that when he made DAVID COPPERFIELD at MGM in 1935, he faced similar concerns that it was also too long. But he claims he only cut what absolutely had to be cut, and the film was still rather long and did very well at the box office (it was over two hours and earned three times its cost).
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 24, 2023 13:49:45 GMT
Christmas at the Hiltons
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Dec 24, 2023 18:35:06 GMT
The Continuing Adventures of Fawn and Me
Me: "Even though we aren't able to watch the movie with all of you today, Fawn and I hope you enjoy Topbilled's outstanding choice and, most importantly, everyone has a Merry Christmas.
Fawn: "I thought we were doing a joint message?"
Me: "I said 'Fawn and I'."
Fawn: "I thought we'd say it together."
Me: "Next time."
Fawn: [muttering] "It's always 'next time'."
Me: "How 'bout you give the New Year's wish next week?"
Fawn: [muttering] "Bet you hog that one too."
Me: "What?"
Fawn: "Nothing."
Me: "Off to your family first?"
Fawn: "Yes, and remember, after an hour or so, mention we have to go see your family and we'll both act disappointed that we have to leave so soon."
Me: "Got it, same plan with my family."
Fawn: "God yes."
Me: "Then home for our Christmas Eve?"
Fawn: "Yup, only thing I'm looking forward to."
Me: "Me too, buddy. Don't forget the car snacks."
Fawn: "Christmas cookies are already by the door."
Me: "Merry Christmas, buddy."
Fawn: "Merry Christmas."
Fawn and Me: "And Merry Christmas to all our friends at Sunday Live!"
Fawn: [to me] "You see, that's how we do a joint message.”
Me: "You're right buddy."
Fawn: "Oh, hey, I made some fresh eggnog for the ride, too."
Me: "Great, thanks." [thinking to myself] "Once again, that's two hours of kitchen cleanup for me later."
|
|
|
Post by Andrea Doria on Dec 24, 2023 19:07:20 GMT
Merry Christmas to you and Fawn, Fading Fast. You'll both be missed during the show.
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Dec 24, 2023 19:11:41 GMT
Merry Christmas to you and Fawn, Fading Fast. You'll both be missed during the show.
(It's really too bad they wont be here, I heard Julie Christie was stopping by with sno-caps during the intermission, oh well, sad.) WHAT!!!!!!!!!!
Now that's just mean.
Have fun today guys.
|
|
|
Post by Andrea Doria on Dec 24, 2023 19:49:13 GMT
LOL I decided it was too mean and took it off three minutes later! As usual you're just too fast for me!
|
|
|
Post by galacticgirrrl on Dec 24, 2023 19:54:32 GMT
LOL I decided it was too mean and took it off three minutes later! As usual you're just too fast for me! oh dear - gave me quite the chuckle Happy Holidays FF.
|
|
|
Post by galacticgirrrl on Dec 24, 2023 19:57:02 GMT
Really enjoyed those background memos TB - especially the one about sound. I had no idea that actors had to push their vocals. I just assumed the technology was good enough.
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 24, 2023 19:58:09 GMT
Really enjoyed those background memos TB - especially the one about sound. I had no idea that actors had to push their vocals. I just assumed the technology was good enough. Yeah, the memos gives us glimpses into how much hard work went into all aspects of production.
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 24, 2023 19:59:38 GMT
Thanks everyone for joining today. And Merry Christmas Eve.
I am about to press play. There is a lengthy overture, which if you don't have patience for it, you can skip over. Just fast forward ahead to the 5 minute mark where the opening titles begin.
|
|