I was in the British armed forces from 1944 to 1947, and I can confirm that this movie gets the feel of the period exactly right.. Anthony Asquith and the actors breathed life into the cardboard of Rattigan's characters. I didn't like it when I saw it all those decades ago - too sentimental - but now that I can see it more objectively I rate it very highly indeed. One piece of plotting puzzled me: why does Johnny Hollis agonise about the mail from home he never receives? Was it intended that his wife should die or leave him, thus freeing him to court the widowed Iris? This in fact does not happen, and the film ends in a rather downbeat way.