As a film, this is almost tissue-paper thin. The leading characters are almost stereotypes, the plot is tediously predictable, and the work's values are conventionally true-blue.
And yet: this, I think, is a valuable film for what it captures about the mood and values of the nation in 1943. Katherine Hepburn's speech near the end to the young lass whose fiancé missed their wedding due to deployment orders, I think, grasps the essence of what the U.S. was dealing with in the troubling year of 1943 (remember, the air campaign over Europe had been dealt setback after setback, in the Pacific U.S. forces were still slogging up the Solomons and New Guinea, and the 1st ID had just been handed its helmet at Kasserine Pass).
There's an air of both uncertainty and hope in this film -- the sense that a lot of these lads were going over and never coming back, combined with a sense of resolve: it was a dark hour, but we're going to prevail. And we're going to do what we can for the troops as they embark and return.
So I have a world of respect for the performers who make cameos in this film: Goodman, Basie, Kyser, Bellamy, Bergen, Hepburn -- the list is immense. They probably got paid for it, but they still invested their clout, their personality, their franchise, for an unabashed paean to U.S. soldiers. I know it was a simpler times and the issues were more clear, but I doubt you'd see a comparable lineup today honoring U.S. troops in Afghanistan, etc.
And yet: this, I think, is a valuable film for what it captures about the mood and values of the nation in 1943. Katherine Hepburn's speech near the end to the young lass whose fiancé missed their wedding due to deployment orders, I think, grasps the essence of what the U.S. was dealing with in the troubling year of 1943 (remember, the air campaign over Europe had been dealt setback after setback, in the Pacific U.S. forces were still slogging up the Solomons and New Guinea, and the 1st ID had just been handed its helmet at Kasserine Pass).
There's an air of both uncertainty and hope in this film -- the sense that a lot of these lads were going over and never coming back, combined with a sense of resolve: it was a dark hour, but we're going to prevail. And we're going to do what we can for the troops as they embark and return.
So I have a world of respect for the performers who make cameos in this film: Goodman, Basie, Kyser, Bellamy, Bergen, Hepburn -- the list is immense. They probably got paid for it, but they still invested their clout, their personality, their franchise, for an unabashed paean to U.S. soldiers. I know it was a simpler times and the issues were more clear, but I doubt you'd see a comparable lineup today honoring U.S. troops in Afghanistan, etc.