Copyright 3 June 1945 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 19 June 1945. U.S. release: June 1945. U.K. release: 27 January 1946. Australian release: 18 April 1946. 7,536 feet. 83 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Playboy pilot finds True Romance in the person of a department store salesgirl. Setting: New York City, war-time.
NOTES: The stage play opened on 16 June 1943. Author Chodorov himself directed a cast that included Zachary Scott, Virginia Gilmore, Blanche Sweet and Dean Harens. The producer was Max Gordon.
Film debut of Bill Williams.
The old title song's full name is "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms". The music was composed by Matthew Locke, the lyrics written by Thomas Moore. It was sung in the film by Larry Burke, a popular vocalist in his day. This appears to be his only film appearance.
Jerome Chodorov is Edward Chodorov's younger brother.
Although it didn't make the top ten, the film was one of the biggest successes of the year at domestic ticket windows.
COMMENT: Beautifully photographed, ingratiatingly acted, sensitively directed, war-time soapie. The theme is a familiar one to say the least, but it's given bite and urgency, freshness and appeal in a superbly mounted production. All the players and technicians must share in this triumph.
Starting life as a successful four-character Broadway play, the screenwriter has opened it up very effectively without losing the original play's intensity. Many are the additional scenes, but they all serve to re-inforce the action, rather than dilute it, and provide further opportunities for rounded characterization and realistic dialogue. Young gives one of his best performances of this period, as do Laraine Day, Ann Harding, and even Bill Williams - here perfectly cast in a role he was never to better.
With his horror and thriller background, Lewis Allen would seem an odd choice for director. But he had handled Our Hearts Were Young and Gay as well as The Uninvited and The Unseen and has risen to the occasion gracefully here. Art direction, costumes, film editing and music scoring are equally attractive.
Abetting and indeed capping the appeal of the whole picture is Ted Tetzlaff's superlative camerawork with its lustrous close-ups, its clever rim lighting and marvelous use of mood and shadow. From a purely technical point of view, Those Endearing Young Charms is certainly one of the photographic gems of the period! Even those at our Hollywood Classics screening who found Those Endearing Young Charms a little too slowly paced, and maybe a little too inclined to dwell on beautiful close-ups of Miss Day, had to admit that the picture was always a supreme thrill just to look at.
COMMENT: Beautifully photographed, ingratiatingly acted, sensitively directed, war-time soapie. The theme is a familiar one to say the least, but it's given bite and urgency, freshness and appeal in a superbly mounted production. All the players and technicians must share in this triumph.
Starting life as a successful four-character Broadway play, the screenwriter has opened it up very effectively without losing the original play's intensity. Many are the additional scenes, but they all serve to re-inforce the action, rather than dilute it, and provide further opportunities for rounded characterization and realistic dialogue. Young gives one of his best performances of this period, as do Laraine Day, Ann Harding, and even Bill Williams - here perfectly cast in a role he was never to better.
With his horror and thriller background, Lewis Allen would seem an odd choice for director. But he had handled Our Hearts Were Young and Gay as well as The Uninvited and The Unseen and has risen to the occasion gracefully here. Art direction, costumes, film editing and music scoring are equally attractive.
Abetting and indeed capping the appeal of the whole picture is Ted Tetzlaff's superlative camerawork with its lustrous close-ups, its clever rim lighting and marvelous use of mood and shadow. From a purely technical point of view, Those Endearing Young Charms is certainly one of the photographic gems of the period! Even those at our Hollywood Classics screening who found Those Endearing Young Charms a little too slowly paced, and maybe a little too inclined to dwell on beautiful close-ups of Miss Day, had to admit that the picture was always a supreme thrill just to look at.