I do give this film some points for being a bit different. It's an interesting premise: a man and a wife -- mousy characters both before WWII -- end up serving their country during the way and come out very different people. They both look back on their own lives and see how drab they were, and both decide they want to move forward with their more sophisticated post-war lives. And so they plan to divorce, only to finally realize that they have both changed so drastically that they are still made for each other...just in different ways than before the war.
Unfortunately, this film dates to the 1940s when British films were a poor second to American films in terms of technical quality, and so this whole film just seems plain drab. The best example, although some may say a minor point, the dirigibles floating over London during the war are so faked-painted looking that it's laughable.
Robert Donat was quite a good actor, and Deborah Kerr became one of the greats of Hollywood. They both evolve nicely as this film progresses. But, then there's best friend Glynis Johns, whose popularity I never understood.
I also think that too much time is spent on the war portion of the film. It was needed to show why each of them evolved so much, but they spent so much time on this that they short-changed the portion of the film where they meet and discover they want change, not realizing at first that they have changed. And that latter part is what's really important in the film.
Ah well. It coulda been very good, but turns out being only passably interesting. You may wanna exercise the fast-forward button on your remote.
Unfortunately, this film dates to the 1940s when British films were a poor second to American films in terms of technical quality, and so this whole film just seems plain drab. The best example, although some may say a minor point, the dirigibles floating over London during the war are so faked-painted looking that it's laughable.
Robert Donat was quite a good actor, and Deborah Kerr became one of the greats of Hollywood. They both evolve nicely as this film progresses. But, then there's best friend Glynis Johns, whose popularity I never understood.
I also think that too much time is spent on the war portion of the film. It was needed to show why each of them evolved so much, but they spent so much time on this that they short-changed the portion of the film where they meet and discover they want change, not realizing at first that they have changed. And that latter part is what's really important in the film.
Ah well. It coulda been very good, but turns out being only passably interesting. You may wanna exercise the fast-forward button on your remote.