Reviews

Keep the home fires burning. Emotional and reflective. We need to look back every fifty years or so to look for values. There are a lot of contemporary connections. Look for Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor. A good picture of the UK in the first half of the last century, even if only through the the eyes of the early forties. Although in large part a sentimental movie, somewhat in the mode of a soap opera, it deals with the larger issues of life on the home-front. It speaks to the twenty-first century where those of us with money have few participating in the military either personally or financially. Irene Dunne carries the action and supports the sentimentality without undue exaggeration. Some really spectacular patriotic sentiment. Look for the bit about the chess set. Compare Susan Dunn's (Irene Dunne's)father-in-law with the Major in Keeping Up Appearances. Frank Morgan offers a nice contrast to the English scene; one would like to visit Toliver, Rhode Island, which would have existed if it could.

The dog, the kids and the dancing were really good. Someone should take the dancing sequences out and put them into a Kelly documentary. The kids were cute especially dancing and in the bathtub. Chris, the dog, was fantastic.

It is really hard not to like Gene Kelly. There was a real fault in the screen play in the lack of character development. Phyllis Thaxter's role was underdeveloped as was Marie MacDonald's. Thaxter was as perfect as she could be granted her limited screen time; I would have thought that a lot of her material was left on the cutting room floor. MacDonald had beautiful hair and figure, but the script gave her no consistent motivation.

Ideas of divorce and marriage in this film were problematic (or fortyish) but they did not interfere with the dog, the kids, or the dancing.

There was a lot of room for further development of the with Morgan family. There seemed to be gaps, which led me to wonder what the exact nature of family tension was.

All in all, there were a lot of missed opportunities.

Oscar calibre performances for Russell Crowe, Renee Zelweiger, and Paul Giamatti. There were no bad performances from any of the actors. All of the minor characters were authentic.

Cinematography was superb. Historical research seemed to be complete and well implemented. I especially appreciated the tone of the film in its portrayal of the 1930. Costuming and set design were not only authentic but evocative.

I suspect that Ron Howard may be nominated for best director.

This film is to be commended not only for portraying a great moment in sports history but also for its authentic sense of family life and Irish American Catholicism. I think the clerical characters actions were believable considering the year and historical circumstances. Very little of the film can be discounted on grounds of anachronism or inauthenticity.

I can see how the film could be disliked by anyone with an interest in boxing, history, or family relations.

I really appreciated the portrayal of the simple religious and ethical values of the undereducated and poor.