SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944) B/W 172m dir: John Cromwell

w/Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Walker, Hattie McDaniel, Agnes Moorehead, Alla Nazimova, Guy Madison

From The Movie Guide: "Focusing on the plight of those left behind when the soldiers went off to fight in WWII, SINCE YOU WENT AWAY was a smash hit with audiences on the home front, grossing well over $4 million at a time when movie ticket prices were as low as 25 cents. Based on a collection of letters written by Ohio newspaper columnist Margaret Buell Wilder to her husband fighting overseas, which Wilder first published in her column, then collected in a book, and finally rewrote as a screen story, SINCE YOU WENT AWAY is a long, episodic, but always interesting film scripted by producer David O. Selznick from Wilder's adaptation. The film focuses on the wartime life of Colbert and her two daughters (Jones and a teenaged Temple, the latter making her first screen appearance after a layoff of a couple of years) after Colbert's husband leaves his family and his job in the advertising business to go off to fight in the war. Jones is in love with a soldier --- Walker, a corporal, who returns from the service to romance her. (Jones and Walker were married in real life at the time, and, though they divorced a year later [Jones married Selznick in 1949], their off-screen love is still evident here). Also figuring in the proceedings are Cotten, a family friend and Navy Lieutenant who lends his moral support to Colbert and never takes advantage of her loneliness; Woolley, Colbert's ascerbic boarder, whose sarcasm provides the film's lighter moments; and Soda, the family's scene-stealing English bulldog.

"SINCE YOU WENT AWAY unfolds its loosely structured story realistically --- even the battle scenes lack the phony heroics common in WWII films --- and the film's three hours pass quickly, sped by its interesting assortment of characters, touchingly portrayed by the cast, its well-written script by Selznick, and its high level of technical accomplishment."

SINCE YOU WENT AWAY received an Oscar for Best Score (Max Steiner). It was also nominated for eight additional Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actress (Colbert), Supporting Actor (Woolley), Supporting Actress (Jones), Cinematography (Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes), Editing (James E. Newcom, Hal C. Kern), Art Direction (Mark-Lee Kirk, Victor A. Gangelin), and Visual Effects (John R. Cosgrove, Arthur Johns).