Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 102: The Soldiers Coming Back and The Women that Wait for Them

So we're back in the saddle, and as it's Oscar Weekend I'm guessing I'm going to have carry over the Oscar challenge for another year as at the moment we're still straddling around in the 1940s.

First up is The Long Voyage Home, a nominee from 1941, which looks at a group of men journeying back from service in the West Indies firstly to Baltimore and then to England. This is very much a film about men trapped in an enclosed space as one-by-one they become increasingly suspicious that the Englishman Smitty is actually a German spy. When they finally confront him and torture him it turns out that he is no more than a recovering alcoholic who has run away from his family and is concealing his true identity because he is ashamed. The scene in which he breaks down is made even more poignant when Smitty is killed shortly after by a German plane making all the other men decide not to sign up for another tour of service on the ship and instead decide to help the mild-mannered Ole return home to Sweden. However, in the final part of the film, Ole is drugged and kidnapped and forced onto another ship so his shipmates help him escape but in the confusion the ship sets sail with one of their number, their sort of leader the Irish Driscoll, on board and they soon hear that the ship was blown up by a German torpedo with all the men still on board. The film has a sort of a happy ending as Ole does return to Sweden but the rest of the men decide to travel on and return to the ship. I did enjoy this film, for the most part, especially the scenes in which the men are trying to occupy themselves on the voyage home. I loved Ian Hunter as the tragic Smitty and Thomas Mitchell as Driscoll who at times seemed like the only reasonable person on the ship. But the actor in the cast who surprised me most was John Wayne, so much so that at the start of the film I didn't even realise it was him. Wayne's Ole is completely different from most of the other parts he plays, he is understated, softly-spoken and feels very much like a real character. The film sort of falls down in the final third with the stupid stuff involving the drugging and Driscoll's death but other than that a solid film and a worthy nominee.

So while the men are journeying home what are the women up to? Well the answers to that are found in a nominee from the 1945 ceremony - Since You Went Away. The film has a mightily impressive ensemble cast headed up by Claudette Colbert, in what many consider her final great role. Colbert almost didn't take the part as a wife and mother waiting to hear news of her husband in the war, as she didn't think she was old enough to play the mother of two teenage girls. The story concerns the Hilton family and specifically Anne and her two daughters - Jane and Brig played respectively by Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple trying to cope during 1943. The Hiltons are short on money so take in the long-in-the-tooth former serviceman Colonel Smogget, in order to keep up with the rent. Smogget's grandson Bill comes to visit him to tell him he's joined the army, however Smogget isn't really interested but Bill does end up falling in love with Jane and the two begin a relationship which is cut short by Bill's tragic death. The other story concerns Anne herself who is faithful to her husband despite being wooed by long time friend Tony, she also has to consider he place in the war effort and what she is actually doing to help after being apalled by comments made by her snooty friend Emily. Since You Went Away was one of the famous 'women's pictures' of the 1940s and was absolutely tremendous making what could've been just a romantic drama and turning into a film about family, friendship, belonging and finding your place. Colbert was denied the Best Actress Oscar as it went to Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight but she is fantastic here as are everyone in the cast which, as well as the three main actress, includes Joseph Cotten, Monty Woolley, Agnes Moorhead, Lionel Barrymore and Hattie McDaniel. Although many will be unfamiliar with the film itself, the scene in which Jane chases after Bill's train has been spoofed in many films most famously in Airplane. Overall another film that deserved all the praise it got but another film that was left out in the cold so the completely average Going My Way could scoop all of that year's prizes.

Okay so we're back on the road again, more to follow.