Pretty Good

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A great film about a small world, the reality of four young wives with their husbands out in the war, sharing a common household to minimize expenses but not managing very well, so they hire a housemaid, who happens to come from Dresden, Germany, with fresh experience of the nastiness of the nazism that murdered that democracy. Yes, there is much war propaganda here, the year was 1943, so it was inevitable, but just forget it, and concentrate on the excellent direction of Edward Dmytryk (as usual) in bringing to life the reality of these soldiers' wives, one of them being Ginger Rogers (for once without any song or dance) and her husband being Robert Ryan as young and fresh and handsome as Gregory Peck. The best scenes are flashbacks of their marriage before the war, which gives a very intimate and interesting insight into the art of direction by Edward Dmytryk. He must have had an expert hand with women.And that's not all. The script is by a young and early Dalton Trumbo, later one of the best script writers of Hollywood after Ben Hecht, and the music adds to it as well. It's almost all domestic scenes inside the common house of the five dames, but it is outstanding as a chamber play. Some get their husbands back from the war, others do not. It is a unique film in its sensitivity of rendering the reality of soldiers' wives some justice and intimate documentation.

The first half hour of this film you wonder what both Dalton Trumbo and Edvard Dmytric were doing in it. That far in the movie, it was just a silly Hollywood Movie, typical for the time. And when the four ladies decide they need a maid, you really start to wonder what fascist film you are seeing and then suddenly the film strikes - the four girls decide to split their united salary five times and give the woman they've found the fifth part, since that would be democratic. For that alone the film deserves 10 stars and, sure enough, the film looses a little momentum after that and slides back into American silliness for a while. Nevertheless, the silliness is tender and a beautiful love story.By the way, need I say that the maid is of German origin and not necessarily a Jew? And then comes those final lines of dialogue about grabbing on to democracy so that you don't loose it - those lines, that make tender comrades of us all instead of competing swine.

While it's true that this film isn't nearly the drama that SINCE YOU WENT AWAY was, it is still an exceptional view of the impact of WWII on the families at home. Despite a very minor problem (which I'll talk about later), the film has great emotional impact even today and I dare you to watch it all the way through and keep a dry eye! The main character of the film is Ginger Rogers and is about her dealing with life without her husband, Robert Ryan, who is at war. While he does appear in the first 15 minutes or so of the film, he is primarily seen through a series of flashbacks interspersed through the movie. These all give background as to the life this couple shared before the war. As for Ryan, he came off very well in these vignettes, though Rogers' character seemed a bit too petulant to be believable and I was half expecting Ryan to slap her upside the head to shut her up (folks, I am NOT encouraging spousal abuse--relax)! Later in the film she had mellowed quite a bit and was indeed a very sympathetic and good character.Ginger and her co-workers begin talking after Ryan goes back to the war and they mutually decide to rent a house together and share expenses. At this point, the story involved the the lives of these four other women--their motivations, back story and character. This is all told in a very effective manner and you really begin to care for the ladies.The purpose of this tearjerker was to solidify the resolve for the war with the people left behind in the States and in this light, this was a super-effective film. Generally excellent writing, direction and acting make this a film that is easy to connect to and like. It also makes the movie a tough one to watch, as you tend to go through an emotional roller-coaster because of all the ladies' trials and tribulations. A wonderful time capsule of the era and a film well worth seeing.Oddly, in later years, many of those responsible for this film were labeled "Communists" and the film was cited as an example of these left-leaning sympathies. Other than the fact the ladies live together and share their money, I really can't see how any sane person could construe this as Communism--and what's the matter with sharing a home and expenses anyway? I did that a while back and I don't THINK I'm a Communist!!

So many wives went through same as Ginger Rogers in film. (Husband died in war) She was such a great dramatic actress as well as a dancer. She showed such courage, alone with a baby. he was a role model for me alone with children. (I met the man who played her husband in film, Robert Ryan. In real life he was very courageous in his illness and losses.)