Echo der Jugend

REMEMBER THE DAY (20th Century-Fox, 1941), directed by Henry King, bears no connection nor is it a sequel to Paramount's comedy-drama, REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Though it's not hard to confuse these similar movie titles, they are as different as night and day. For this production, starring Claudette Colbert, on loan-out assignment from her home-base of Paramount Pictures, it offers her an occasional opportunity to break away from her assortment of amusing comedies to something on a different level, that of a devoted school teacher with recollections of her past, and the one student who took part of those fine memories. After viewing REMEMBER THE DAY, there's no question it was a box-office success. Through the passage of time, however, the film has somehow slipped into obscurity, and quite undeservedly. Though many of the featured players, with the exception of John Payne, are not quite the marque names one would expect, the sole focus is on Colbert from start to finish, in a role worth remembering, even for just a day.

Set in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 25, 1940, the story opens with a front page newspaper spread reading, "National big-wigs arrive for Dewey Roberts banquet." Moments later, Nora Tindel (Claudette Colbert), a middle-aged schoolteacher, comes to the Mayflower Hotel where a crowd of people await for the guest of honor, the presidential candidate, Senator Dewey Roberts, who happened to be one of Miss Tindel's former students. After being escorted to a seat near the secret elevator where Dewey Roberts is to come out, the orchestra that had been playing to the popular Glenn Miller song, "Chattanooga Choo Choo," switches to Dewey's favorite song, "Back Home Again in Indiana." As Miss Tindel listens to the music, she recollects to the day she met the future senator, Friday, April 14, 1916, in the classroom of Auburn Grammar School in Indiana where she fills in for a Miss Fitch for the rest of the semester. Being a new teacher, Miss Tindel starts her career knowing her students, especially the somewhat rebellious Dewey Roberts (Douglas Croft), named after Admiral George Dewey of the United States Navy. Student and teacher first come to disagreement when Miss Tindel prepares on taking her class to the matinée of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" followed by a picnic the very Saturday of the upcoming baseball game against Rome as coached by gym teacher, Dan Hopkins (John Payne). Eventually the conflicting events come to mutual terms, leading to a fine relationship between teacher and student and their interest and knowledge of ships (Miss Tindel, daughter of a sea captain, raised in the whaling colony of New Bedford, Massachusetts), and a romance that blossoms between Miss Tindel and Mr. Hopkins. After learning Nora and Dan spent the summer together at Willow Springs, Mr. Steele (Francis Pierlot), the school principal, makes demands on their dismissal. However, Dan resigns in order to have Nora retain her teaching position, a job she so loves. Later, Nora and Dan's secret marriage causes friction between the jealous Dewey and his favorite teacher. After a few more incidents depicted in Miss Tindel's life, and whatever became of her husband, the story moves forward to the present day as Nora awaits for her glimpse of Dewey Roberts, and a heartfelt conclusion not to be missed.

REMEMBER THE DAY, based on the play by Philip Higley and Philip Dunning, is a warm, sensitive story that plays with warmth and conviction. As much as the idea of teacher being reunited with former student now in public office might seem original, a little known gem titled GRAND OLD GIRL (RKO Radio, 1935) starring May Robson, consisted a similar concept but not the exact story. In it, Robson plays the elderly school teacher who's reunited with former student, the president of the United States. Though Shepperd Strudwick, credited as John Shepperd, gets third billing in the cast listing as the adult Dewey Roberts, much of the story belongs to Douglas Croft playing the same character at age 13. A natural child actor, best known for playing Lou Gehrig as a boy in THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942), and George M. Cogan as a boy in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942), whose character grows to become Gary Cooper and James Cagney respectively, he's not only given more to do here, but gives an excellent performance all around. The fact that Croft and Sheppard nearly resemble one another makes their characters even more passable. Another bonus that makes REMEMEBR THE DAY worth recommending is the close-to-accurate hair styles and clothing for its actors depicted in the 1916-17 era as opposed to some movies set in another time frame having its actors costumed in modern-day fashion. A worthy offering, especially from former school teachers with fond memories of their former students, especially one who stands out among the others, leaving one to wonder where are they now? Other members in the cast include Ann Todd (Kate Hill, a fellow student with a crush on Dewey); Frieda Inescort (Ann Hill, as a woman); Jane Seymour (Dewey's mother); Harry Hayden (Dewey's father); Billy Dawson (Steve Hill); George Ernest (Bill Tower, the hotel bellboy and former Miss Tindal student) Anne Revere (Nadine Price); among others.

Not shown regularly on commercial television since the 1970s, and never distributed to home video but available on DVD since 2013 by Cinema Archives, REMEMBER THE DAY did get the time of day with broadcasts on numerous cable channels, including Cinemax (1986), American Movie Classics (1991-92), Fox Movie Channel, and eventually Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 18, 2014). Henry King, an underrated movie director, through his fine direction, provides a first-rate production where its theme song, "Till We Meet Again" would have any first-time viewer thinking to one-self whenever REMEMBER THE DAY should be available for cable TV viewing again. (****)

This is a very nice little movie that showed Claudette Colbert and John Payne to great advantage as two young teachers who, in 1916, meet in a small mid-western town, teaching at a high school. They fall in love, and we watch the romance blossom into a marriage - the entire effect helped by the nostalgia of a by-gone, simpler era. Parallelling the story we have the story of a young boy that goes to the school and is taught by both Colbert and Payne.

The film is set up with it's heart (the romance) surrounded by a more recent story set in 1940, at the Republican Presidential Convention (a fictional version of the convention). Colbert is there to see the young boy student, who has now grown up. It is not until the film ends that we understand who she is visiting with. And it is not until the conclusion of the film that we get the bittersweet portion of the romance.

The film is very simple, and it's final element for success is that Payne and Colbert had terrific chemistry together. Ironically enough it would be their only film together (one wishes they had done a second film but that was not in the cards for some reason). Also ironically, it's total success should be compared with the comparative failure of TOMORROW IS FOREVER, wherein Orson Welles and Colbert both perform their roles well (in characters very like Payne's and Colbert's here) but lack the spark to make that trickier story more believable.

I've been trying to remember the name of this movie

for 30-40- years ,,, and found it tonight ! I've looked before but couldn't find it ..

i remember watching this on TV in the 50's and loved it and always thought about it .. the ending..was to me ..one of the Great movie endings..

the theme of " loyalty' ... is what always stuck with me .... and the people we've met in our life ...who we never forget...

thank you IMDb!!

This movie may seem old-fashioned today.Two teachers having an affair (this was also the subject of "these three" by William Wyler )causing a scandal ! These three are here a man,a woman and a boy;the movie begins when Claudette Colbert is an old teacher and the rest is a very long flashback ;it is interesting to notice there's something similar in a more recent work such as "Mr Holland's opus" in which a clumsy girl ,Holland's former pupil,becomes a senator.

More than a propaganda movie (WW1 and when the movie was produced WW2),this is a tribute to the teachers:Mrs Prinell is the kind of mistress every boy and girl would like to have (or would have liked to have).Her word reaches far when she tells Dewey he "stands out" but ,like any human being,he is on his own .Perhaps the ending is too good to be true and in real life people who make their way of life often forget the people who helped them along the way,but this is a wonderful ending:I love the moment when Deway mumbles "Mrs Trinell...Nora Trinell..." The boy writing "I beg your pardon" on the blackboard,the white Xmas ,the "auld Lang Syne" on the last day of the year and the train leaving the little town :we'll remember these days.

In the vein of CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP, GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS and GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE, Fox gave CLAUDETTE COLBERT and JOHN PAYNE a chance to show what they could do in another sentimental tale about the passage of time in a schoolmarm's life and her effect on faculty and students, as well as her remembrance of a lost love.

The good thing about REMEMBER THE DAY is it doesn't wallow in cheap sentiment the way some of the sudsers mentioned above had a tendency to do. Nor is it quite as cheerless. Instead, the script is bright and pleasant for most of the time, giving Claudette and John Payne a chance to create likable characters.

Like so many '40s romances, it's told in flashback as Claudette recalls her romance with football coach Payne at a school where both of them are teachers who never met before. Both have a natural charm that really comes across here with Claudette being the sort of dream teacher everyone should have--warm and thoughtful. And little DOUGLAS CROFT is excellent as her most promising student.

Of course, true love never does run smooth in these sort of things and soon a hint of scandal puts a damper on the Colbert/Payne romance when their moral conduct leads the school president to believe they spent the summer together violating school rules. Colbert rejects Payne's proposal of marriage at first, but later they do wed and he goes off to war.

ANNE REVERE is excellent as a prim and proper spinsterish teacher who misunderstands gossip about Colbert's romance. The period flavor is nicely captured but Alfred Newman's overly busy background score is a bit too schmaltzy for comfort, with old time songs constantly playing away in the background

With Payne joining the service (the Royal Canadian engineers), you know something has to happen to make it an ill-fated romance. Fortunately, the lighter side of the romance keeps the picture from falling into the bathos of many a tear-jerker, saving it from the fate of a film like CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP.

Summing up: Well wrought sentiment nicely directed by Henry Koster with Colbert at her charming best and Payne as a promising newcomer.