Dr. Johnsons Heimkehr

2nd viewing and a lot of time in between.

Enjoyed it first time especially how Lana pulls her role off and how sincere Gable was. Both great actors always worth watching. Anne Baxter was also very,very touching and deep as the wife.

What really got me this time, having spent war time in Nam, was the changes Gable went through and the HOMECOMING. Anyone who has NOT experienced the razor's edge of actual combat, the terror the elation and the horror of seeing others die can feel what Gable projected magnificently in coming home after all that madness and trying to feel like you fit in again anywhere. You don't....for a long time. That why Gable said "...bear with me for a while..." Not only was he talking about losing Lana but returning home from a war, sometimes much more difficult than war itself. This film has so much deep feelings embedded in all three major characters it is amazing to me. The writer nailed it and Mr LeRoy was almost genius in bringing out such performances by all. I'm glad I got to view it on TCM a 2nd time. It really brings out a HOMECOMING!!

Sometimes I don't understand those who judge the quality of a film, because this one deserves more credits. With classic cinema it happens as when one reads past history, you must place yourself in the historical moment, to better understand the reason for the events and the behavior of its protagonists.

The subject of this film must have happened many times in the years of World War II, as was a fact mentioned by the heirs of those who lived through it, the plot of the 1970 film Sunflower. In the solitude of the battlefield, many Military doctors must have fallen in love with their beautiful nurse on duty.

The scene where Lana Turner and Grant kiss for the first time is unforgettably beautiful. The initial attitude between the two as military leaders is perfect. So is officer Useless's erratic behavior when he returns from the war to his wife, and his longing for home, everything seems strange to him. I believe that there was no American soldier who did not suffer this crisis upon returning from the battlefield, after several years of fighting.

The final dialogue between the misplaced officer and his wife is like a parody of what many of those American heroes lived through.

It is true that it is not easy for young people today to watch Black and White films from the classic cinema, I advise them to try to locate themselves in time, and try to understand at the same time the limitations of the technology of that time. They will realize if they achieve it, that cinematographic art prevailed here.

Successful surgeon Ulysses Johnson (Clark Gable) joins the Army Medical Corps during WW2. Once deployed, he develops a tempestuous relationship with his chief nurse, Jane "Snapshot" McCall (Lana Turner). Their constant bickering eventually morphs into romantic feelings, which Johnson's wife Penny (Anne Baxter) can sense back home through his letters. She looks for solace from crusading doctor Robert Sunday (John Hodiak).

This somewhat soapy romance features surprisingly good performances from the cast. Gable seems an unlikely surgeon at first, but he settles into that role well. Baxter and Hodiak, a real-life married couple at the time, give their best to underwritten parts. The real revelation is Lana Turner, an actress that I've never really warmed to. I thought she fit her role well in The Postman Always Rings Twice, but every other movie that I've seen her in, I couldn't help thinking it would be better with someone else cast. Here she's real and genuine and nuanced like I haven't seen her before. It may be the script, or direction that clicked, or co-star Gable, or all of the above, but it works, and it's the best acting job I've seen from her.

What a gem this story is! Here you will find no platitudes; no heroes 10 feet tall; no heels - most of all no heels. This is about the most caring, life-affirming story you are ever going to find, and it is done without any syrup, nor any gratuitous and tiresome acting-out of missteps.

There is a a single scene near the end which implies that a single misstep MAY have been committed, but sorry to tell you, you are going to have to work out for yourself what did or didn't happen, because it's not spelled out. It was brave rather than a cop-out to present a pivotal scene that way.

The film is technically excellent. The scene composition is superb. You have never seen a WW2 field hospital so meticulously and realistically re-created. There is a scene viewed through the door of a tent where someone walks away that is so amazingly technically well done (as well as evocative) as to be amazing. I can't tell you that the snow falling in that scene was real, but it LOOKED absolutely real. The fadeout as the figure walked gradually into the falling snow was perfect. It's a little thing that a film nut notices, because it's hard to do.

The messages are about finding one's humanity, daring to need, and daring to reach out to someone to need you back. By the end, you may find yourself touched so deeply as to be shaking.

The great surprise with this film was to find Lana Turner totally different from all impressions you ever had of her and so much better. She actually makes the film, and every scene with her is golden cinematic sunshine and top film acting because of her. Clark Gable is always good, perhaps the most reliably excellent actor Hollywood ever had, and although he is on top also here, Lana outshines him. Anne Baxter was never lovelier, in the beginning, but she hopelessly falls in the shadow of Lana, and is well aware of it. Another surprise was John Hodiak as the friend and fellow doctor acting as something of a startling conscience but acting it without any effort, as a doctor should react absolutely frankly and matter-of-fact. Gladys Cooper also does a good job as usual as one of her many mothers, while you'll never recognize Cameron Mitchell here as a very young boy. The artistic excellence of unity permeates the film and fills it with warm humanity from beginning to end. Much of the credit for this seething warmth of human atmosphere and candid heartfiulness comes from the exquisitely discreet but nonetheless overwhelmingly beautiful musical score by Bronislau Kaper - I never saw that name before, while at the same time Mervyn LeRoy's masterhand at the direction is felt comfortably all the way. All this ends up to a top score of ten unhesitatingly. It could very well be both Clark Gable's and Lana Turner's best film.