You Came Along

It is amazing how this film starts and how it ends. The very first scenes shows us one silly comedy about three Air Force pilots and one beautiful blonde PR (Scott). But the script makes an U turn and what we see is a very adult and realistic romance. The leading couple - Robert Cummings and Lizabeth Scott - are superb in their roles. And there is little trace of war propaganda, very subtle and always working to move the story. This is a film that could be so vain but manage to explore some deep meanings in romance and life itself. A nice piece of work from screenwriters Ayn Rand and Robert Smith, and director John Farrow. The ending is really touching.

"You Came Along" is like two different movies tossed together. The first portion is very light an silly...and completely frivilous. But in the second half, it gets deadly serious and sad. It does work...but you need to stick with the movie.

The story begins in Europe during WWII. Three pilots are being sent back to the US for a bond tour. The three (Bob Cummings, Don Defore and Charles Drake) seem like idiots who are only interested in scoring with women...and it remains that way through most of the story. Their chapperone on the bond tour (Lizbeth Scott...in her first film) seems a bit annoyed by them and their antics. However, over time, she begins to get along with them better and especially with the Major (Cummings). Naturally, tragedy is to follow!

This is a have a box of Kleenex handy sort of film. It sure doesn't seem that way through most of the movie...but by the end, the story gets deep and dark...and you'll thank me for suggesting the Kleenex. Worth seeing and one of the better films by the four leads.

Thanks a lot to the other reviewers so far..I enjoyed most of them and the first three reviewers got it pretty well for me! Yes it's quirky and different but I agree with one reviewer that Ayn Rand's positive and life-affirming views animate the film. For me it says SO much about society trying to build up again after the War and so much about hope (and hope in the face of loss) The acting really leaps in quality when the two leads face their decision whether to marry or not. I think it particularly moving that a film about war is 100% spent on domestic soil, and deals with the emotions of people who still live, meet, love and plan for the future. I feel that in the film makers' minds were: what will the audience be thinking and feeling? They have just been through 4 years of loss and hope, fear, tears, turmoil. The stand-out scenes are in the chapel for Ivy's sister's wedding, the church after they are married and of course the departure. Also in the nightclub, when the audience watches the band and Helen Forrest singing. It is the audience we are invited to observe, and perhaps the main theme of all is - handkerchiefs at the ready - love conquers all. There were some truly great films about adjustment to life after the war; this is one of them.

This film is a curious, very memorable and touching romance. The vast majority of the narrative line takes place during a bond-rally tour headed by Ivy Hotchkiss, played by Lizbeth Scott, and Robert Collins, played with intelligence by Bob Cummings. The bond-selling tour becomes a voyage of discovery as well as revelation as Cummings and his two partners, beautifully played by Don Defore and Charles Drake, try to keep Scott from finding out the secret Collins is hiding; at the same time, Scott falls in love with the mysterious fun-loving and irresponsible trio, especially their leader. The film is well-directed in B/W, with very good sets, lighting, costumes and lively camera-work; but the real star is Ayn Rand's scintillating and well-crafted script that keeps "sense-of-life as a positive" foremost even as we begin to wonder at Collin's reasons for keeping all light, uninvolved and gay. The supporting cast consists of old Hollywood professionals from Franklin Pangborn and Rhys Williams to Julie Bishop and Jim Bannon. This was a deservedly popular film, a TRop TRen grossing film during WWII, with its story about the need for hope made just at the end of the conflict.; Once again, Rand's uncanny ability to use honesty and clear definitions here others would use vague ideas turns a routine sort of comedy into an idea-level satire--a triumph of an indomitable man's spirit over adversity. This is a splendid piece of film-making, and one of the most atmospheric of homefront war films, with a lovely main theme and arresting dialogue. A love story for the ages.

Although this film introduces cinema audiences to Lizabeth Scott, it doesn't have anything going for it. You see Robert Cummings as a married man getting involved in domestic life washing up dishes, but this in and of itself is not advancing the plot. Cummings' acting is fine, but the individual performances do not lift the film. Scott is not easy on the eye even when she smiles. There is an arch at the side of her lip as if she has a bad taste in the mouth. It looks as though she is going to snarl at any minute, and you get the feeling that any happiness that she has will soon die in her face. Maybe if they had cast a better leading lady then her performance would have lifted the film.