Ritorno

When John Mills gets a letter from his sister that his wife, Joy Shelton, is carrying on with local sporting man Stewart Granger, he goes AWOL back to his home to track them down and deal with the situation.

I've passed up numerous chances to see this movie before I realized that it had John Mills in it. "Huh! Is there a third movie version of WATERLOO BRIDGE?" No, it's a domestic drama directed and co-written by Sidney Gilliat, so it has a good, rough sense of humor, abetted by Alastair Sim as the local doctor, and one of every three characters who recognize local boy Mills. This being released before the end of the War, it also has a morale-boosting bit of propaganda at the end, enlarging Sim's role a bit.

There are lots of faces familiar to movie fans, including Jean Kent, Wallace Lupino, Ben Williams, and Kathleen Harrison. It's not a very deep or important film, but it will interest and amuse fans of the talented cast and crew.

Soldier Jim Colter, called up to fight in World War Two, goes AWOL to get to his home near Waterloo station after hearing that his wife is seeing a philandering conscription dodger Ted Purvis. Can he avoid being caught and save his marriage?

Wartime drama, not untypical of British films of this era, and watchable to the end. John Mills and Joy Shelton star as the couple but Stewart Granger excels as the charmer. Fine cameo by Alastair Sim who commands the screen each time he appears.

An agreeably told story of the domestic upheavals on the home front during the second world war. The cast is a good one: Stewart Granger, as the war dodging Romeo who makes a play for a neglected soldier's wife (Joy Shelton); Alastair Sim as the local g.p. on hand to offer his sage advice; George Carney as the lodger, trying to dodge the warring females in the household and happiest when he's with his pigeons; Beatrice Varley as the worried mother trying desperately to make ends meet and do right by her family; Alison Leggatt as the interfering sister-in-law and Vera Francis as the nosey sister. John Mills and Shelton hold the piece together as Mr and Mrs Ordinary Man and Woman, and there is a nice comic turn from Wylie Watson as a Tattooist. Best of all we have Jean Kent, wisecracking her way through the war as Toni, the discarded girlfriend of Granger, who's done very nicely thank you, having been set up in her own hairdressing business.

"Waterloo Road" deserves to be better known than it is. If, like me, you were born after the war, it is a fascinating glimpse of a time gone by, but don't watch it for that alone. It is a story about ordinary people in wartime, without heroics and melodrama, but with an abundance of character and incident. The characters struck me as being true to life, and I didn't find a jarring line of dialogue or a scene which dragged. John Mills gave a fine performance as a soldier gone AWOL, and Stewart Granger as the cad out to seduce his wife. All in all, a wonderful little film.

I wonder how daring this film was for wartime with a sympathetic treatment of soldiers AWOL? Also unfaithful wifes, a worry to many soldiers, the ones that weren't frollicking with girls in liberated countries of course. My interest were lots of authentic outdoor scenes in wartime London. Only criticism was the requirement for the cad to be doubly punished!! (Villains had to be seen to punished for it to get by the censor). Alister Sims seemed menacing even though he was playing a good guy.