Intermezzo matrimoniale

This is an excellent movie about spouses rediscovering each other. Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr are perfect as a mousy and dull couple who are transformed by the challenges of war and a separation from each other. It's rare to find a movie that focuses on a married couple in this way. This is a film for romantics and, since I am one, I recommend it strongly.

There are certain stories that are so original and intrinsically entertaining that they get reinvented every 20 or 30 years. Case in point, "The shop around the corner", which became "In the good old summertime" and finally "You've got mail". That's the kind of originality that runs through this story. Premise: A young married couple about to be parted for 3 years, both to do duty in her Majesty's Royal Navy in WWII. He's timid and boring. She's mousy and sickly. He becomes bold and manly. She blossoms into an attractive and assertive woman. Both now dread having to meet each other again after several years separation, remembering only how each partner use to be like. What happens when they meet again is pure fun. Why are there no remakes of this terrific story? We've had plenty of new wars to use as a background. People still change, sometimes for the better, during long separations. I have a VHS copy of this story taped from TV years ago. I only wish they would sell this movie again, while we wait for the updated script someone should write.

This is a film on an often unexplored aspect of World War II - how couples grew apart after years of separation due to the service of one or both in the military. What makes this film so unusual is that it is exploring the topic - albeit in a rather light hearted and humorous fashion - at the very end of the war rather than a few years later.

In this case the couple (Deborah Kerr as Catherine Wilson and Robert Donat as Robert Wilson) really don't grow apart as a couple as much as they grow as individuals. They are both mousy plain almost invisible people prior to the war, seemingly happy in their routine. Then in the spring of 1940 Robert enters the British navy and Catherine enters the British equivalent of the WAVEs - the WRENs. There they are both tested, find their courage and their voice, and find the attention of and feel attraction to members of the opposite sex, all the while with each remembering the other as they were before the war and feeling somewhat disappointed at the idea of resuming their mousy existences - and marriage - after the war.

Then comes what should be a happy event - after three years apart both are granted a ten days leave - time enough to reunite and get to know each other again ... or not. I'll let you see what happens as they both return to their prewar flat with all the enthusiasm of the condemned to their execution.

Everything in this production is outstanding - cinematography, makeup, and of course stellar jobs by the entire cast. I would have never thought Deborah Kerr and Robert Donat could ever have generated any chemistry together, but the proof is in the pudding. I highly recommend it.

Deborah Kerr and Robert Donat give wonderful performances in "Vacation from Marriage," a 1945 film directed by Alexander Korda. It's the story of a boring British couple - she's a mousy housewife prone to colds, and he's a mousy accountant who lives by a strict routine. When World War II hits, he joins the Navy and she joins the WRENS. He becomes very healthy, authoritative, and adventurous, and she becomes glamorous and independent. When faced with 10 days leave after nearly three years apart, neither one is looking forward to seeing the other again.

This very enjoyable film is heightened by the performances of the leads, both of whom ably demonstrate their change of personality and appearance after a few years of war. Glynis Johns is very good in a supporting role as well.

Highly recommended.

What a wonderful movie!

As is often the case I was drawn to it by the names - Robert Donat, Deborah Kerr, Glynis Johns and Alexander Korda. How can you go wrong? I learned later that this was the flick that made Kerr a star, and understandably so. Glynis Johns is always a delight to the eye.

The story line - a humdrum couple separated and transformed by the war - sounds like the makings for a pretty humdrum soap opera, but the script is very well done and involves us in the stories of these two people as they drift away from each other (or so they think).

The great Alexander Korda's direction is spot on and masterful. Particularly impressive are the cutaway shots from husband to wife as each of them travels home to meet each other on leave after 3 years apart from each other, he in the Navy, she in the Wrens (Britain's naval corps for women). We learn from their conversations with their traveling companions about their apprehensions about reuniting. The scene where they face each other with their doubts is shot completely in the dark, a master stroke, reflecting the fact that they really don't know each other anymore.

It's also a very good snapshot of wartime life in Britain.

Incidentally, it seems the film was originally released in a longer version titled "Perfect Strangers."

Altogether a wonderful find. Thank you Turner Classic Movies.