Come prima... meglio di prima

It's a really sweet story, but the execution of it to bring it to our screens is disappointing.

The A to B of 'Never Say Goodbye' is rather endearing, with people reconnecting. However, how the film fills in the blanks is kinda shoddy. I found a lot of the dialogue to be cringeworthy and the way characters act came across as irritating. I will say most of that stems from the final 30 or so minutes, it's a tad more solid up until that point.

The cast members themselves are good, it's all well acted. Rock Hudson, Cornell Borchers and George Sanders are all decent value. The look of the film is also pleasant enough. I just wish the production itself, namely on the writing side, was more well made.

Clint Eastwood has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it uncredited role, though is named - as 'Will'. Still a fair few films until his career really got going.

German film star Cornell Borchers stars with Rock Hudson in this Fifties romance of love and sacrifice Never Say Goodbye. Who would have thought that George Sanders would not be a cad in a film.

Hudson plays an army doctor in post war Europe awaiting home and discharge and he runs into Borchers and Sanders in a nightclub. He and Borchers marry and they have a kid who grows up to be Shelley Fabares. But the way she and Sanders keep hanging around together arouses the old green eyed monster in Rock. He confronts her and she takes off behind the Iron Curtain in post war Vienna where who knows she might have run into Harry Lime.

Fast forward to the present being 1956. Borchers and Sanders are in Los Angeles doing their club act and she runs into Hudson who has told his daughter that her mother was dead. After this the film becomes positively weepy.

I won't say more, but everybody here becomes positively noble and noble does not wear well on George Sanders.

Never Say Goodbye was what was termed a woman's picture back in the day and for those who are inclined to these type films this one is for you. Look fast and you'll see Clint Eastwood as one of Rock's medical colleagues.

Douglas Sirk guided Rock through a few of these kinds of films in their salad days. But Sirk knew enough to keep his hands off this.

Although Jerry Hopper is the credited director of "Never Say Goodbye", Douglas Sirk oddly goes unrecognized as the co-director. Though Sirk's presence can be felt at times, "Never Say Goodbye" lacks the visual irony and heaving drama of his greatest films. Nonetheless, this is a beautifully-acted, handsomely-crafted affair, with a lush Frank Skinner score and some climactic melodrama thrown in for good measure. Part war romance, part domestic drama, "Never Say Goodbye" is an interesting hybrid that actually works.

Rock Hudson plays a military doctor who falls in love with nightclub pianist, Cornell Borchers. They marry and have a baby and all seems right. That is, until Hudson's seething jealousy wrecks everything that they had established. Tragedy tears the couple apart and Hudson must raise their daughter alone. Years later, fate brings the couple back together and their daughter(played surprisingly well by a young Shelley Fabares)must come to grips with the mother she had never known. The always good George Sanders is sorely underused as the man who blames Hudson for the entire ordeal.

"Never Say Goodbye" has its heavy-handed moments for sure. And you just might roll your eyes at how quickly and cleanly the ending gets wrapped up. But the action gets rolling almost from scene one and it turns out to be a satisfying, if unmemorable, nugget of 1950's soap opera. Uinversal-International continues to churn out the glossy fluff with this one.

Although widely acknowledged that parts of "Never Say Goodbye" were directed by Douglas Sirk, the credit is given to Jerry Hopper with no mention of Sirk at all. Filmographies of Sirk's work most often do not include this work.

"Never Say Goodbye" has many of the hallmarks of Sirk's work, though is much lacking in the biting social criticism that elevated his finest work. Like "Interlude" this is pure melodrama, filmed with style but ultimately forgettable.

Rock Hudson and George Sanders turn in predictably solid performances but it is Cornell Borchers an Ingrid Bergman Greta Garbo hybrid, who manages to bring a sense of truth to the more than unlikely drama, which is essential for the melodrama's success.

While obviously not in the class of the major Sirk melodrama's there is enough here of interest to followers of his work.

Please, does anyone knows where this movie can be found? To either buy or rent! Please advise and thank you in advance.

A wonderful family movie...yes with drama! I liked it very much and thought it was well put together. With the war surrounded this couple and the jealousy of Rock made the wife a bit uncomfortable. However he seemed to have loved her very much and was very concern for her safety after she was missing and wanted to take her with him to the States especially since she was his wife and the mother of his very young daughter. It was hurtful for all 3 of them with her missing for so many years.

How can I get to watch this movie again? It has been quite a number of many years and I just cannot find it to purchase and not in rental stores either. Can someone please advice on this? Much thanks