Um Sonho de Domingo

This should be out on Criterion DVD, and sadly, it has never even been released on ANY format. Unless you are lucky enough to catch it on AMC, you won't see it. Which is sad. The only thing I can add to what has already been said here in other comments and in the summary is that it is easily one of the 100 best movies of all time, and a MUST if you are a fan of this era!!!!!!

I have been looking for this movie for a long time! I first saw it when it was a new movie and I was a child about the age of the little girl in the movie. It made a big impression on me at the time, partly because my father was away serving in the Navy. As an adult, I had vague memories of it but could not remember the title of the film. I remembered the older sister and the soldier (although I thought of him as a Navy man) on the beach, and I remembered the little girl, and an overall feeling that it was a good movie I had really enjoyed. Over the years I watched a lot of movies made during the war, hoping to find the right one, but never having success. A couple of years ago I found a description on the internet that sounded like the movie I was looking for, but I still couldn't be sure it was the right one. At least I had a title to look for, but the movie apparently was not available for sale and did not turn up on TV until today! I just saw it on the Fox movie channel and it was the movie I remembered! I loved the movie this time, too; it is a wonderful, heartwarming family film.

I first saw Sunday Dinner for a Soldier in 1945 or 1946 when I was about 8 and it has stuck with me all these years. The last scene, when John Hodiak's plane is dipping its wings as they are leaving to go overseas caused me to choke up when I first saw and it still affects me the same way. The scene in which John Hodiak and Anne Baxter are dancing in the unfinished night club is very moving and projects the feelings between them much better then the bedroom scenes of today's movies. Sunday Dinner for a Soldier is a very enjoyable movie especially for people who lived through that era. I wish it would be released on DVD and I agree with one of the other comments about so many trashy movies having been released on DVD.

A poor family living on a houseboat plans a very special Sunday DINNER FOR A SOLDIER.

Here is an excellent example of the type of movie Hollywood produced during World War Two as morale boosting entertainment. It depicts the decency of the folks on the Home Front that the guys in the military were fighting to preserve and protect. Today, its unabashed nostalgia & romanticism greatly add to its appeal.

Anne Baxter stars as the determined young woman who must hold her family together during difficult times; the prospects of an affluent, but loveless, marriage only add to her strain. Appearing late in the film is John Hodiak as the gentle sergeant who comes wandering along Baxter's beach at exactly the right time. Together they epitomize the wistful longing which is forever associated with the warrior leaving for battle and the loved one left behind. Appropriately, Baxter & Hodiak were later to marry in real life. (Tragically, John Hodiak would die of a heart attack in 1955 at the age of only 41.)

Old Charles Winninger steals most of his scenes as Baxter's delightfully incorrigible 'Grandfeathers.' Her younger siblings are very well played by Billy Cummings, Connie Marshall, with her beloved pet hen, and little Bobby Driscoll, standing on his head, in one of his earliest film roles.

Two Oscar winning actresses enliven their smaller roles: Anne Revere as an outspoken chicken farmer who enjoys a playful feud with Winninger; and Jane Darwell as the community's liaison with the local air base. Gravel-voiced Chill Wills plays a friendly bus driver.

Near the end of the film movie mavens will recognize silent screen comic Chester Conklin as a photographer and Rory Calhoun as the sergeant who grabs Hodiak's strawberry cake, both uncredited.

'I'll See You In My Dreams' is the lovely old tune which ties together the romantic elements throughout the film.

Made use of the emotions of the citizens during the war on the homefront. I did love the movie and have found that is no where to be purchased. One may find it on cable TV. I saw it four years ago on American Movie Classics. Anne Baxter is a very attractive young woman in her role. One can easily fall for her in this film.