Identity Unknown

This film, ostensibly about a US soldier returning from World War Two with amnesia searching for his former identity, is actually about the effects of losing a loved one in the war. It surprisingly touching and has a low-key naturalness uncommon in low-budget Republic Pictures productions, probably thanks to screenwriter Richard Weil, as the rest of the production crew have few noteworthy accomplishments.

Richard Arlen, who in real life served in World War One, is thus about one war too old for the lead character and turns in his usual stiff performance, here suitable for one suffering from memory loss. The underlying gimmick is that he's told that could be any of four missing GIs. Yes, this could have been resolved by sending his photo to the four families involved, but the script manages to make his mission somewhat plausible. His traveling around the country for a week with nothing but his uniform, which remains clean and neatly pressed just as he stays well-groomed and clean-shaven, is less plausible but typical of Hollywood movies of all eras.

He encounters, respectively, the wife, the son, the brother, and the parents of the four men, each episode containing a small drama in itself related directly or indirectly to the missing soldier's absence. Some twists and turns along the way. No need to spoil them.

There have been lavishly produced better-known films about the war's effects on the home front and returning soldiers, yet somehow I felt this forgotten film better captures the bittersweet feeling of victory mingled with loss.

Best performance is by Bobby Driscoll, just beginning his career as a child star that was to end in tragedy. More surprising is that of Cheryl Walker, now almost unknown, as a soldier's widow. Walker was a SoCal beauty queen who had a brief film career before becoming something of a Bircher in later life. This may not suggest a major talent but her performance here is moving and sympathetic. Somehow she never got beyond B movies and stand-in work.

I'm not a big fan of movies relating to war, but this one struck a chord with me. Its naturalistic portrayal of ordinary people was more common in European movies at that time.

The part of the brother of one of the missing is played by one John Forrest. Watching it one would assume he was a well-known character actor yet he appeared in only ten other films, all in uncredited bit parts. I mention this because everyone involved seemed to performing over their heads. Nice score by another non-household word, Jay Chernis. Just one of those times when everything clicks.

Right after WW2, Johnny finds himself on a hospital ship heading for home. There is only one problem; he doesn't remember who he is or where he comes from.

He was injured when defending a house completely surrounded by German troops together with three fellow soldiers, As the house was bombed the others perished whilst Johnny was wounded and in the process lost his memory.

Back in the states he goes awol, seeking out the families of the four men trapped in that house.

An OK 40's movie, but it does have some slight problems with logic in the script. The army doesn't know which of the four men survived, yet the families he visits all seem to know that their husband/father/son/brother has been killed; The army told them.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit. There were really some poignant moments as a GI suffering from amnesia goes AWOL to figure out who he is. He has a list with four names on it and it appears that he is actually one of the names on that list. As he visits several homes traumatized by war it soon becomes apparent that the odyssey isn't just about him but about everyone suffering from the deaths of their loved ones in the military.

Richard Arlen isn't the greatest actor ever but his downbeat style works almost perfectly here. He plays a really decent man who is confused and a bit dazed. Some of the incidents could have used a tiny bit more craft to fulfill their potential. The part where a young boy thinks his dead father has come home could have been real dramatic dynamite. That sequence is realized OK but not great here. Otherwise, this is a good film that held my interest all the way. The ending was a tad anti-climatic but not terrible. Good little film here about the sometimes hidden devastation of war and the healing that hopefully occurs later.

Recently a funeral procession passed my house. It was for a young man killed in Afghanistan. He had a young child that I don't believe he ever saw. It was a very solemn moment.

There were four corpses in the farmhouse, burned and dismembered beyond recognition, their dog tags scattered, because they were -- had been -- American soldiers fighting in France. There was also a fifth man, Richard Arlen, and he was alive, but he couldn't remember who he was. So when he was being transferred to a military hospital, he left the train, went AWOL, with the names and addresses off the dog tags, hoping that he was one of them, that familiar places and people would jog his memory, and he could return home and get on with his life.

It's a nice idea for a movie, and Arlen's low-key acting is spot on, as is the way that as he goes along, being disappointed in turn, he leaves the survivors of the dead soldiers a little better off in four vignettes. Of course, this is a Republic picture, and it's the first directorial job of Walter Colmes, so the subtext is pounded out pretty hard in four vignettes and an epilogue.

Still, there are good roles in it for Roger Pryor, as a patriotic hoodlum, as well as Forrest Taylor and Sarah Padden as an old farm couple trying to come to terms with the death of their son. It's all rather unsubtle for my taste, but its heart is so clearly in the right place that I willingly forgive that.

Richard Arlen was one of those guys you never hear about, but always found great drama to be in, whether by agent or by his own choosing.

The story here is about an amnesiac soldier found in a farmhouse with three dead bodies. For dog tags are found. The bodies are burned, and no one from their unit is available for identification.

Our main character finds himself on a hospital ship and back in the states, and is given the names and addresses of the four men in hopes it will jar his memory. He is frustrated by his Amnesia so much that he runs out and visits each address on his own in order to find out his identity.

Arlen is great in such roles. The plot itself is full of some contrivances and holes, but the characters are multi dimensional and very credible, which makes for the best films, credible characters in incredible circumstances.

The low key atmosphere works great to help sustain our interest, because this is a mystery above all else, and we have a sneaking suspicion how it will turn out, but not the exact outcome.

Everything is done beautifully, and this works like a charm because you truly care about not only our unidentified soldier, but also about all the characters. A directorial achievement. A hidden gem.