Identity Unknown

An odd amnesia story: in France, a barn is bombed containing four American soldiers. Only one survives but without a memory. In order to reconnect with his earlier life and identity, he decides to visit the closest of kin to all these four casualties, hoping that he might be recognised somewhere. He ticks them off one by one and finally reaches the conclusion that he was none of them. Here is the mystery.

But in each of the four places he visits he unconsciously performs some miracle, saving the parents of one of the four soldiers from selling their home, forming an intimate relationship with the son of one of the others, saving the position and future of the brother of one of the others, and consoling the widow of the fourth. But there is more to it than that.

Like most amnesia stories, it's a fascinating mental journey of discovery into the unknown, and like so often in such cases the final rise of the curtain is a stage-opening to an astounding surprise. The conclusion is as welcome as it is totally unexpected.

An interesting World War II psychological drama casting Richard Arlen, star of the silent epic, WINGS, as a soldier who survived a bombing in which three others, who were burned beyond recognition but who possessed similar physical descriptions, perished. Hospitalized, and suffering from amnesia as a result, he adopts the name of "Johnny March," goes AWOL, and sets out to visit the locales where service records indicated the four victims lived in hopes of establishing his identity. Especially poignant are his scenes with Bobby Driscoll, the talented child star, in one of his early roles. When "March" shows up at his doorstep, the boy believes him to be his father, who is missing in action. I give this film a rating of three out of a possible five stars.

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.

This film was surprisingly good as evidenced by the other user comments shown here.I know how frustrating it is to know you know someone's name but cannot bring it readily out of the brain archive into the live active part.Some time ago I could not think of the name of that great Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, even though I knew of his identity so that I used a mnemonic trick to always remember his name in case I needed to quote him at my art class.

The script was intelligent highlighting the unmentionable things soldiers have to witness in wartime.As the WW1 song lyric goes, "...they'll never believe us , they'll never believe us".Richard Arlen who played Johnny March gave a sensitive performance as the amnesiac soldier and no, I won't provide a spoiler how it resolves in the end.He meets all of the relatives of the dead U.S. soldiers his commanding officer advised he served with in the hope of establishing his true identity.I was glad to see this on Youtube for the first time especially as I was born in 1946 about the time this film was made when some great WW11 post war stories were being produced.7/10.

A man who gave all and lost everything :when you return from WW2 and you suffer from amnesia ,what does life lay in store for you?

There are four possible identities, thus the movie is roughly divided into four parts; the film does not pass over in silence the sufferings the amnesiac soldier leaves in his wake: the scene in the restaurant where friends seem to recognize Sally 's husband , the little boy (young Bobby Driscoll ,a child actor who was also featured in the excellent 'the Sullivans") who needs a father so bad ....the fourth part restores balance:The soldier ,who delivers a superb speech , comes to the rescue of the old couple about to sell their house because dad cannot stand the place where his dead son used to live (a deeply moving performance by Sarah Padden as the mother who would like to keep memories of this house so much).

In my book ,the third part in Chicago is less gripping and there's a slight sag in the tension and emotion in "Johnny March's" search ; but by the segment in the Anderson 's house, it's back for good. And the denouement is not what one expects : besides ,considering Johnny's childhood, it's thoroughly plausible.

The following year ,Joseph Mankiewicz would do "somewhere in the night" with an amnesiac in search of his past ;the budget was bigger ,but it was a film noir whereas "identity unknown" is a simple drama.