Somewhere I'll Find You

Films like "Somewhere I'll Find You" are great little time capsules. We tend to forget that America has a well-grounded isolationist past even though George Bush represented a return to the philosophy before 9/11. Anyways, this films' primary function was to rev up the home-front and sell war bonds and profile Gable and Turner. It does both well. It accurately forecasts a longer war and an eventual victory. The love story was humorous. The gamesmanship within the threesome tended to get a bit irritating until I realized that it was simply a plot device to keep things moving along as if the War wasn't a sufficient motivator. The more powerful love story was the unstated one between Gable and Carole Lombard. Her death a few days into the filming must have had an unimaginable affect on Gable. I could detect nothing in his performance that measured that. This was not necessarily a good film but there is a small pleasure to be had in viewing it and paying some distant homage to 1942 America.

With the title this film has, I was expecting the Noel Coward classic song to be somewhere in the background. Might have helped this film quite a lot.

It's not a bad film, but it's quite a let down from Honky Tonk which was the first Clark Gable-Lana Turner combination which incidentally is my favorite Clark Gable role. It would be another six years before Gable and Turner would be paired again and in this one, Homecoming, it was Turner's picture all the way. It's my favorite Lana Turner picture.

In Somewhere I'll Find You, brothers Gable and Robert Sterling are reporters who both fall for female reporter Lana Turner. Gable keeps trying to convince Sterling that Turner's not the girl for him, but he's quite insincere in saying he doesn't have ulterior motives.

Midway through the film the action shifts from New York City to the Far East in the days just before Pearl Harbor and the last part of the film is a rousing bit of patriotic bravado, letting those people in the Orient know that the United States suffered a knockdown, but far from a knockout.

Gable's final scene, a radio broadcast from Bataan must have been especially poignant for him. This film was the only one he did between Carole Lombard's death and his discharge from military service. When he said 'more will come' he meant quite literally he was coming also. He had in fact already enlisted in the army and would be serving in the Air Corps as a tail-gunner.

Robert Sterling was being showcased in this film as well. He was MGM's junior version of Robert Taylor. Of course his greatest success was with his wife Anne Jeffreys on television in Topper.

Patricia Dane has a small, but telling role as a girl Gable picks up on the rebound from Turner. She should have had a much bigger career than she did. In the battle scene with the Japanese on the beach, small roles were given to future MGM stalwart players Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn.

Somewhere I'll Find You is not as good as Honky Tonk or Homecoming, but it's still a well crafted piece of entertainment.

Clark Gable was always an actor well worth watching, and great performances are a great many (his Rhett Butler being deservedly iconic). Lana Turner has also been capable of giving good performances. The story sounded interesting and comedy with a mix of drama has worked well before and since, if not without its dangers.

'Somewhere I'll Find You' is notable too for Gable's wife Carole Lombard having tragically and prematurely died in a plane crash three days into shooting, wanted to see how Gable would fare in a film that would have been rather painful for him to do (apparently he wanted the rather profound title changed, and it is very understandable why, actually would have done the same if in his position). 'Somewhere I'll Find You' is not great, neither is it awful, and doesn't see everybody at the top of their game. It is very watchable and above average if somewhat uneven.

The good things are many. It's a good looking film, particularly in the way it's shot, showing fluidity and professionalism instead of haste or sloppiness. It's scored in a way that suits the tone of the film well, and it's all efficiently directed by Wesley Ruggles who doesn't allow 'Somewhere I'll Find You' to be less than interesting. Really liked the charming and amusing first half, even if it was somewhat standard and occasionally contrived, which had a humorous rapport, well-timed gags and smart script-writing. Underneath all that too there is an emotional power.

Gable fared remarkably well in his performance here, there are parts where he is subdued and more than understandably, but he is mostly very moving in particularly the end. His charm and comic gifts weren't lost and that he carried on despite being grief-stricken is to be commended. Lana Turner is lively and at times sympathetic, with a touch of melodrama which fitted the tone of the second half well. Robert Sterling is great support and the three work very well together, even if Gable and Sterling are never quite believable as brothers. The supporting cast, that includes Reginald Owen, Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn, are solid.

On the other hand, those good things are mixed with some not so good things. Namely that the more dramatic second half creates a rather jarring tone change and it feels like a film of two different halves, like two films in one which gave 'Somewhere I'll Find You' a disjointed sense. The pacing isn't as efficient and while there are enough poignant moments there are heavy-handed ones too.

This is particularly apparent towards and at the end, which did come over as preachy in the writing. The ending is rather too convenient and tacked on. The film has moments where it is a little too underplayed and also where it's a touch melodramatic.

In conclusion, above average if uneven, not quite dynamite. 6/10 Bethany Cox

What a pleasant way to spend two hours when one can't sleep. I loved Lana Turner's face, a little baby fat and that water and soap look. Another thing I really liked was the dialog, even the jokes held up well, despite their 70 year span since having been written. I was surprised to come to this site and see how many of the comments were negative. I like to think myself intelligent, beyond the attraction of the quasi harlequin romance of the story, so I'm going to sum up my over exaggerated enjoyment of this film with the fact that I have yet to see either Honky Tonk or Homecoming. If I liked this one, I am sure I'll love the other two. :-)

Had the opportunity to view this film on TV, which was shown in the early AM hours and found it very interesting for a WWII. Clark Gable gave a great performance, despite the fact, that in real life he lost the soul mate of his life and managed to show his great ability as an actor in playing the part of Lana Turner's lover. This was sort of a pick me up for audiences during the war years and having two men after one woman was a different twist. Robert Sterling gave a great supporting role as a guy who was also in love with poor Lana Turner and managed to hold his own against Clark Gable. This is truly a great 1942 Classic and a great picture with Turner & Gable at their very best. Enjoy.