Le Retour

What a gem this story is! Here you will find no platitudes; no heroes 10 feet tall; no heels - most of all no heels. This is about the most caring, life-affirming story you are ever going to find, and it is done without any syrup, nor any gratuitous and tiresome acting-out of missteps.

There is a a single scene near the end which implies that a single misstep MAY have been committed, but sorry to tell you, you are going to have to work out for yourself what did or didn't happen, because it's not spelled out. It was brave rather than a cop-out to present a pivotal scene that way.

The film is technically excellent. The scene composition is superb. You have never seen a WW2 field hospital so meticulously and realistically re-created. There is a scene viewed through the door of a tent where someone walks away that is so amazingly technically well done (as well as evocative) as to be amazing. I can't tell you that the snow falling in that scene was real, but it LOOKED absolutely real. The fadeout as the figure walked gradually into the falling snow was perfect. It's a little thing that a film nut notices, because it's hard to do.

The messages are about finding one's humanity, daring to need, and daring to reach out to someone to need you back. By the end, you may find yourself touched so deeply as to be shaking.

Ulysses ,what a name for a major whose odyssey took place in WW2,who learned after his "voyage" that success is no success at all,that selfishness leads to nowhere and that a doctor's work is to help his fellow men;we are not far from Stahl's "magnificent obsession" in which a reckless playboy was told that a man (Jesus ) had given his life so man was saved .

It's strange that the world Ulysse lives in is full of altruistic persons ,from "Snapshot" the nurse who never has a rest till all the wounded soldiers are operated to the Chester doctor (Hodiak) whose war has begun long before WW2,and from "Monk" the unfortunate soldier to the good doctor Sunday (again,what a name!).The US army looks more like Salvation Army! The title is partly a misnomer because it's essentially a long flashback (actually several flashbacks) dealing with the hard life of a military medical team in the war.Thus Gable is torn between his faithful wife (Anne Baxter) and his courageous nurse (their relationship is much too predictable).Best scene is perhaps the "Roman " bath :we feel that Gable is very human when she takes her bath and he 's got to force himself to stay calm and not to have a little look !

As a rule I'm not much into romantic films, but there are exceptions and Homecoming is one of them.

Clark Gable and Lana Turner did four films together and this is the third one. It's Turner's show here. It's a great tribute to her charisma and star quality that she looks incredibly sexy in those army fatigues she has to wear as per the plot. Lana Turner in her

younger days had a quality of winsomeness that was never showcased than when she plays Jane "Snapshot" McCall, idealistic army nurse.

In this cynical age we would look with incredulity that a widow with a young son would follow her late husband off to war because his ideals became her ideals. Yet Turner makes you believe that in this film.

The plot is simply Clark Gable, very successful doctor in a small mid-west city, goes to World War II basically because its expected of him. He's a self centered guy, nice home, loving wife played very well by Anne Baxter, all the material things you could want and not a clue about why we are in World War II. He has a fellow physician friend, John Hodiak who does a lot of pro bono public service work who tries to act as a conscience, but fails. I guess Turner had something to offer Hodiak didn't.

At first Dr. Ulysses Johnson (Gable) and Nurse McCall don't hit it off after she's assigned to him as a nurse. But her beauty and idealism get to him he falls for her big time.

Because its 1948 Hollywood and Anne Baxter is by no means a bad person there was no way Turner was going to wind up with Gable in the end. She has to die, but Turner is given a death scene that is one of the most moving in the history of film. You have to be made of stone not to be touched by her and Gable at her bedside.

John Hodiak, a very talented and almost forgotten figure today is also terrific as Gable's friend Dr. Robert Sunday. Gable will be working with Hodiak at the clinic Hodiak has in a poor neighborhood and he will be doing it because of the social conscience Turner has instilled in him.

There are no bad people in this film except the Nazis shooting at Gable Turner and the rest of Eisenhower's army.

I believe this is Lana Turner's best film and fans of her's should not miss this one.

This is a far from perfect film featuring Gable and Turner, but upon seeing it for the second time, it sure seemed a lot better than I remembered it. In particular, I appreciated that the film took a pretty big risk dealing with wartime romance between a married doctor and a nurse when they are stationed overseas. This sort of situation MUST have happened quite a bit with all those nurses and WACS/WAVS, etc. serving in action, though it is hardly ever mentioned in any film up until that time. Plus, it offered a very unusual situation where a man is in love with a woman he is not married to and yet he still loves his wife at home. Pretty adult fare for 1948, I must say! The film begins with Gable a rich and successful doctor in the States. He is very isolated from the real world and his main focus in on the country club and his pampered wife--unconcerned about much else. When the war comes, he does serve but seems to be pretty selfish. His head nurse in the field hospital is a much more giving and selfless individual and they are destined to hate each other because they are so different AND because this IS Lana Turner and Clark Gable (this plot device is necessary before they actually fall in love--a bit of a cliché, I know).

Gable and Turner are both excellent as the leads and their scenes together are excellent as well. I especially appreciated Lana's emotional range--it was better and more vulnerable here than I am used to seeing. The direction was pretty good and all the MGM production values were going full speed ahead! I especially appreciated the snow scene--you KNOW it was done in a sound stage and yet it STILL looked exceptional (though their breath didn't show--considering it was probably close to 70 degrees).

Overall, this is a must-see for Gable fans and a pretty good flick for anyone but people who MUST have a lot of action in their films. Despite being WWII, the film is pretty talking and there is quite a bit of romance--something action junkies will probably have a hard time accepting.

The great surprise with this film was to find Lana Turner totally different from all impressions you ever had of her and so much better. She actually makes the film, and every scene with her is golden cinematic sunshine and top film acting because of her. Clark Gable is always good, perhaps the most reliably excellent actor Hollywood ever had, and although he is on top also here, Lana outshines him. Anne Baxter was never lovelier, in the beginning, but she hopelessly falls in the shadow of Lana, and is well aware of it. Another surprise was John Hodiak as the friend and fellow doctor acting as something of a startling conscience but acting it without any effort, as a doctor should react absolutely frankly and matter-of-fact. Gladys Cooper also does a good job as usual as one of her many mothers, while you'll never recognize Cameron Mitchell here as a very young boy. The artistic excellence of unity permeates the film and fills it with warm humanity from beginning to end. Much of the credit for this seething warmth of human atmosphere and candid heartfiulness comes from the exquisitely discreet but nonetheless overwhelmingly beautiful musical score by Bronislau Kaper - I never saw that name before, while at the same time Mervyn LeRoy's masterhand at the direction is felt comfortably all the way. All this ends up to a top score of ten unhesitatingly. It could very well be both Clark Gable's and Lana Turner's best film.