Le Retour

Sometimes I don't understand those who judge the quality of a film, because this one deserves more credits. With classic cinema it happens as when one reads past history, you must place yourself in the historical moment, to better understand the reason for the events and the behavior of its protagonists.

The subject of this film must have happened many times in the years of World War II, as was a fact mentioned by the heirs of those who lived through it, the plot of the 1970 film Sunflower. In the solitude of the battlefield, many Military doctors must have fallen in love with their beautiful nurse on duty.

The scene where Lana Turner and Grant kiss for the first time is unforgettably beautiful. The initial attitude between the two as military leaders is perfect. So is officer Useless's erratic behavior when he returns from the war to his wife, and his longing for home, everything seems strange to him. I believe that there was no American soldier who did not suffer this crisis upon returning from the battlefield, after several years of fighting.

The final dialogue between the misplaced officer and his wife is like a parody of what many of those American heroes lived through.

It is true that it is not easy for young people today to watch Black and White films from the classic cinema, I advise them to try to locate themselves in time, and try to understand at the same time the limitations of the technology of that time. They will realize if they achieve it, that cinematographic art prevailed here.

Successful surgeon Ulysses Johnson (Clark Gable) joins the Army Medical Corps during WW2. Once deployed, he develops a tempestuous relationship with his chief nurse, Jane "Snapshot" McCall (Lana Turner). Their constant bickering eventually morphs into romantic feelings, which Johnson's wife Penny (Anne Baxter) can sense back home through his letters. She looks for solace from crusading doctor Robert Sunday (John Hodiak).

This somewhat soapy romance features surprisingly good performances from the cast. Gable seems an unlikely surgeon at first, but he settles into that role well. Baxter and Hodiak, a real-life married couple at the time, give their best to underwritten parts. The real revelation is Lana Turner, an actress that I've never really warmed to. I thought she fit her role well in The Postman Always Rings Twice, but every other movie that I've seen her in, I couldn't help thinking it would be better with someone else cast. Here she's real and genuine and nuanced like I haven't seen her before. It may be the script, or direction that clicked, or co-star Gable, or all of the above, but it works, and it's the best acting job I've seen from her.

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.

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.

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 !