Joe Smith, American (1942)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The movie's timing is interesting. The release date is Feb., 1942 (IMDB), just two months after Pearl Harbor and America's entry into WWII. Clearly, the film's intent is to both inspire audiences and warn of foreign enemies. But the conspirators in the movie aren't identified (with one irrelevant exception). As a result, I'm surmising the screenplay was completed before Pearl Harbor, but war was nevertheless clearly imminent. Had production gone beyond PH, I think the enemy would have been clearly identified. Anyway, it's a rather interesting aspect of the movie's context.With its flag-waving title, no one expects anything deep or probing. Rather, the plot honors an idealized "average" American, Joe (Young), whose fortitude and ingenuity thwarts an (unidentified) enemy's attempt to steal a revolutionary bomb-sight. The narrative ties Joe's courage to that of the heroic Nathan Hale's famous "… but one life to give for my country." Thus, America can face confidently into the War knowing that average Americans retain the heroic stature of old.I like the first part showing Joe's work and home life. Surprisingly, events resist descending into treacle, mainly because of actor Young and a refusal to sentimentalize him—(He believes in God, but as a working man he sleeps in rather than going to church). At the same time, Hunt's idealized housewife is dutiful and supportive, the way a wife was expected to be. The second half, however, drifts into plot contrivance and pedestrian violence. Still, I like the way Joe tries to use happy time recollections to get him through the ordeal. Then too, the flashbacks fill in the earlier period of Joe's blissful courtship and marriage to Mary (note the Biblical first names), rounding out their background with patriotic rituals. (btw, as of 2017, she's still with us at age 100!).Not much of an analytic nature should be expected from this glimpse into wartime ideals. Nonetheless, the cast remains a winning one, along with smooth direction (except for the closing twist), and realistic locations. All in all, thanks be to TMC for digging up this obscure but revealing artifact.

This one's good. Released shortly after the United States had entered WW2, it stars Robert Young as a guy working on a special project for the government who is kidnapped by enemy agents. They beat him up for hours to try and find out what he knows. It's an exciting, fast-paced movie that clocks in at barely over sixty minutes. It reminds me of a longer version of the Crime Does Not Pay short films. If you're familiar with that series I think you'll see what I'm talking about. The cast is good, with Robert Young doing a terrific job in the lead and nice support from the lovely Marsha Hunt as his wife and a young Darryl Hickman as his son. Recognizable character actors make up the rest of the cast. It's an unabashedly patriotic and entertaining movie that doesn't waste a minute of its runtime. Worth a look for most classic film fans.

Joe Smith, American is a bit more than flag waving film, typical of the times back in 1942. It's quite the sociological treatise of its time and rates quite a bit more than most propaganda film, B film that it was.Robert Young's character of Joe Smith is your average American who probably got some help from the New Deal and now that America is mobilizing for war has landed himself a nice job in the defense industry. Which makes him of interest to enemy agents as we shall see.One of the things that really got me was that one of the questions that was asked of him as he's being grilled by security people is his religious views. Young replies that he doesn't go to church regularly, but hastens to assure these people that he does send his kid young Darryl Hickman to Sunday School and he does believe in God. The security people beam their approval at him. The idea that someone who is of atheist or agnostic or even freethinking views is a security risk is something we'd see later on in full force during the McCarthy era.Anyway he gets cleared to work on installing a new kind of bombsight into the planes and then one night some enemy agents kidnap and force him under torture to tell about the bombsight. When the agents go to kill him they make the bad mistake of not killing him in the hideout, but take him by car to wherever they're planning dispose of him. Young makes a daring escape and the police get involved in a hunt for the perpetrators.The out and out flag waving is kept to a minimum, but when young Darryl Hickman tells Young about Nathan Hale whom he learned about in school it's clear that the message of the film is that there might come a day when we could be called on to make a sacrifice like Nathan Hale, even your average Joe Smith, American.The film was released in February of 1942 and must have been rushed into production after Pearl Harbor. Marsha Hunt plays Young's wife and if you look carefully you will spot Ava Gardner in an unbilled non-speaking part.Young who played the ultimate average man in Father Knows Best a decade later on television is perfectly suited for the role of Joe Smith, American. He could be any one of us.

This film was made during World War II and it's an excellent example of positive propaganda. The purpose was not just to entertain but solidify the American public behind the war effort. Instead of the usual war films or escapism, the hero of this story is a regular guy---just like those in the audience--and it shows how even people on the home front can be important to the war effort.Robert Young plays a defense plant worker who is the crew chief responsible to assembling bombers. However, after being interviewed by federal authorities, he's given a super-top secret job installing bomb sights. The American bomb sights were one of the biggest secrets of the war, as planes were able to use this simple computing device to make much more accurate bombing runs.Soon after beginning this job, Young is kidnapped by enemy agents and is beaten rather brutally in order to get him to talk. However, Young is a true hero and not only refuses, but uses his brain in order to take in every detail and plan his escape. When he does ultimately get away, his incredible mind for details and courage leads to the apprehension of the gang.While the film at first seemed a tad hokey, over the course of the film it became obvious that this was an extremely well written and exciting film. Plus, Robert Young did an excellent job in the lead role. Even today, over sixty years later, this is still a great suspense film and great curio to give us insight into what it was like to live at the time in the US.