The Very Thought of You (1944)

Excellent but underrated film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

A few years ago, this would have been considered a woman's movie, dealing as it does with romantic relationships and family. Now it's basically a time capsule, showing a revealing, if idealized, portrait of the home front during WWII. The stars are certainly attractive and winning. Morgan and Parker manage an exceptional on-screen chemistry that converts what might otherwise be treacle into rather poignant drama. It's not surprising that Parker went on to a number of Oscar nominations.Produced during the war (1944), the movie shows how traditional rituals of courtship, marriage, and fidelity have been undercut by wartime priorities. Morgan and Parker are attracted to each other. But after a brief courtship, they must decide whether to marry since he's being sent off to the war front. For example, she must consider what if he's killed. Then she would be a war widow with maybe a child and no prospects for future marriage. And what of him. Is he asking too much of her. Those letters from home may be a lifeline, but what if he gets a Dear John instead. After all, Janet's (Parker) sister Molly (King) is running around on her army husband. These are the kind of uncertainties the couple must face because of the war's disruption of normal civilian life, while the screenplay does a good job of raising them.I can't help noticing that Jerry Wald acted as the producer for Warner Bros., which means the studio considered this a prestige production. Despite the many location shots, it's not a budget-heavy film. Still, there is considerable care with detail. Note that the lengthy beach scene is staged at the beach with no budget-cutting process shots, which cheaper productions undoubtedly would have used. Then too, the many supporting roles are almost uniformly well-cast, right down to lively little Ellie (Settle).My only real reservation is with Molly's sudden turn-around, a gesture, I suppose, to sunny commercialism. Then too, note the background picture of wartime Japanese Prime Minister Tojo, plus liberal use of negative term 'Jap'. Both would quickly disappear after the war. Nonetheless, the movie remains an entertaining look at how personal relationships were having to adjust to wartime priorities. And is, therefore, worth a look.

The Very Thought Of You concerns a wartime romance between Dennis Morgan and Eleanor Parker, the people I describe in my review title. Though the film is dated by its time, it's still a pleasant romantic film about life and love in World War II America on the home front.Dennis and his buddies have been spending a cold, but relatively safe war so far in the Aleutians where the Japanese began an offensive, but are now stranded there. Someone in Washington decided to send his platoon to an area of actual fighting. Where does Dennis go, but to Pasadena as opposed to home. Pasadena is where the California Institute of Technology is and where Dennis attended school and he apparently identifies more with that town than where he is from.Dane Clark accompanies Morgan and soon the two are involved with a pair of hometown girls, Eleanor Parker and Faye Emerson. Parker who comes from a large family has divided opinion about her wartime fling, opposition especially coming from Beulah Bondi. In fact what with wartime housing and travel restrictions it seems that the fates themselves are working against the romance.There's a nice subplot going involving an older sister of Parker's, Andrea King and her marriage to sailor William Prince. King's been doing a little stepping out and isn't sure she didn't marry in haste as so many in wartime do.Though The Very Thought Of You is dated as mores have certainly changed and arguably not for the better, the film is a nice voyage to a more innocent and hopeful time.

This WW2 romance can take its place alongside Now Voyager and An Affair to Remember as one of the most romantic films ever made. It's easy to see why Dennis Morgan became one of the busiest (and highest paid) actors under contract to Warner Bros. in the 40s; he's an ideal leading man here, projecting masculine strength together with the soft-spokeness so essential to romances of this type. His scenes with lovely Eleanor Parker are a working definition of chemistry on the screen. Dane Clark registers delightfully as Morgan's hyperactive sidekick. And what a score by Franz Waxman - there's one short cue for the scene atop Mount Wilson that's an absolute masterpiece.Offsetting the tender romance of the story is the edgy handling of the scenes with Parker's fairly dysfunctional family, which includes her bickering parents, philandering married sister, and developmentally-challenged brother. This is a film deserving of a greater reputation -- and thanks to recent showings on TCM, that may already be happening.

This is an impressive drama about the other side of the familiar "Dear John" plot in World War II movies -- that is, what the women back home went through in fear, loneliness, and temptation while their boyfriends and husbands were far away, perhaps never to return. If you think of 40's movies as prudish, you'll be surprised by lines like, "I can't remember anymore the way it felt when we made love."Sidebar: A supporting actress, the later-famous Faye Emerson, had just married FDR's son Elliott when this film was released. Also, if you live in L.A., you'll enjoy scenes on the Cal Tech campus and on Mt. Wilson.