Homecoming (1948)

Lack of good storyline.

best movie i've ever seen.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I feel like Gable's character gets a bad rap at the beginning of the film. I realize they are trying to show him as self-absorbed to depict his transformation through the war years. But was he really? His character had spent years of his life in school and training to be a doctor. He finally achieves his goal of being a surgeon, and by all accounts is a good one. His patients seem to love him. Is it a bad thing that he wants to have some balance in his life and enjoy time with his family and friends on the weekend? You can't work all the time or you will burn out in a high stress career like his. I don't know, maybe I just like Gable. But I didn't find him off-putting at all at the beginning. He did a great job at work, loved his wife and tried to make time for her, was friendly with his household staff, helped the delivery boy from Chester Village..I think he was a pretty good guy.

I'm not sure if I classify this as a romance or a war film, but to be more accurate, it is a complete three dimensional theatrical dramatization.The stars abound here. The four in the forefront are the extremes in the handsome and beautiful. We see Gable in a fascinating performance, but to be honest, all give fascinating performances. We have Perry Mason's judge, Ray Collins in a fifth role, not just as a senior or mentor, but as a very deep character himself. Cameron Mitchell, I didn't even recognize him as the doomed soldier, which is what any actor loves to hear, that he was so effective, you didn't know it was him.Gable is a doctor. So is Hodiak. Hodiak is himself a hidden gem. He often played the ultra handsome "everyman", like he does here. He was the ultimate "everyman" in the grand daddy of switch ending films, AMBUSH AT TOMAHAWK GAP. Here, he is a very dedicated doctor at odds with Gable.Through out the film, we keep hoping for what looks to be the obvious pitch. Will the couples switch to happier mates? Bancroft with Hodiak and Turner with Gable? As it moves along, we see this to be more and more unlikely, and we are drawn into the charisma of "Useless" and "Snapshot".To say more would be a spoiler. Just be prepared for surprises in this hidden gem.

The third of four films Lana Turner made with Clark Gable, this one finds them embroiled in the war and the cause. Gable is on a ship coming home from war, when conversations with reporters wanting a story make him think of what changed his life and the way he thinks. Flashback: Gable is a surgeon who went to school to make the big dough and live high on the hog, enjoying his free time and his home life with wife Anne Baxter, playing golf, and all the things that come with a care-free easy existence, all the while thinking he's got it made and that he's noble for going in and saving people's lives on the table. His friend John Hodiak tells him off saying as much as this. John has been trying to get him to help those less fortunate in the lower-class part of town, but Clark never made time for it. He volunteers for service, not because he really wants to, but because it's the right thing to do, for appearances' sake, because others are doing it. While sailing to where he's stationed, Lana interrupts his conversation with fellow serviceman, Ray Collins. To cut to the chase, they are very antagonistic towards each other and he later finds out she has been picked to be his nurse to assist him in surgeries. Nicknamed Snapshot, Lana tells Clark her story of how she came into this war and why she believes in it. Their antagonism developing into a friendship and more is the whole story, but it is done so tenderly and real, that nothing feels forced or false. I admit Lana Turner may be one of those actresses of whom always seems to play herself, but here she is not glamorous at all, but instead delved into character head first. Gable's homecoming to wife Anne Baxter is very touching. I was very impressed with how real and thoughtful this film was. "Honky Tonk" may be the film of theirs together that most viewers enjoy, but Homecoming is much more meaningful and therefore more rewarding. It may just be the best Gable and/or Turner film you've never seen.

Clark Gable plays a self centered, over achieving physician that proves his worthiness as an Army surgeon. Anne Baxter is the dutiful and absorbing wife that finally realizes that her husband is romancing his nurse(Lana Turner)between bombings and marathon mending of WWII. This is not one of Gable's better performances; but Miss Turner is stunning as 'Snapshot' McCall, the nurse every soldier dreams of. Other cast members of note are: Ray Collins, John Hodiak, Marshall Thompson and Cameron Mitchell. Mervyn LeRoy directs this dreary drama. In spite of Gable's lack of effort, Turner more than makes this lengthy film memorable.