Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Here's a nice little movie that seems to have lapsed into a partial obscurity despite its most attractive cast headed by the super-lovely Anne Baxter and the always convincing John Hodiak. The support roster, headed by Charles Winninger, features some of my favorite players, including Anne Revere, Chill Wills and Jane Darwell.While the screenplay always offers top entertainment, it's true to say that the story is somewhat unusual. To me, that's an advantage. Critics like me get sick of seeing the same old plot with the same old variations time after time after time.In addition to its fine acting, this movie is beautifully photographed by Joe MacDonald and very capably directed by the always reliable Lloyd Bacon. And I especially enjoyed Edward Powell's orchestral arrangements, particularly of "I'll See You In My Dreams".

Despite a very schmaltzy start, the film did have a certain silly charm. It's about an impossibly nice and incredibly poor family that wants to take what little they have and invite a soldier to dinner as a way of saying thank you. Unfortunately, for so many reasons, it looks like this evening won't come off properly--only in the end does everything magically work out for the best.Anne Baxter did a good job in the lead, as did John Hodiak, though their instant romance at the end of the film completely strained credibility. Charles Winninger was quite the character--I'm not sure if I liked him or not--he did come on awfully strong. As for the kids, the older two were fine but the part for the youngest (Bobby Driscoll) was WAY too annoying and cutesy. Of all the family members, he was by far the most unlikable.There are a lot of cute little movies that I really enjoy, but I'd hardly consider giving them a score of 10. So when I looked on IMDb at the reviews for this film, I was shocked to see two 10s for such an insignificant film--especially since although this film is rather cute, it's also a bit too saccharine and, at times, hard to take. I really wish there were two ratings on each film on IMDb--the quality/aesthetic value of the film and an enjoyability scale.Quality-wise, this is just a run of the mill B-movie from the WWII era--neither bad nor particularly distinguished. The direction and sets are not particularly inspired nor is the script (for the most part). In fact, despite being very watchable, I can't think of any way that this is a stand-out film. Don't believe the high ratings--this is not GONE WITH THE WIND or THE GODFATHER in quality!

I have been looking for this movie for a long time! I first saw it when it was a new movie and I was a child about the age of the little girl in the movie. It made a big impression on me at the time, partly because my father was away serving in the Navy. As an adult, I had vague memories of it but could not remember the title of the film. I remembered the older sister and the soldier (although I thought of him as a Navy man) on the beach, and I remembered the little girl, and an overall feeling that it was a good movie I had really enjoyed. Over the years I watched a lot of movies made during the war, hoping to find the right one, but never having success. A couple of years ago I found a description on the internet that sounded like the movie I was looking for, but I still couldn't be sure it was the right one. At least I had a title to look for, but the movie apparently was not available for sale and did not turn up on TV until today! I just saw it on the Fox movie channel and it was the movie I remembered! I loved the movie this time, too; it is a wonderful, heartwarming family film.

This should be out on Criterion DVD, and sadly, it has never even been released on ANY format. Unless you are lucky enough to catch it on AMC, you won't see it. Which is sad. The only thing I can add to what has already been said here in other comments and in the summary is that it is easily one of the 100 best movies of all time, and a MUST if you are a fan of this era!!!!!!