“Flighty, shallow”… yes. But also a glamorous, dynamic, strong willed, independent and practical bon vivante who was willing to get a job to support herself rather than live in poverty with her husband’s parents while he was away, who wouldn’t be bossed around by a depressed party pooper, with very good taste in men. She rightly pointed out that he had likely been no angel either in the years they were separated, and she brusquely and decisively initiated the divorce. WW2 forced many women into the workplace and she epitomized the beginning of a trend toward modernism in which women were less passive because they had their own money (if not yet their own credit cards). I think the movie used her superficially distasteful and loathsome character to reflect the conflicts and social change caused by the war. My point of course is not that opportunism and disloyalty are good things, just that there is a lot to unpack in each character and a lot of foreshadowing of what was to come (for example the GI bill taking off and the rise of commuter suburbs). Really just a great job overall depicting the times.novicemoney wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:29 pm Myrna Loy, Theresa Wright and Cathy O'Donnell were very fine in this movie. Virginia Mayo had the thankless task of being the flighty, shallow wife to the Dana Andrews caracter. She's good in this movie because by the end you really dislike her. The movie is playing on Amazon Prime for free.
Another great film is Rossellini’s Paisa, which consists of 5-6 war vignettes, illustrating interactions, heroism and tragic misunderstandings between soldiers and local Italians.