by Gilbert B Norman
"Since You Went Away", a 1944 Selznick "homefront" flick, aired last evening on TCM. I watched it in place of "Extreme Trains".
While the production is tediously long and could easily be reduced from its three hour running time to two be eliminating much of the repetitive "soapsuds". It did have, even if not exactly authentic, rail scenes.
While the film's storyline location is undisclosed (its actual location was various Hollywood sets), it is somewhere in Upstate New York - my guess is Buffalo. As far as the "rail action", let's just say they gave it a try but came up short. In the flick, the rail scenes were obviously Lionels, and New York Central #2, The Pacemaker in real life, became The Pathfinder. The set depicting the train station did show departure signs for The Twentieth Century and the Ohio State Limited - at least someone at the studio found out the nemes of real NYC trains.
But the best deference to real life I found was that the fictional "Pathfinder", in front of which Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker had a tearful soapsuds "Good bye I love you darling" drill (it was goodbye; guess who got whacked at Salerno in the Sicilly campaign) departed at 1201AM. One would expect that Hollywood mentality would think of "the midnight train", but some associate producer somehow knew that there is no "midnight" on the railroad.
All told "Mrs. Miniver' is a far more worthwhile "homefront" flick; "The Best Years of Our Lives" (both are William Wyler films) is my pick for the best war related flick; it too pushes three hours in length but needs that time to properly develop the various subplots all related to the story. The best war, i.e. battles, flick i know is "Paths of Glory".
While the production is tediously long and could easily be reduced from its three hour running time to two be eliminating much of the repetitive "soapsuds". It did have, even if not exactly authentic, rail scenes.
While the film's storyline location is undisclosed (its actual location was various Hollywood sets), it is somewhere in Upstate New York - my guess is Buffalo. As far as the "rail action", let's just say they gave it a try but came up short. In the flick, the rail scenes were obviously Lionels, and New York Central #2, The Pacemaker in real life, became The Pathfinder. The set depicting the train station did show departure signs for The Twentieth Century and the Ohio State Limited - at least someone at the studio found out the nemes of real NYC trains.
But the best deference to real life I found was that the fictional "Pathfinder", in front of which Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker had a tearful soapsuds "Good bye I love you darling" drill (it was goodbye; guess who got whacked at Salerno in the Sicilly campaign) departed at 1201AM. One would expect that Hollywood mentality would think of "the midnight train", but some associate producer somehow knew that there is no "midnight" on the railroad.
All told "Mrs. Miniver' is a far more worthwhile "homefront" flick; "The Best Years of Our Lives" (both are William Wyler films) is my pick for the best war related flick; it too pushes three hours in length but needs that time to properly develop the various subplots all related to the story. The best war, i.e. battles, flick i know is "Paths of Glory".