YOUNG WIDOW
(director: Edwin L. Marin; screenwriters: based on the novel by Clarissa Fairchild Cushman, Richard Macaulay, Margaret Buell Wilder; cinematographer: Lee Garmes; editor: John M. Foley; music: Carmen Dragon; cast: Jane Russell (Joan Kenwood), Louis Hayward (Lt. Jim Cameron), Penny Singleton (Peg Martin), Faith Domergue (Gerry Taylor), Marie Wilson (‘Mac’ McCallister), Kent Taylor (Peter Waring), Richard Bailey (Bill Martin), Walter Baldwin (Miller), Harry Barris (Officer’s Club pianist), Connie Gilchrist (Aunt Cissie), Cora Witherspoon (Aunt Emeline), Louise Beavers (Rosie, the cook), Steve Brodie (Willie Murphy), James Burke (Motorcycle Cop), Peter Garey (Navy Lt. Smith), Robert Holton (Bob Johnson), Bill ‘Red’ Murphy (Army Lt. Hope), Larry Steers (Dial Club Waiter), Dick Wessel (cab driver); Runtime: 100; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Hunt Stromberg; TCM; 1946-B/W)
“A dispassionate wartime melodrama.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A dispassionate wartime melodrama directed by Edwin L. Marin (“Johnny Angel”/”Tall in the Saddle”). It’s based on the novel by Clarissa Fairchild Cushman, and is written by Richard Macaulay and Margaret Buell Wilder. It was a box-office bust.
The young war widow from WWII is Joan Kenwood (Jane Russell), an attractive young journalist. She worked in NYC for the newspaper run by the managing editor Peter Waring (Kent Taylor) but quit to be near her hubby covering the war. She can’t forget her dead husband Barry, an Air Corps photographer killed on an air mission. When back home from London, she retreats to her family farm in Virginia to heal from her grief, but is too restless to stay there as she’s constantly reminded of her late husband.
On the train to NYC, filled with military men on leave, a forward bomber pilot, Lt. Jim Cameron (Louis Hayward), who won’t take no for an answer makes a pass at her and tracks her down to the apartment of the married Peg Martin (Penny Singleton), whose hubby is on submarine duty. Peg is willing to share her place with Joan and the popular with the soldiers, airhead, showgirl Mac (Marie Wilson).
Though off to a rough start trying to charm Joan, the aggressive pilot, on a 72-hour pass, turns out to be Barry’s replacement. He wins her over when he becomes a subway hero saving the life of an elderly woman who fell onto the tracks. She then gets her old job back after writing a news story about the incident her newspaper publishes.
Russell and Hayward are both miscast. They had no chemistry together, and their romance was not believable.
The talky film is corny even when it just tries to be cheery.
REVIEWED ON 8/19/2024 GRADE: C
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