Since You Went Away
| Since You Went Away | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Cromwell |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Screenplay by | David O. Selznick |
| Based on |
Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife 1943 novel by Margaret Buell Wilder |
| Starring |
Claudette Colbert Jennifer Jones Joseph Cotten Shirley Temple |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography |
Stanley Cortez Lee Garmes |
| Edited by | John D. Faure Arthur Fellows Wayland M. Hendry |
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Production
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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172 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,257,000 |
| Box office | $7 million + |
Since You Went Away is a 1944 American film directed by John Cromwell for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It is an epic about the American home front during World War II that was adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the 1943 novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret Buell Wilder. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes, George Barnes (uncredited) and Robert Bruce (uncredited).
The movie is set in a mid-sized American town, where people with loved ones in the armed forces try to cope with their changed circumstances and make their own contributions to the war effort. The town is near a military base, and some of the characters are troops serving Stateside.
Though famously sentimental in places, Since You Went Away is somber at times about the effects of war on ordinary people. Some characters on the homefront are dealing with grief, loneliness, or fear for the future. Wounded and disabled troops are shown in the hospital scenes.
Anne Hilton (Claudette Colbert) is an upper-middle-class housewife living in a Midwestern town near a military base with her two teenage daughters, Jane (Jennifer Jones) and Bridget "Brig" (Shirley Temple). Anne's beloved husband Tim Hilton - seen only in photographs - is the father of Jane and Brig, and has volunteered for U.S. Army service in World War II. As the film begins in January 1943, Anne has just returned from seeing her husband off to Camp Claiborne, and she and her daughters must adjust to Tim's absence and make other sacrifices for the war effort, including food rationing; planting a victory garden; giving up the services of their loyal maid Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel) who nevertheless offers to continue working part-time for the Hiltons while foregoing wages; and taking in a boarder, the curmudgeonly retired Colonel Smollett (Monty Woolley). When the Hiltons travel by train in a failed attempt to see Tim one last time before he ships out, they encounter or travel with many other people whose lives have been affected by the war, and they end up not getting to see Tim because their train is delayed to allow a defense supply train to go through first. In contrast, the Hiltons' socialite neighbor Emily Hawkins (Agnes Moorehead) complains about the inconveniences caused by the war and engages in unsupportive behaviors such as hoarding food and criticizing the Hiltons' efforts.
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