Italy; World War II
Joe Peterson (William Holden) - a talented and brave lieutenant, who received with his guys three days of vacation in the Italian town, where everyone intends to indulge in entertainment and endless rest.
Eleanor McKay (Nancy Olson) – lieutenant, serves in the post office, recently lost her fiancé in the war, so she does not even think about starting a serious relationship with a man again.
The film was shot by a famous director who left us such wonderful paintings as Casablanca and Mildreth Pierce. However, he made a great many films and it is not surprising that not all of them are as good as the famous Casablanca. This time I managed to avoid when watching comparisons with other works of the director, but the pleasure from this did not increase, although in general the film is not bad as a melodrama.
The action takes place during the Second World War. Probably, therefore, I can not say that to the depths of my heart the heroes of the picture. As a Russian, I am imbued with Russian stories, about our Motherland, about our people. I can break to tears a story told in Soviet cinema, but this does not happen if I watch an American film.
No, I do not in the least derogate from the role of other countries in the war against fascism, but at the present time, when history is reversed and facts are manipulated. I can’t wait to see if it really wasn’t. How could anyone have said something like that to the filmmaker? While we, sorry, and filmed and filmed real combatants who did not even have anything to play, they just had to remember that terrible time, and their feelings were conveyed to the viewer in full.
Nancy and William have starred together in Sunset Boulevard and Union Station. That’s why they already look like relatives. But, again, they see each other as a romantic couple, but not as war veterans, both of whom are greasy, and Nancy’s manicure cornies even though the nails are not painted brightly. Yeah, I would have seen how she took care of her nails in real wartime.
There are several battle scenes in the tape, which are supplemented by real footage of the war, designed to enhance the impression, probably, and not to let the viewer notice that in fact the scene is not so large-scale and would look poor without real footage. But all this is very noticeable and even focuses on it, at least my attention.
In general, on the output we get an average melodrama, the story of the emergence of real feelings against the background of a war that could separate the heroes. Not impressed, not captured, not conquered. I've seen it, and I'll probably forget it soon. But if you want to spend the evening watching a melodrama about the years of the war, which has a good ending and will not crush you with tears, then this one is quite suitable.