Since You Went Away
Encyclopedia
Since You Went Away is a 1944 film distributed by United Artists
, a big-budget epic about the American home front during World War II
. It was directed by John Cromwell
and adapted and produced by David O. Selznick
from the 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).
Though sentimental, Since You Went Away is more somber and realistic about the carnage of war and the pain of separation than some other homefront movies made during World War II. While composer Max Steiner's recurring title theme has reminded a few contemporary viewers of the wartime hit "I'll Be Home for Christmas," this has no basis in fact; it received no comment in the press of the time (or in studio publicity), and no mention of the song appears in the film's credits.
scene. It is so well-known that it was parodied in the 1981 film Airplane!
. Jones and Walker played young sweethearts in Since You Went Away, but in real life they were married at the time and going through a bitter breakup. They divorced not long after the movie was completed, and Jones later married the film's producer, David O. Selznick.
(Max Steiner) and was nominated for Best Picture
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
(Claudette Colbert), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(Jennifer Jones), Best Actor in a Supporting Role
(Monty Woolley), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
(Lee Garmes
), Best Film Editing
, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White
(Mark-Lee Kirk
, Victor A. Gangelin
), and Best Effects, Special Effects
.
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, a big-budget epic about the American home front during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was directed by John Cromwell
John Cromwell (director)
Elwood Dager Cromwell , known as John Cromwell, was an American film actor, director and producer.-Biography:...
and adapted and produced by David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
from the novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret Buell Wilder. The music score was by Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez
Stanley Cortez
Stanley Cortez, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He worked on over seventy films, including Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons , Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter , Nunnally Johnson's The Three Faces of Eve , and Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor and The...
, Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophuls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom he had met as a young man when the two first came to Hollywood in the silent era...
, George Barnes
George Barnes (cinematographer)
George S. Barnes, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer from the era of silent films to the early 1950s. Over the course of his career, he was nominated for an Academy Award eight times, including his work on The Devil Dancer with Gilda Gray and Clive Brook...
(uncredited) and Robert Bruce
Robert Bruce
Robert Bruce or Robert the Bruce may refer to:*Robert the Bruce, King of Scots , Earl of Carrick and Lord of Annandale; victor at the Battle of Bannockburn*Robert Bruce , his illegitimate son...
(uncredited).
Storyline
The movie is set in a mid-sized American town, where people with loved ones in the military try to cope with their changed circumstances and make their own contributions to the war effort. The main characters are a housewife whose husband is away in the service and her two daughters who are just growing into womanhood. The story runs from early January to late December 1943; the film itself was made in late 1943 and early 1944.Though sentimental, Since You Went Away is more somber and realistic about the carnage of war and the pain of separation than some other homefront movies made during World War II. While composer Max Steiner's recurring title theme has reminded a few contemporary viewers of the wartime hit "I'll Be Home for Christmas," this has no basis in fact; it received no comment in the press of the time (or in studio publicity), and no mention of the song appears in the film's credits.
Cast
- Claudette ColbertClaudette ColbertClaudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
as Mrs. Anne Hilton - Jennifer JonesJennifer JonesPhylis Lee Isley , better known by her stage name Jennifer Jones, was an American actress. A five-time Academy Award nominee, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Song of Bernadette .-Early life:Jones was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Flora Mae and...
as Jane Deborah Hilton - Joseph CottenJoseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
as Lieutenant Commander Tony Willett - Shirley TempleShirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
as Bridget 'Brig' Hilton - Monty WoolleyMonty WoolleyMonty Woolley was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his best-known role in the stage play and 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner...
as Colonel William G. Smollett - Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
as Clergyman - Robert Walker as Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II
- Hattie McDanielHattie McDanielHattie McDaniel was the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
as Fidelia - Jane Devlin as Gladys Brown
- Agnes MooreheadAgnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
as Mrs. Emily Hawkins - Alla NazimovaAlla NazimovaAlla Nazimova , was a Russian American film and theatre actress, a screenwriter and film producer. She is perhaps best known as simply Nazimova, but also went under the name Alia Nasimoff.-Early life:...
as Zofia Koslowska (as Nazimova) - Albert BassermannAlbert BassermannAlbert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor.-Career:Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in his birthplace, Mannheim. He then spent four years at the Hoftheater in Meiningen. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater...
as Dr. Sigmund Gottlieb Golden - Gordon OliverGordon OliverGordon Oliver was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in over 45 films and television shows between 1933 and 1972.-Selected filmography:* West of Shanghai...
as Marine Officer Seeking Room - Keenan WynnKeenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
as Lieutenant Solomon - Guy MadisonGuy MadisonGuy Madison was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Pumpkin Center, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in...
as Sailor Harold E. Smith - Craig StevensCraig Stevens (actor)Craig Stevens was an American motion picture and television actor.-Early and personal life:Born Gail Shikles, Jr., in Liberty, Missouri, his father was a high school teacher....
as Danny Williams
Cultural influence
The farewell scene between Jones and Walker at the railway station is often cited as a fine example of a Hollywood tearjerkerTearjerker
Tearjerker is something that provokes sadness or pathos, as the name suggests.Tearjerker may refer to:* "Tearjerker" , a 2008 episode of American Dad!* "Tearjerker" , a 1995 song by Red Hot Chili Peppers...
scene. It is so well-known that it was parodied in the 1981 film Airplane!
Airplane!
Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
. Jones and Walker played young sweethearts in Since You Went Away, but in real life they were married at the time and going through a bitter breakup. They divorced not long after the movie was completed, and Jones later married the film's producer, David O. Selznick.
Awards and nominations
Since You Went Away won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureAcademy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
(Max Steiner) and was nominated for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Claudette Colbert), Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Jennifer Jones), Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Monty Woolley), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophuls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom he had met as a young man when the two first came to Hollywood in the silent era...
), Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Mark-Lee Kirk
Mark-Lee Kirk
Mark-Lee Kirk was an American art director. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 52 films between 1936 and 1959.-Selected filmography:...
, Victor A. Gangelin
Victor A. Gangelin
Victor A. Gangelin was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for another in the category Best Art Direction.He was born in Wisconsin and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:...
), and Best Effects, Special Effects
Academy Award for Visual Effects
The Academy Award for Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.-History of the award:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects to movies at its inaugural dinner in 1928, presenting a...
.