Since You Went Away

Scripted by producer David O. Selznick from Margaret Buell Wilder's book, this is a Midwestern Mrs Miniver, 'the story of an unconquerable fortress, the American home, 1943', as an introductory title has it. Claudette Colbert is the valiant wife praying for the return of her man, Jones and Temple are her daughters, Joseph Cotten an old flame, and Hattie McDaniel is the maid, naturally. At nearly three hours, this manages to be banal without being tedious, utterly phony and quite revealing, if only because it reflects how America liked to picture America. There's a definition of Hollywood for you.