drystyx I'm not sure if I classify this as a romance or a war film, but to be more accurate, it is a complete three dimensional theatrical dramatization.The stars abound here. The four in the forefront are the extremes in the handsome and beautiful. We see Gable in a fascinating performance, but to be honest, all give fascinating performances. We have Perry Mason's judge, Ray Collins in a fifth role, not just as a senior or mentor, but as a very deep character himself. Cameron Mitchell, I didn't even recognize him as the doomed soldier, which is what any actor loves to hear, that he was so effective, you didn't know it was him.Gable is a doctor. So is Hodiak. Hodiak is himself a hidden gem. He often played the ultra handsome "everyman", like he does here. He was the ultimate "everyman" in the grand daddy of switch ending films, AMBUSH AT TOMAHAWK GAP. Here, he is a very dedicated doctor at odds with Gable.Through out the film, we keep hoping for what looks to be the obvious pitch. Will the couples switch to happier mates? Bancroft with Hodiak and Turner with Gable? As it moves along, we see this to be more and more unlikely, and we are drawn into the charisma of "Useless" and "Snapshot".To say more would be a spoiler. Just be prepared for surprises in this hidden gem.

fnj2002 What a gem this story is! Here you will find no platitudes; no heroes 10 feet tall; no heels - most of all no heels. This is about the most caring, life-affirming story you are ever going to find, and it is done without any syrup, nor any gratuitous and tiresome acting-out of missteps.There is a a single scene near the end which implies that a single misstep MAY have been committed, but sorry to tell you, you are going to have to work out for yourself what did or didn't happen, because it's not spelled out. It was brave rather than a cop-out to present a pivotal scene that way.The film is technically excellent. The scene composition is superb. You have never seen a WW2 field hospital so meticulously and realistically re-created. There is a scene viewed through the door of a tent where someone walks away that is so amazingly technically well done (as well as evocative) as to be amazing. I can't tell you that the snow falling in that scene was real, but it LOOKED absolutely real. The fadeout as the figure walked gradually into the falling snow was perfect. It's a little thing that a film nut notices, because it's hard to do.The messages are about finding one's humanity, daring to need, and daring to reach out to someone to need you back. By the end, you may find yourself touched so deeply as to be shaking.

Neil Doyle HOMECOMING was an enormously popular MGM hit when released because Gable and Turner gave it tremendous box-office power. But the majority of the reviews were pretty scathing. Yet, the public ran eagerly to see it.I tend to agree with the critics on this one. "Nothing more than a cheap, synthetic chunk of romance designed to exploit two gaudy stars," said Bosley Crowther in The N.Y. Times. "Pretends to be serious about serious things--war and medicine in particular." But my favorite comment came from another critic of a lesser paper who wrote: "Since they are two glamorous people, theirs is a glamorous war--in battle, in bombings, in death, there is no real agony, or ugliness or heartache. Even the mud in HOMECOMING looks slick and unreal, like it passed an MGM screen test." My reaction was pretty similar. I see this kind of romantic war movie as a chance to get CLARK GABLE and LANA TURNER in a heavy-handed chance at dramatics that supposedly pulls the heart strings while the good little wife ANNE BAXTER stays behind on the homefront worrying that her husband will have changed too much for their marriage to stay intact.Turner actually does do a fine job in her death scene, but the whole story just seems like a contrivance to give two very popular studio stars the chance to romance against a background of World War II, as they did a few years earlier in SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU.No matter. Of course Lana's fans are going to see her in anything--ditto for Gable--and they were certainly the target audience for this kind of pulp romance.

blanche-2 Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Anne Baxter, John Hodiak, and Gladys Cooper star in "Homecoming," a 1948 film about wartime and its aftermath. Gable plays a surgeon, Lee, who falls for a nurse (Turner) with whom he puts together the wounded, endures a life with only the barest of necessities, sits in shelters, and dodges. Back home, his devoted wife (Baxter) realizes by reading his letters that she's losing him.World War II has been romanticized often in films and in music - somehow, it is perceived by people who lived through Vietnam, Desert Storm, and our current conflicts as being somehow a cleaner war. But no war is clean, and there were some homecomings that were difficult as well. This was touched upon in "The Best Years of Our Lives," and very well here.The story is brought to life by its players. The role of Snapshot the nurse is a different one for the glamorous and beautiful Turner than what she was normally handed - the curse of the beautiful in Hollywood. She was capable of much more, and she gives a strong performance as an outspoken soldier who finally lets her vulnerability show. The stalwart Gable gives us a man who realizes the detached attitude he had toward his patients at home will no longer work, and he has to rethink himself and his life. Baxter is the "one left out," who can't experience the war, and she gives an excellent portrayal of a woman who loves her husband but doesn't know what to expect from him when he comes home. "I know he's changed," she laments, "but why couldn't we have changed together?" Her real-life husband, John Hodiak, looks quite handsome but doesn't have much to do as a family friend - his brief brush with stardom was a few years away.A very nice movie that shows that homecoming can be uncomfortable and bittersweet.