vincentlynch-moonoi I do give this film some points for being a bit different. It's an interesting premise: a man and a wife -- mousy characters both before WWII -- end up serving their country during the way and come out very different people. They both look back on their own lives and see how drab they were, and both decide they want to move forward with their more sophisticated post-war lives. And so they plan to divorce, only to finally realize that they have both changed so drastically that they are still made for each other...just in different ways than before the war.Unfortunately, this film dates to the 1940s when British films were a poor second to American films in terms of technical quality, and so this whole film just seems plain drab. The best example, although some may say a minor point, the dirigibles floating over London during the war are so faked-painted looking that it's laughable.Robert Donat was quite a good actor, and Deborah Kerr became one of the greats of Hollywood. They both evolve nicely as this film progresses. But, then there's best friend Glynis Johns, whose popularity I never understood.I also think that too much time is spent on the war portion of the film. It was needed to show why each of them evolved so much, but they spent so much time on this that they short-changed the portion of the film where they meet and discover they want change, not realizing at first that they have changed. And that latter part is what's really important in the film.Ah well. It coulda been very good, but turns out being only passably interesting. You may wanna exercise the fast-forward button on your remote.

evanston_dad Lovely and wistful film about a doddering married couple (Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr) who discover new aspects of themselves as a result of being separated for several years while serving in World War II, and then, because of the distance they've grown from one another, doubt that their marriage can survive when they're united. I liked the relationship arc these two characters went on. They begin by lumping their marriage in with everything that was boring and tedious about their former life, and in their minds turn their own stuffiness into something imposed on them by the other. But then they gradually realize that the best attributes of themselves that they only discovered because they were separated can be united to make their marriage stronger than it was before.I don't really know how realistic this film is. I doubt many similar situations would result in the couple reuniting and making a go of it, and think much more often it would end with both people giving up. But it's nice to think stories like this could end this way, and audiences at the time, after having just lived through WWII, surely wanted a happy ending."Vacation from Marriage" brought writer Clemence Dane an Academy Award for Best Original Motion Picture Story in 1946.Grade: A

kijii This Korda film is a fairly good comedy that won an Oscar for Best Original Story. It starts out a little slow and the ending is fairly predictable; however, it is loaded with some of the best British film actors of that time and the story's process is full of humor and very good touches.As the film opens, we see the picture of a boring, routine marriage. Robert Wilson (Robert Donat) has worked as clerk in a large office for 5 years (minus 8 weeks). It is 1940 and Bob has just been drafted into the British Royal Navy for the duration of the war. For all men working for FIVE YEARS OR MORE, it's the company policy to hold their jobs and continue their pay level by making up the difference between what they allow them to collect (during the war) and what the military pays them. Bob is hopeful that his 4 years and 44 weeks with the company will make him a five-year man. It doesn't. He loses both his company's job security and its partial pay supplement.After this wimpy man climbs breathlessly up the stairs to his London flat, he tells his mousy wife, Catherine (Deborah Kerr). She merely shrugs it off with a sneeze and sniff from her perpetual cold. Bob reports to the navy training camp and starts writing Cathy. She soon joins the WRENs (the British version of the WAVES), and they both dutifully write each other. As time passes they both become more competent people, leading more exciting lives in the service than they ever had during their marriage at home. Gradually, their letter writing starts to wane and their positive memories of each other start to fade; their memories become stuck on each other's most negative attributes.While in the service, Cathy commanding officer, Dizzy (Glynis Johns), introduces her to her cousin, Richard (Roland Culver). She becomes infatuated with this worldly man who paints her portrait and teaches her to dance.Both Bob and Cathy do some semi-heroic things in the service, building their confidence in themselves. After Bob's hands are burned while in action, he hospitalized to recuperate with his new Scottish buddy, Scotty (Edward Rigby). While there, he falls briefly in love with his recently-widowed nurse, Elena (Ann Todd). Her role is similar to that that Richard has with Cathy: passing flings that make them feel good about themselves.After three and half years of service, they both get leaves to return home--at the same time!!. However, neither is too anxious to see the other. When they take their leaves, each brings along their new service buddies: Cathy brings Dizzy and Bob brings Scotty. Of course, they have to get reacquainted, review their past views of each other, and introduce their new selves to each other. Though the outcome of the film is fairly obvious, the process of the renewed romance between the two 'new' people is entertaining, with some fireworks and protestations about each other's memories of their 'former' marriage.

edwagreen Rather dull affair with married couple Deborah Kerr and Robert Donat on their way to quite an abysmal marriage only to have World War 11 interrupt,and separated by service for 3 years, they meet on leave and find out that they have matured from the war years. The maturity is not shown; suddenly, they're totally different people. The film, of supposed comic blend, then briefly shows how they get back to one another.Glynnis Johns is wasted here as Kerr's colleague. 15 years later the two would receive Oscar nominations for their work in The Sundowners.The film in question needed much more action and certainly a better script for the actors to work properly.