howardmorley As an avid chess player whose interest also extends to the history of the royal game and to 1940s films in particular, I feel qualified to adjudicate on the comical dispute in this film between "Colonel Forsythe" (C Aubrey Smith) & "Mr Hiram Porter Dunn" (Frank Morgan when they debated who was the better chess player, whether Joseph Henry Blackburne (from Manchester, England (b.10/12/1842) or Harry Nelson Pillsbury (from nr.Boston Mass. b.5/12/1872 (British day/month year order).It is unusual for a Hollywood film producer to take such an interest in the noble game indeed I cannot think of any other incident in contemporary popular films, so I was naturally intrigued by their argument.Pillsbury the American shot to fame by coming to Europe where no one in chess circles had heard of him and proceeded to win the great Hastings 1895 tournament with 16 1/2 points ahead of the then world champion Emmanuel Lasker who came 3rd scoring 15 1/2 points.Blackburne could only come a lowly 10th position scoring 10 1/2 points.When Frank Morgan as Hiram Porter Dunn insists "Pillsbury invented that move", I am assuming he is alluding to a variation as white of the Queens Gambit Declined where white initiates a stonewall attack by planting a knight on the e5 square, pawns on the c3/d4/e3/f4 & g4 squares, develops other pieces into a set "stonewall" pattern and then builds up a massive king side attack.Of course he was 30 years younger than Blackburne at the time while he only lived to 34 in 1906 while Blackburne died aged 82 in 1924.By the way in their individual game at Hastings these two combatants drew with each other.I found the film too syrupy for my liking but being produced in 1944 film producers were briefed by governments to assist the war effort and promote accord between allied forces, especially with the Normandy landings in the offing.In "A Matter of Life & Death" (1946) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger were under similar instructions to promote harmony between the allies.Let us not forget that the man voted in a recent TV poll "The Greatest ever Briton" - W. S. Churchill (born 1874) was the product of an American mother, born Jennie Jerome & a British father, Randolph Churchill.My understanding of the 1942 Dieppe raid was that it was an exclusively Canadian operation, almost a dress rehearsal for the real invasion two years later; so I felt it was a bit too "pat" to have three nationalities of soldiers together in a shell crater but I understand why this scene was written into the film script.

jzappa Irene Dunne is all in all herself, tender, transformative and powerful as an American girl who travels to England and falls in love with an English member of the aristocracy. Beautiful Irene marries the Englishman but their honeymoon is cut short on its first day as World War I breaks out. Director Clarence Brown's leisurely mood effect causes us to feel as disrupted as they do. Perhaps it is the soothing joy derived from the old-style black-and-white 35mm Spherical look, a classicism in George J. Folsey's cozy cinematography, that creates such a peaceful atmosphere. Believe me: This feeling is augmented by seeing it on a VHS tape, almost as though you are watching a timeworn relic. When the film quietly, serenely begins, Irene reflects upon her feelings relating to her life in England, a life she never expected to lead from event to event beginning with her purely dabbling arrival. The moving musical score fits like a velvet glove over the sustained close shot of her gorgeous face and the iceberg-thawing sound of her voice.The backbiting between Irene and her English counterparts early in the film is funny, posing one of the movie's unanxious emotional successes which as well include strong romantic and maternal joys and longings, WWI, brief bursts of rage, mourning, WWII, and the like. A scene in the movie circa the early 1930s sends a chill down the spine, illustrating two polite adolescent German boys, part of an exchange program, staying at the English family's countryside manor. Intimating they were part of early Nazi invasion plans, the boys let it slip in a conversation's startling turn for the less comfortable that they are pondering how the estate's large green would be perfect on which for troop gliders to land.

ccthemovieman-1 Well, I had a good attitude going in since I like a number of the cast members, beginning with Irene Dunne. However, one viewing was enough because (1) this is a woman's movie; (2) there are way too many "darlings" spoken in the dialog; and (3) the film is just a bit too boring in too many spots.There are some good points to this movie. The story is involving and a tragic one that tugs on your heartstrings. Dunne's character,Susan Dunn Ashwood," is American. She marries an Englishman "Sir John Ashwood" (Alan Marshall) who dies in World War I. She raises their son "John, Jr." (Roddy McDowell, as young boy, and then Peter Lawford as an adult). He dies in the end, too, so you see there is a lot of sadness in this story. I appreciated the nice photography in here, too, and Dunne's role as a patriotic American who sticks up for her country on a foreign soil most of her life.This is one of those rare films that seem better afterward that when you are watching it!

Cue-ball I only had one thing to add to the other reviews. But first I'll note that this is one of those "Golden Age" movies where every member of the cast is a pro. What a great scene between C. Aubrey Smith and Frank Morgan, both extolling the virtues of their own countries to the other's detriment (England v. USA). And the star of the movie is the great, under-rated Irene Dunne.But, if for no other reason, you should see this movie just to hear our (America's) national anthem, played in a context that will absolutely make you cry. It rivals the "Marseillaise" performance in "Casablanca" for bringing a lump to your throat -- only this time, it is not a gesture of defiance, but of gratitude.