Skip to main content

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS FILMS | Day 1: «I'll Be Seeing You» (1944)


Directed by William Dieterle, I'll Be Seeing You (1944) tells the story of two strangers, Mary Marshall (Ginger Rogers) and Sergeant Zachary Morgan (Joseph Cotten), who meet while seated across from each other on a train bound for a town called Pine Hill. Mary is serving a six-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter and has been given a special eight-day furlough to spend the Christmas holidays with her closest relatives, Uncle Henry (Tom Tully), Aunt Sarah (Spring Byington) and free-spirited cousin Barbara (Shirley Temple). Zachary, a shell-shocked soldier, is on a ten-day leave from a psychiatric hospital to try to readjust to normal daily life. Naturally, neither one shares their secret with the other: Mary pretends that she is a travelling saleslady, while Zach claims he is going to visit his sister.
 
After the train pulls into the station, they exchange names and Mary takes a taxi to the Marshall home. Meanwhile, Zach checks into the local YMCA and telephones Mary, who then invites him to her family's house for dinner. Later that night, Mary discovers that Barbara has labeled all her possessions. Realizing that her cousin distrusts her, Mary reveals the reason for her imprisonment: while working as a secretary, she accidentally killed her drunken boss when he made aggressive and unwanted sexual advances towards her.
 
Mary, I know I'm going to get well. I've got plans, too, lots of them. I know I'm going to stay well, too, because you figure in all my plans. You've got to figure in them because, without you, I'm back where I started. I'm sunk. (Zachary Morgan)
The following day, Zach invites Mary for a walk and opens up about his traumatic war experiences. They spend the next few days together and begin to fall in love, though Mary is still reluctant to tell him about her past. On the day they are both scheduled to leave, Zach goes to the Marshall home to say goodbye to Mary and learns from Barbara (not knowing the soldier is unaware of the truth) the details of her cousin's prison sentence. Mary senses that something is wrong when Zach suddenly becomes distant and silently boards the train. Upon returning home from the station, Mary discovers that Barbara has revealed her secret and collapses, weeping. But that night, as Mary approaches the gates of the state prison, Zach suddenly appears and embraces her, declaring his love and promising that he will wait for her to be released.

 
After winning an Oscar with his screenplay for Boys Town (1938), Dore Schary became one of the most important contract writers at MGM in the early 1940s. Impressed with his ideas about improving their low-budget output, MGM chief Louis B. Mayer decided to sign Schary to a one-year contract as executive producer and put him in charge of the studio's B-picture unit. With the success of Journey for Margaret (1942), Lassie Come Home (1943) and Bataan (1943), the unit began making more money than Metro's A-films, which satisfied Mayer enough to raise Schary's salary twice in two years. By late 1943, Schary was eager to personally produce A-class pictures, but, despite Mayer's assurances, he was not optimistic about that possibility at MGM.
 
Dore Schary with Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten during production of I'll Be Seeing You
 
Meanwhile, independent producer David O. Selznick was finally returning to active filmmaking after three years of absence. Selznick already had two prestige-level projects in the works, Since You Went Away (1944) and Spellbound (1945), and he wanted Schary to produce modest A-class pictures through his production company, Vanguard Films, to complement his own high-quality features. Schary promptly agreed, signing on in November 1943 for $2,500 per week plus 15 percent of the net profits on all his Vanguard releases.

A few weeks after closing the deal, Selznick approved Schary's first project for Vanguard: a screen adaptation of an original radio drama called Double Furlough. Written by Charles Martin, the story centered on a shell-shock victim who, while home for Christmas, falls in love with a woman on holiday furlough from prison. The drama was broadcasted some time in late 1943 and starred James Cagney and Gertrude Lawrence as the two lovers, Zachary Morgan and Mary Marshall.
 
Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten in I'll Be Seeing You
  
In December 1943, it was announced that Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten, both under exclusive contract to Selznick, would play Zach and Mary in the film. Two months later, however, Fontaine was forced to withdraw from the project due to previous commitments and Schary then convinced Selznick to bring in freelancer Ginger Rogers to replace her. After the completion of Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), directed by Garson Kanin for RKO, Rogers had decided to freelance between the various studios, a risky undertaking before the 1950s. Luckily, the gamble paid off and she became the highest-paid film actress in the mid-1940s. 
 
Completing the trio of lead actors was 16-year-old Shirley Temple, who was also appearing with Cotten in Since You Went Away. Temple had been Hollywood's biggest child star of the 1930s, appearing in such hits as Curly Top (1935) and Wee Willie Winkie (1937). However, as she transitioned into her teens, she struggled to find suitable roles and her films began to lose money, leading to her being named «Box-Office Poison» by the Independent Theatre Owners Association. In mid-1943, following almost two years of being away from the screen and a failed comeback attempt at MGM, Temple was signed by Selznick to a personal four-year contract, but he quickly lost interest in developing her career. Instead, he loaned her out to other studios and the quality of her pictures, as well as her popularity, dropped considerably. In December 1950, at the age of 22, Temple announced her retirement from films to dedicate herself to her growing family.

Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple in a publicity still for I'll Be Seeing You
 
After William Dieterle replaced original director John Cromwell, shooting commenced in late March 1944 at the Selznick Studios in Culver City. Exteriors scenes were shot at Big Bear Lake, the RKO Ranch and the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, California.
 
Selznick was displeased with Dieterle's direction of a pivotal scene in the picture, in which Barbara confesses to Mary that she told Zach about her past. Reportedly, Selznick wrote a replacement scene and hired George Cukor to direct it. The original sequence, as shot by Dieterle, had apparently been overly melodramatic and Cukor was envisioning something more restrained. When Temple first attempted to rework the scene, Cukor called her performance «awful.» She begged Cukor to give her a few minutes so she could deliver him «a good cry,» but the director shouted, «I want emotion, not tears.» After twelve takes, Cukor got what he wanted and put his arm around Temple, telling her she had finally given him what he was looking for. 
 
Ginger Rogers and Shirley Temple on the set of I'll Be Seeing You

At one point during production, Schary suggested that Selznick change the title of the picture to «I'll Be Seeing You,» after hearing Bing Crosby's rendition of the Sammy Frain-Irving Kahal popular song of the same name. Although Selznick was apprehensive of the original war-related title «Double Furlough,» he still balked at the suggestion. However, when «I'll Be Seeing You» reached number-one in the American charts in early July 1944, Selznick decided to assign George Gallup's Audience Research Institute (ARI) to market-test the title. ARI's research supported the change and so the film was released just before the Christmas holidays under the title I'll Be Seeing You. By then, the song had become a wartime standard and its use as both a title and a musical theme undoubtedly enhanced the film's popularity.
 
Distributed by United Artists, I'll Be Seeing You was a huge commercial success upon release in December 1944, with total earnings reaching $3.8 million. Reviews were generally favorable as well. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, for instance, praised to film for dealing with the «most urgent» drama of the returning war veteran in a «sane and affecting way.» He was particularly impressed by Cotten's performance, writing, «He plays the shell-shocked veteran with supreme restraint and with a calm and determined independence that beautifully reveals his pain and pride.» In addition, Crowther commented that Ginger Rogers was «altogether moving as the girl likewise injured by fate,» but lamented that her role was «plainly fashioned for reflection and counterpoint

Joseph Cotten and Ginger Rogers as Zachary and Mary

___________________________________________ 
SOURCES:
Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s by Thomas Schatz (University of California Press, 1997)
Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema edited by Mark Connelly (Bloomsbury Academic, 2000)
Ginger Rogers: A Bio-Bibliography by Jocelyn Farris (Greenwood Press, 1994)
TCM's articles on I'll Be Seeing You
TCM's notes on I'll Be Seeing You
Article on The Montreal Gazette (December 25, 1943)
The New York Times review by Bosley Crowther

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Golden Couples: Gary Cooper & Patricia Neal

It was April 1948 when director King Vidor spotted 22-year-old Patricia Neal on the Warner Bros. studio lot. A drama graduate from Northwestern University, she had just arrived in Hollywood following a Tony Award-winning performance in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest . Impressed by Patricia's looks, Vidor approached the young actress and asked if she would be interested in doing a screen test for the female lead in his newest film, The Fountainhead (1949). Gary Cooper had already signed as the male protagonist, and the studio was then considering Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwyck to play his love interest.          Neal liked the script and about two months later, she met with the director for sound and photographic tests. Vidor was enthusiastic about Patricia, but her first audition was a complete disaster. Cooper was apparently watching her from off the set and he was so unimpressed by her performance that he commented, « What's that!? » He tried to con

Golden Couples: Henry Fonda & Barbara Stanwyck

In the mid- and late 1930s, screwball comedy was in vogue and practically every actress in Hollywood tried her hand at it. Barbara Stanwyck never considered herself a naturally funny person or a comedienne per se , but after delivering a heart-wrenching performance in King Vidor's Stella Dallas (1937), she decided she needed a « vacation » from emotional dramas. In her search for a role, she stumbled upon a « champagne comedy » called The Mad Miss Manton (1938), originally intended as a Katharine Hepburn vehicle. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda as Melsa and Peter in The Mad Miss Manton .   Directed by Leigh Jason from a script by Philip G. Epstein, The Mad Miss Manton begins when vivacious Park Avenue socialite Melsa Manton finds a corpse while walking her dogs in the early hours of the morning. She calls the police, but they dismiss the incident — not only because Melsa is a notorious prankster, but also because the body disappears in the meantime. Sarcastic newspaper editor

Film Friday: «Who Was That Lady?» (1960)

Theatrical release poster Directed by George Sidney , Who Was That Lady? (19 60 ) begins when che mistry p rofessor David Wilson (Tony Curtis) is caught by his wife Ann (Janet Leigh) kissing one of his female st u de nts. To stop her from divo rcing him , he a sk s for hel p from his good friend, television writer Michael Haney (Dean Mart in), who invents a crazy story that Davi d is working undercover with the FBI and kissed the student — a foreign agent — in the line of du ty. To convince Ann, Mi ke tricks Schult z (William Newel l), a prop man at the T V studio, into fabricating an FBI identification card for David and s up plying him with a g un. Ann is so t hrilled by the idea of being married to a secret agent t hat she forgives David. Meanwhile, Mike sets up a date wi th the Coogle sisters, Gloria (Barbara N ichols) and Florence ( Joi Lan sing), and takes David along , telling Ann that the girls are foreign agents. Just as Ann realizes that her h usband ha s

Christmas in Old Hollywood

The beautiful Elizabeth Taylor with an extremely cute little friend. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall with their son Stephen (early 1950s). Here they are again. What an adorable picture! Paulette Goddard looking rather uncomfortable next to her Christmas tree. Boris Karloff and Ginger Rogers at a Hollywood Christmas party in 1932. The adorable Shirley Temple chatting with Santa. Here she is again with a dolly friend. Look how cute she looks here, modeling a new Christmas dress (1935). The fur-tastic Joan Crawford. Doris Day asking us to "do not disturb until Christmas." Don't worry, Doris, we shall not. Though it's past Christmas now, so I'm sure Doris won't mind if we disturb just a little bit. Priscilla Lane looking sparkling drapped in her garlands. A VERY young Carole Lombard sitting next to her tree (1920s). Jean Harlow looking stunning as always. Janet Leigh looking extra cute unde

Films I Saw in 2020

For the past four years, I have shared with you a list of all the films I saw throughout 2016 , 2017 , 2018 and 2019 , so I thought I would continue the «tradition» and do it again in 2020. This list includes both classic and «modern» films, which make up a total of 161 titles. About three or four of these were re-watches, but I decided to include them anyway. Let me know how many from these you have seen. As always, films marked with a heart ( ❤ ) are my favorites. Sherlock Jr. (1924) | Starring Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire and Joe Keaton The Crowd (1928) | Starring James Murray, Eleanor Boardman and Bert Roach Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) | Starring Henry Fonda, Alice Brady and Marjorie Weaver Brief Encounter (1945) | Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard and Stanley Holloway The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) | Starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman The Girl He Left Behind (1956) | Starring Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood Gidget (1959) | Starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson an

Golden Couples: Clark Gable & Jean Harlow

  At the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony, MGM's hugely successful prison drama The Big House (1930) earned writer Frances Marion an Oscar for Best Writing. Hoping that she would be inspired to repeat that accomplishment, Irving Thalberg, head of production at Metro, sent Marion to Chicago, Illinois to research story ideas. While flicking through the pages of The Saturday Evening Post , she found an article revealing that, in a city where people distrusted the police, a small group of leading citizens met in secret to arrange their own justice for criminals. Marion took inspiration from that story and wrote The Secret Six (1931), in which Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone, stars of The Big House , play two mobsters prosecuted by a half a dozen vigilantes. Thalberg was pleased with the leading roles Marion wrote for Beery and Stone, but asked if she could also fill out one of the minor leads for Clark Gable , a tall, dark and handsome 30-year-old actor whom Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had recen

Wings of Change: The Story of the First Ever Best Picture Winner

Wings was the first ever film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since then, it has become one of the most influential war dramas, noted for its technical realism and spectacular air-combat sequences. This is the story of how it came to be made.   A man and his story The concept for Wings originated from a writer trying to sell one of his stories. In September 1924, Byron Morgan approached Jesse L. Lasky, vice-president of Famous Players-Lasky, a component of Paramount Pictures, proposing that the studio do an aviation film. Morgan suggested an «incident and plot» focused on the failure of the American aerial effort in World War I and the effect that the country's «aviation unpreparedness» would have in upcoming conflicts. Lasky liked the idea, and approved the project under the working title «The Menace.»   LEFT: Byron Morgan (1889-1963). RIGHT: Jesse L. Lasky (1880-1958).   During his development of the scenario with William Shepherd, a former war correspondent, Morga

80 Reasons Why I Love Classic Films (Part II)

I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and Old Hollywood. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of — the film is Mimi (1935), by the way — and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share with you. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. Yesterday I posted part one ; her

Top 10 Favourite Christmas Films

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration to many artists and writers. Over the years, filmmakers have adapted various Christmas stories into both movies and TV specials, which have become staples during the holiday season all around the world. Even though Christmas is my favourite holiday, I haven't watched a lot of Christmas films. Still, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 10 favourites, based on the ones that I have indeed seen. Here they are.  10. Holiday Affair (1949) Directed by Don Hartman, Holiday Affair tells the story of a young widow (Janet Leigh) torn between a boring attorney (Wendell Corey) and a romantic drifter (Robert Mitchum). She's engaged to marry the boring attorney, but her son (Gordon Gebert) likes the romantic drifter better. Who will she choose? Well, we all know who she will choose.   Holiday Affair is not by any means the greatest Christmas film of all time, but it's still a very enjoyable Yule-tide comedy to watch over the holi

The Sinatra Centennial Blogathon: Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly

  In January 1944, MGM chief Louis B. Mayer happened to see a young crooner by the name of Frank Sinatra perform at a benefit concert for The Jewish Home for the Aged in Los Angeles. According to Nancy Sinatra, Frank's eldest daughter, Mayer was so moved by her father's soulful rendition of « Ol' Man River » that he made the decision right then and there to sign Frank to his studio. Sinatra had been on the MGM payroll once before, singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the Eleanor Powell vehicle Ship Ahoy (1942), although it is very likely that Mayer never bothered to see that film. Now that Frank was «hot,» however, Metro made arrangements to buy half of his contract from RKO, with the final deal being signed in February of that year. Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in  Anchors Aweigh Being a contract player at the studio that boasted «more stars than there are in the heavens» gave Frank a sudden perspective regarding his own talents as a film performer. The «g