Review of Going My Way (1944) by Arth J — 21 Nov 2018

Barely misleading or off the track..

Going My Way.

McCarey's in-and-out mission on stabilizing the messed up civilization is undoubtedly impressive and charming. His drama is much more responsive with the audience than the humor is, and fortunately he is well aware of it and doesn't uses it unnecessarily. The narration flows and is kept to-the-point without any monkey business. Butler and Cavett's screenplay is not provocative but adaptive and gripping. It doesn't over chew the concept it has hold on to, the material isn't taken for granted. And even though it falls deeper and deeper into the semantics of it, it never fails to flaunt in his high pitched dramatic sequences. The characters are well taken care of. All of them gets to invest equally onto the biggest picture.

The storytelling doesn't grab onto the lead characters, the supporting characters have their own tales to tell. And amongst all such sub-plots the best bit would be James's love track that is beautifully crafted and has a fresh perspective to offer to its audience. The musical acts are kept mellow yet at a certain point, that is what the feature thrives upon, especially Crosby's character. The concept is genuinely moving in context to the reflection of the society and the structure of the script that is barely misleading or off the track. Crosby has done a fine job on depicting various equations with different range of characters.

But the best one would be the primary relationship of his with Fitzgerald whose stellar performance elevates the equation much more. James's track may not be inspiring as anticipated, but it surely is soothing to encounter it on screen. McCarey's world was awaiting for an angel and they didn't know about it, similar to all the sub-plot that is carried out in here. Going My Way is an amalgamation of generation gap with strains and sweat until there isn't left any, that bridge is performed brilliantly by Crosby.