Review of Homecoming (1948) by Ashley H — 17 Oct 2010

Homecoming (1948).

This post-war romantic melodrama was directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The older, more mellow (and yet still very romantic) Clark Gable is more what I'm accustomed to seeing as I was growing up watching movies and this side of him is shown at it's best. The story is told in flashback, as a broken Major Ulysses Johnson (Gable) is shipped back from the war in Europe.

Before he was a shallow surgeon at a prestigious hospital. He enjoys his privileged lifestyle as well as being married to beautiful and loving Penny (Anne Baxter). When his old friend Dr. Bob Sunday (John Hodiak) asked for his help influencing his colleagues, to do some pro bono work to right the terrible health conditions in a poorer neighborhood of town, he's just too busy to help. Later Ulysses joins the Army and is shipped off to Europe to work in a MASH unit.

He's assigned a mouthy Lieutenant Jane McCall (Lana Turner) who everyone calls Snapshot and the sparks fly. Snapshot is a very efficient nurse and really takes good care managing the MASH unit, but she's not above telling Ulysses, (who she nicknames Useless) what she thinks.

You know that in the dangers of battle that these two will grow fond of each other and that will blossom into love. It's not only the war that changes Ulysses, but the love of idealistic Jane. Of course this has always been an on-going theme that is in Gable movies.