HOMECOMING was an enormously popular MGM hit when released because Gable and Turner gave it tremendous box-office power. But the majority of the reviews were pretty scathing. Yet, the public ran eagerly to see it.
I tend to agree with the critics on this one. "Nothing more than a cheap, synthetic chunk of romance designed to exploit two gaudy stars," said Bosley Crowther in The N. Y. Times. "Pretends to be serious about serious things--war and medicine in particular." But my favorite comment came from another critic of a lesser paper who wrote: "Since they are two glamorous people, theirs is a glamorous war--in battle, in bombings, in death, there is no real agony, or ugliness or heartache. Even the mud in HOMECOMING looks slick and unreal, like it passed an MGM screen test."
My reaction was pretty similar. I see this kind of romantic war movie as a chance to get CLARK GABLE and LANA TURNER in a heavy-handed chance at dramatics that supposedly pulls the heart strings while the good little wife ANNE BAXTER stays behind on the homefront worrying that her husband will have changed too much for their marriage to stay intact.
Turner actually does do a fine job in her death scene, but the whole story just seems like a contrivance to give two very popular studio stars the chance to romance against a background of World War II, as they did a few years earlier in SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU.
No matter. Of course Lana's fans are going to see her in anything--ditto for Gable--and they were certainly the target audience for this kind of pulp romance.
I tend to agree with the critics on this one. "Nothing more than a cheap, synthetic chunk of romance designed to exploit two gaudy stars," said Bosley Crowther in The N. Y. Times. "Pretends to be serious about serious things--war and medicine in particular." But my favorite comment came from another critic of a lesser paper who wrote: "Since they are two glamorous people, theirs is a glamorous war--in battle, in bombings, in death, there is no real agony, or ugliness or heartache. Even the mud in HOMECOMING looks slick and unreal, like it passed an MGM screen test."
My reaction was pretty similar. I see this kind of romantic war movie as a chance to get CLARK GABLE and LANA TURNER in a heavy-handed chance at dramatics that supposedly pulls the heart strings while the good little wife ANNE BAXTER stays behind on the homefront worrying that her husband will have changed too much for their marriage to stay intact.
Turner actually does do a fine job in her death scene, but the whole story just seems like a contrivance to give two very popular studio stars the chance to romance against a background of World War II, as they did a few years earlier in SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU.
No matter. Of course Lana's fans are going to see her in anything--ditto for Gable--and they were certainly the target audience for this kind of pulp romance.