Homecoming

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Overview

When Homecoming was first released in 1948, some observers felt that Clark Gable's unusually sensitive performance was based on his own memories of losing his wife Carole Lombard in a 1942 plane crash. Intriguingly, Gable's Homecoming co-star is Lana Turner, with whom it was rumored that he was having an affair at the time of Lombard's death. Told in flashback, the story concerns the romance of war-time army surgeon Ulysses Delby Johnson (Gable) and Red Cross nurse Lt. Jane "Snapshot" McCall (Turner). Though married, Johnson cannot help to be drawn to Jane as they slog through the hellish battlegrounds of Italy and France. As the war draws to a close, Johnson is faced with a dilemma: how can he find happiness with Jane without bringing misery to his beloved wife Penny (Anne Baxter). As it turns out, Fate intervenes to solve Johnson's problem. Though well-acted and directed, Homecoming is just too thin to be spread out over 12 reels.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/23/2009
UPC:	0883316126851
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W, Full Frame]
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	25,170

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Clark Gable	Ulysses Delby Johnson
Lana Turner	Lt. Jane "Snapshot" McCall
Anne Baxter	Penny Johnson
John Hodiak	Dr. Robert Sunday
Ray Collins	Lt. Col. Avory Silver
Gladys Cooper	Mrs. Kirby
Cameron Mitchell	Monkevickz
Marshall Thompson	Sgt. McKeen
Lurene Tuttle	Miss Stoker
Jessie Grayson	Sarah
Eloise Hardt	Nurse
John Albright	Corpsman
Frank Arnold	Maitre d'Hotel
Art Baker	Williams
Gregg Barton	Captain
Francine Bordeaux	Actor
Nina Borget	Newswoman
Thomas E. Breen	Young Man
James Bush	Instructor
Wally Cassell	Patient
Wheaton Chambers	Doctor
Dorothy Christy	Guest
Louise Colombet	Frenchwoman
Edwin Cooper	Head Surgeon
Jeff Corey	Cigarette Smoker
Joseph Crehan	Col. Morgan
Leslie Denison	British Colonel
Vernon P. Downing	British Soldier
Mimi Doyle	Actor
Phil Dunham	Elevator Operator
Mary Jo Ellis	Actor
William Forrest	Actor
Alan Hale	M.P.
Jerry Jerome	Lieutenant
J. Louis Johnson	Sol
Virginia Kelly	Actor
Michael Kirby	Actor
Jeanne Lafayette	Girl
Nolan Leary	Doctor
Queenie Leonard	Actor
Alphonse Martell	Actor
Frank Mayo	Doctor
Charles Meredith	Major
Ralph Montgomery	Actor
Roger Moore	Actor
Bert Moorhouse	Actor
Anne Nagel	Guest
David Newell	Surgeon
Jay Norris	Officer
Arthur O'Connell	Driver
Broderick O'Farrell	Actor
Ted Offenbecker	Clerk
Gaylord "Steve" Pendleton	Orderly
Albert Pollet	Waiter
George Sherwood	Actor
Lew Smith	Corpsman
Arthur Space	Col. Norton
William Tannen	Attendant
Geraldine Wall	Head Nurse
Dan Quigg	Actor
Kay Mansfield	Mrs. Lovette
David Clarke	Sergeant
James Taggart	Actor
Fern Eggen	Actor
Honor Blackman	Actor

Technical Credits

Mervyn LeRoy	Director
Jack Dawn	Makeup
Randall Duell	Art Director
John D. Dunning	Editor
Sidney Franklin	Producer
Cedric Gibbons	Art Director
Arnold A. Gillespie	Special Effects
Henry W. Grace	Set Decoration/Design
Bronislau Kaper	Score Composer
Jan Lustig	Screenwriter
Warren Newcombe	Special Effects
Paul Osborn	Screenwriter
Charles Previn	Musical Direction/Supervision
Helen Rose	Costumes/Costume Designer
Harold Hal Rosson	Cinematographer
Edwin B. Willis	Set Decoration/Design

Editorial Reviews

Although Homecoming was a big box office hit in its day, it's actually a fairly dull film. As is so often the case, the blame rests primarily on the material, in this case the treacly soap opera concocted by Paul Osborn and Jan Lustig from the Sidney Kingsley story. Homecoming makes claims to being a sensitive drama about the issues confronting men returning from war, but it uses that setting for sheer, unadulterated melodrama, and doesn't sacrifice any occasion to bring out tired cliché after tired cliché from the soap opera handbook. Director Mervyn LeRoy doesn't try to battle the soapiness of the material, which is probably just as well, but opts instead to play it for all its worth, never missing an opportunity to highlight his handsome leading man and gorgeous leading lady in the most flattering way possible. (He doesn't do too shabbily by second leads Anne Baxter and John Hodiak either.) But it's Clark Gable and Lana Turner that drive this movie, pushing it with all their considerable movie star skill and turning in a couple of pretty fine performances. It doesn't make Homecoming good, but it certainly makes it a heck of a lot more palatable.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler