Hmmm...this is a rather hard film to rate. On one hand, it has a wonderful and romantic feel to it and the actors do a great job. But, on the other, the plot strains credibility WAAAAAY beyond the breaking point.
The film begins with two soldiers. One (Joseph Cotten) is writing a love letter for his buddy. It seems that the buddy has a female pen pal and he does not have a knack for words--so Cotten writes for him--much like the story of Cyrano. Now this is hard to believe, but I could suspend disbelief.
Cotten is injured in the war and sent home. However, he's depressed and out of sorts and his life is a mess. Eventually, out of desperation, he seeks out the women to whom he wrote earlier in the film (Jennifer Jones). However, he has a lot of trouble finding her and even hears she might be dead! However, he eventually DOES find her--only to find that she has complete amnesia and has no idea who she is or her past or his letters. The amnesia ploy is very hard to believe, but I could still suspend disbelief.
Next, Cotten is told some disturbing things about Jones. First, the "buddy" from earlier in the film married her--without telling her he really didn't write any of the letters. Second, and no one seems sure why, she was then convicted of killing him! So, in such a situation as this what would you do? Yep, you'd marry Jones and never tell her about the letters and begin a life based only on the present!! At this point, my sense of disbelief was screaming in my ear!! I could not possibly accept what was happening--even if Cotten and Jones made a nice romantic pair (just like they did in "Portrait of Jenny").
While I've revealed a lot about the film, I can't really say much more about the plot, as there are some nice (though hardly believable) twists at the end. It's all rather enjoyable and glossy but the writing is hopelessly bad---very, very silly in fact. However, I do think many could look past the plot holes--I just know I could not.
The film begins with two soldiers. One (Joseph Cotten) is writing a love letter for his buddy. It seems that the buddy has a female pen pal and he does not have a knack for words--so Cotten writes for him--much like the story of Cyrano. Now this is hard to believe, but I could suspend disbelief.
Cotten is injured in the war and sent home. However, he's depressed and out of sorts and his life is a mess. Eventually, out of desperation, he seeks out the women to whom he wrote earlier in the film (Jennifer Jones). However, he has a lot of trouble finding her and even hears she might be dead! However, he eventually DOES find her--only to find that she has complete amnesia and has no idea who she is or her past or his letters. The amnesia ploy is very hard to believe, but I could still suspend disbelief.
Next, Cotten is told some disturbing things about Jones. First, the "buddy" from earlier in the film married her--without telling her he really didn't write any of the letters. Second, and no one seems sure why, she was then convicted of killing him! So, in such a situation as this what would you do? Yep, you'd marry Jones and never tell her about the letters and begin a life based only on the present!! At this point, my sense of disbelief was screaming in my ear!! I could not possibly accept what was happening--even if Cotten and Jones made a nice romantic pair (just like they did in "Portrait of Jenny").
While I've revealed a lot about the film, I can't really say much more about the plot, as there are some nice (though hardly believable) twists at the end. It's all rather enjoyable and glossy but the writing is hopelessly bad---very, very silly in fact. However, I do think many could look past the plot holes--I just know I could not.