hjmsia49 Review of We'll Meet Again

We'll Meet Again (1982)

A missed opportunity, a major disappointment

[25 September 2011]

I looked forward to this series with great anticipation as I like intelligent interchange between Americans and Brits. I found too many of the characters so stereotypical and lacking in believability. I enjoyed seeing some old pros like June Barry (Forsyte Saga) and Stuart Wilson (Anna Kerenina)again trying to raise level of the performances. The lead characters, the British doctor and the American Major lacked any chemistry in their vain attempt to bring some conviction to their relationship. The doctor's invalid husband raised the level of British stiff upper lip stoicism to absurd levels. Americans Mario, Hymie and Elmer were little more than cartoon characters. The series was further burdened by plot twists that strained credulity. It is obvious they borrowed a post war B-17 as their major prop. The problem was that their B-17, named Ginger Rogers, was an unpainted silver version, totally different than the brown versions used by the 8th Air Force. It stood out like a sore thumb alongside the actual bombers used during the war. It had a chin turret lacking in machine guns. Every time the silver streak returned to its base, you could anticipate the "wounded aboard flare" as it landed and you waited to see which of Lettie's boy friends would expire. In addition, can you believe that a German Me 110, with an inviting American base close by, would bother to strafe a farm girl in a field and a lonely cyclist on a country road? Can you believe an American airman, who bails out over Belgium and manages to stroll through German occupied France, cross the Pyranees into Spain and Portugal where he hops a British planes to return to his base? Can you believe a 15 year old American tail gunner who shoots down two German fighters on his first mission? While June Barry was excellent as the poor anxious mother and shopkeeper, her hairdo was the best of the entire female cast. She always looked like she just returned from the beauty parlor. If any series required a sequel, this one certainly did with so many plots left hanging. We can only ponder the final fate of the doctor and her two Majors, the Mundy siblings, the flirtatious Rosie and if the crew of the Ginger Rogers 2 would survive the war? We'll never know? Finally, "We'll Meet Again" was a very popular song during WWII by British songstress Vera Lynn. It would have added to this production.