DVD Review: Since You Went Away (1944)
There is a scene in “Since You Went Away,” David O. Selznick’s sweeping epic, where a soldier (Robert Walker) is on a train as his girl (Jennifer Jones) bids him goodbye. The train pulls out as they’re talking to each other, and as it picks up speed, the girl keeps talking, running along with the train, until it moves fast enough to leave her far behind. It is one of those truly great scenes in Hollywood cinema of the 1940s and is a perfect look at how the movies responded to the homefront at wartime. That emotionally charged moment is also one of many highlights in this emotionally charged drama.
Kino Lorber’s classics division has released “Since You Went Away" on blu ray. Directed by John Cromwell, the film boasts a cast that includes Claudette Colbert, Shirley Temple, Guy Madison, Hattie McDaniel, Monty Woolley, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Agnes Moorehead, and the aforementioned Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones.
Despite its nearly three hour running time, “Since You Went Away” maintains an absorbing narrative that manages to include several characters each with their own separate stories. Central to the narrative is Claudette Colbert as a woman whose husband is an officer in the war. She awaits word of his status and tries to draw enough strength to guide her two daughters through the hardship and confusion of daily life. Their immediate world has changed drastically, and the people around her alternate between helping her to make sense of it all, or adding further frustration.
“Since You Went Away” was Selznick’s first production since Alfred Hitchcock directed the Oscar winning “Rebecca” four years earlier. Selznick intended to surpass the success of his masterpiece, “Gone With The Wind.” It cost nearly 4 million dollars to make, but grossed 7 million at a time when ticket prices were in the neighborhood of 30 cents! Wartime audiences connected with the various characters that included vignettes dealing with loss, triumph, romance, separation, strength, and stress, including dollops of humor and lightness along the way. The script, from a story by Margaret Buell Wilder, the direction and the performances combine to make this period cinematic soap opera among the finest films of its kind.
The film netted an Oscar for Max Steiner’s powerful score, while also receiving several nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Colbert), Best Supporting Actress (Jones), and Best Supporting Actor (Woolley).
Kino’s blu ray is, as usual, a nice sharp image, dual layered, and much better than the interlaced DVD release that came out around a dozen years ago. The images are incredibly vivid, as is the sound. Research indicates that “Since You Went Away” was originally released in sepia, but this print is in black and white. However, it is the complete roadshow version, which includes the overture and entre’act musical interludes. There are no extras, other than the film's trailer.
A fascinating, entertaining, emotionally stirring epic about an era that has long since passed us by, “Since You Went Away” is a film that can be recommended to any library, institution, or individual. It is one of those enduring classics that extends beyond any critical or historical parameters.
The blu ray is available here.