I’m starting to notice that a lot of these festive ‘40s flicks have some heavy themes of tragic, doomed romance and 1944’s I’ll Be Seeing You from director William Dieterle is no exception. Perhaps there was something in the air back then, but this one is another sombre tearjerker. Ginger Rogers is Mary, a young lady who is instantly attracted to Zach (Joseph Cotton), a handsome soldier she bumps into on a long train journey home in World War 2 America. They really hit it off and plan to meet again for the holidays but both hide huge secrets – he’s on leave from military hospital, suffering horrifically from what we’d today call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while she’s a convicted murderer released on furlough for a few days for Christmas. There doesn’t seem like any way their ill-fated infatuation can survive.
I’d never heard of Cotton, but here he is more than capable as the gentleman war veteran battling his demons. Rogers too is reliably sweet and easy to root for, despite having been convicted for manslaughter. So pleasant, in fact, that I have a hard time buying she’d been in prison for years – she just seems too chirpy and well-adjusted, though it is explained she got Christmas furlough for good behaviour, so I’ll let them away with it.
Also, it’s wonderful to hear the term ‘furlough’ used in its old-fashioned, prison-y context, after 14 months of hearing it as a term associated with this bastard virus.
The film’s initial meet-cute is excellent, these two just seeming like a sweet couple, with something perhaps a little off about them, both feeling uncomfortable on this busy carriage but instantly relaxed with each other. They agree to meet up over Christmas but the second Zach arrives at his lodgings a confessional voice-over kicks in and we realise that this poor bugger is seriously struggling with what happened to him battling the Japanese.
Likewise, when Mary gets to her Aunt and Uncle’s home, all seems hunky dory until someone mentions her room being “bigger than a cell” and it's like a needle scratch. Mary will be sharing a room with her sassy, nosy 17 year old cousin Barbara who loves her to bits, but clearly isn’t comfortable bunking with a convict. Little visual clues like homemade labels indicating separate wardrobe spaces indicate the family don’t quite trust her. Later, a girl-to-girl chat reveals Mary accidentally killed her boss following an attempted rape. It totally sucks and doesn’t seem like she did much wrong but, as she puts it, “a man died” so someone had to pay.
Mary is hugely sympathetic and Barbara warms to her just as much as the audience does. I find myself thinking that the actress playing Barbara is really plucky and likeable and wonder who she is. Turns out it’s only bloody Shirley Temple all grown up. She receives a lot more screen time than you’d expect for a supporting character and she lights up the screen. It’s easy to see why she was such a star.
As Zach and Mary try to make the most of their time together, the film reminds me to be thankful for all I’ve got and to enjoy life while I can. You never know when life might throw you a curveball. It's dark subject matter for a yuletide romance film, but it’s not dreary at all, rather an ode to celebrating life and about appreciating each Christmas to the fullest.
The two leads, aware this romance likely can’t last, try so hard to take things casually and treat this like a simple holiday romance, but god damn if their chemistry isn’t pure alchemy. They fall hard and it gets more agonising to watch as things go on as they attend the Christmas dance, family dinners and share a kiss in the lamplight. However, at its heart it’s a sweet story with a very satisfying climax that offers no easy answers but is still hopeful and joyous.
It’s intelligently offbeat, bewitching stuff, though perhaps very naïve in its depiction of PTSD being easily cured by a spot of festive mirth and smooching. Also, though mildly implausible, the heart-wrenching tale of Mary’s incarceration speaks volumes to today’s #MeToo movement. Women have been getting a raw deal for far too long and it’s about time society took proper notice.
This one’s a winner for me, perhaps because witnessing the magic of two shy weirdos falling for each other reminds me very much of me and my darling wife.