Search - I'll Be Seeing You on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1944 DVD Release: 10/19/2004 Format: DVD - Black and White - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 25 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Drama, Romance, Romantic Drama, Melodrama

Ginger Rogers gives a dramatic performance in this moving romantic drama in which a woman named Mary Marshall, who was convicted of manslaughter (she defended herself when her lecherous boss attempted to rape her and she accidentally killed him), is granted a ten-day furlough for Christmas to visit relatives. Once out, she encounters a shell-shocked vet (Joseph Cotten) on leave from the VA psych ward on a train. The unstable vet has been allowed out by his doctors to see if he is ready to function in normal society. At first, the vet is nervous around Mary, but something clicks and she invites him to stay at her house during their respective breaks. Together they attempt to have a happy Christmas while dealing with the vet's problems. At first Mary keeps her own past and troubles to herself, but as they begin falling in love, she decides to tell him the whole story. In this way, the two reconcile their pasts and move closer toward forming a relationship. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ginger Rogers - Mary Marshall
Joseph Cotten - Zachary Morgan
Shirley Temple - Barbara Marshall
Spring Byington - Mrs. Marshall
Tom Tully - Mr. Marshall

William Dieterle's sentimental wartime romance I'll Be Seeing You (1945) never made it to laserdisc, but has arrived on DVD in a handsome-looking edition from MGM/UA (which bought up the Selznick International library, of which it was a part, in 2003). The source print has no blemishes, and after a window-boxed opening logo for Selznick, gives us a crisp full-frame image that looks sharper than the movie from television showings in the '60s and early '70s. The opulence of the Selznick production style (even as practiced here, by proxy, by future MGM production chief Dore Schary) really comes to life in this high-resolution format -- the subtle elegance of even the middle-class settings, and the carefully lit sets -- but the most startling element of the movie to rise to the surface in this format is Ginger Rogers' performance. One of her most subtle portrayals, her work as a furloughed convict (guilty of a manslaughter charge that, in more recent times, might well have been dismissed, as it involved her resisting what we now call "date rape") is the kind of role that actresses yearned for, and she rises to the occasion -- presented in this way, with no visual flaws, and in optimum condition, we get to absorb her work at its best. Joseph Cotten's performance is also worth seeing, though he almost loses himself in his attempt to portray a shell-shocked veteran -- he was too subtle for his own good, by the standards of the time. One wishes that it was possible to say the disc was flawless, but that goal eludes us here. For reasons best known to themselves, MGM/UA has mastered the sound on this disc -- which is hardly overloaded with extras -- at a volume level half of what it should be. It's all clean and comes out without distortion of any kind, but why that discrepancy exists is a mystery. The 85-minute movie has been given 16 very well chosen chapters and comes with French, Spanish, and English subtitles; however, there is no trailer or other support material of any kind. It opens automatically to a simple three-selection menu offering "Play," "Chapter," and "Subtitle" selections. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide