Romantic drama starring Dorothy McGuire, Guy Madison and Robert Mitchum. Cliff Harper, a discharged GI, returns to his home town after spending four years with the marines in the Pacific. Disillusioned and aimless, he drifts into a relationship with a widow.
Overshadowed by the similarly plotted The Best Years of Our Lives, which was released the same year, this melodrama about three returning Second World War veterans was a successful vehicle for Guy Madison, whose heart-throb good looks served him well during the 1940s and 50s. Top-billed Dorothy McGuire is endearingly sympathetic as a war widow, a role that could have become cloying in other hands, and the youthful-looking Robert Mitchum provides a tough contrast to Madison's lightweight leading man. The theme song, adapted from Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat Major, was a massive hit in its day for Perry Como.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Pat Ruscomb | Dorothy McGuire |
| Cliff Harper | Guy Madison |
| William Tabeshaw | Robert Mitchum |
| Perry Kincheloe | Bill Williams |
| CW Harper | Tom Tully |
| Sgt Gunny Watrous | William Gargan |
| Helen Ingersoll | Jean Porter |
| Tommy | Johnny Sands |
| Pinky | Loren Tindall |
| Amy Harper | Ruth Nelson |
| Mrs Kincheloe | Selena Royle |
| Scuffy | Harry Von Zell |
| Boy from Idaho | Richard Benedict |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Edward Dmytryk |
