The film opens with Newman, as a military officer, testifying at a trial, which reminds one of "The Rack." Indeed the subject once more is the way people surrender their ideals and moral standards under the pressures of war
But here the emphasis is on women, and the story details the endless suffering and sacrifices of four sisters on the New Zealand Homefront during World War II
Newman, an American marine, becomes involved with one of the sisters (Jean Simmons), whose husband has recently been killed in combat It's hardly a smooth relationship: Simmons doesn't trust the GIs, who exploit and abuse the local women; Newman, who has been, in his words, "recently unmarried," has no faith in women or in romance He is tough, unsociable, defensive, and trying to remain detached; and he uses his position as investigator of servicemen's prospective brides to advise men against marriage
This is the first of Newman's genuine alcoholics When Simmons first meets him, he's in a bar, preoccupied with his liquor, and later, when she asks him how he copes with life, he shows her a bottle and delivers what would become characteristic Newman lines: "This is what I spend the night withand no regrets . . . And nobody gets hurt."
Gradually this confused and cynical man is unable to resist Simmons, who, he realizes, is the only woman he's ever really liked He abandons what she calls his "hot affair with the bottle," although they seem to avoid a sexual relationship Some melodramatic events threaten to keep them apart, but all ends happily in a huge CinemaScope closeup embrace
Newman manages to mask his insecurities and neuroses Instead of showing his usual aggressiveness with women, he becomes very dependent, seeing Simmons as almost a mother and letting her see his weaknesses Most Newman characters are emotionally immature but they are rarely as open about itrarely as overtly passive, dependent and adolescent
Newman, an American marine, becomes involved with one of the sisters (Jean Simmons), whose husband has recently been killed in combat It's hardly a smooth relationship: Simmons doesn't trust the GIs, who exploit and abuse the local women; Newman, who has been, in his words, "recently unmarried," has no faith in women or in romance He is tough, unsociable, defensive, and trying to remain detached; and he uses his position as investigator of servicemen's prospective brides to advise men against marriage
This is the first of Newman's genuine alcoholics When Simmons first meets him, he's in a bar, preoccupied with his liquor, and later, when she asks him how he copes with life, he shows her a bottle and delivers what would become characteristic Newman lines: "This is what I spend the night withand no regrets . . . And nobody gets hurt."
Gradually this confused and cynical man is unable to resist Simmons, who, he realizes, is the only woman he's ever really liked He abandons what she calls his "hot affair with the bottle," although they seem to avoid a sexual relationship Some melodramatic events threaten to keep them apart, but all ends happily in a huge CinemaScope closeup embrace
Newman manages to mask his insecurities and neuroses Instead of showing his usual aggressiveness with women, he becomes very dependent, seeing Simmons as almost a mother and letting her see his weaknesses Most Newman characters are emotionally immature but they are rarely as open about itrarely as overtly passive, dependent and adolescent