Written by the man who brought us Glory for Me, the novel behind the film The Best Years of Our Lives, MacKinlay Kantor brought wartime audiences another tearjerker: Happy Land. Bring your Kleenexes, folks. This is a very sad movie, and while it still maintains the Americana patriotism as other war movies, this one is especially sad. The start of the movie starts with a soldier's death, so there's no wondering as to whether or not he survives.
Don Ameche, with gray in the temples, runs a small town drugstore. He's well known and respected in town, and he has a happy marriage with Frances Dee. Then, they receive a telegram from the War Department with bad news about their son. For the rest of the movie, Don gets consumed by his grief and loses himself in flashbacks about his son's life. Frances hardly has any part, so don't expect any "long suffering Mom" scenes. I would have liked to see her show off her acting chops, but this is Don's show. And he does it very well! He's completely believable as a small town druggist. He doesn't exactly throw away his lines, but he acts as if he's been saying them for thirty years. It's a very natural performance, which adds to the sadness of the plot.
He gets a visit from his deceased grandfather, Harry Carey, and shows audiences a precursor of It's a Wonderful Life. It's not exactly the same, but an angelic figure does walk the despondent protagonist through different memories to show how precious life really is. There's no Mr. Gower the druggist (or is Don Ameche a version of him?) but there is an engraved present upon graduation, tucked away petals of a flower, and a flirtatious girl and steady girl vying for the attentions of the man behind the counter. If you made it through The Human Comedy, you can make it through this one. It's not really a movie you can enjoy, but you can appreciate the acting and the powerful patriotism behind it. And as "The End" comes on the screen, there's the classic "Buy your war bonds" advertisement, which I'm sure everyone did. After they wrung out their handkerchiefs.
Don Ameche, with gray in the temples, runs a small town drugstore. He's well known and respected in town, and he has a happy marriage with Frances Dee. Then, they receive a telegram from the War Department with bad news about their son. For the rest of the movie, Don gets consumed by his grief and loses himself in flashbacks about his son's life. Frances hardly has any part, so don't expect any "long suffering Mom" scenes. I would have liked to see her show off her acting chops, but this is Don's show. And he does it very well! He's completely believable as a small town druggist. He doesn't exactly throw away his lines, but he acts as if he's been saying them for thirty years. It's a very natural performance, which adds to the sadness of the plot.
He gets a visit from his deceased grandfather, Harry Carey, and shows audiences a precursor of It's a Wonderful Life. It's not exactly the same, but an angelic figure does walk the despondent protagonist through different memories to show how precious life really is. There's no Mr. Gower the druggist (or is Don Ameche a version of him?) but there is an engraved present upon graduation, tucked away petals of a flower, and a flirtatious girl and steady girl vying for the attentions of the man behind the counter. If you made it through The Human Comedy, you can make it through this one. It's not really a movie you can enjoy, but you can appreciate the acting and the powerful patriotism behind it. And as "The End" comes on the screen, there's the classic "Buy your war bonds" advertisement, which I'm sure everyone did. After they wrung out their handkerchiefs.