Until They Sail (1957)

It's not exactly a surprise to learn that this movie turned out to be M-G-M's top box-office attraction in New Zealand for 1958, but it's hard to believe that James A. Michener had anything to do with this impossible charade of a story that focuses on unintentionally laughable New Zealanders. A mixed cast cannot overcome the silliness and ineptitude of characters, plot and dialogue. Actual location filming only serves to pinpoint the absolute phoniness of the studio scenes with their ridiculously luxurious sets. In fact, the film is so constricted by Hollywood conventions in sets, make-up and costumes that Robert Wise's direction often seems elephantine, clumsy and heavy-footed.Oddly, New Zealanders themselves didn't seem to mind that all the characters, plus the background and the story-line, were so grossly out of kilter with their real New Zealand. In fact, they took this movie as a great comedy and laughed themselves sick!

This movie is wonderful. It's romantic, truthful and perfectly cast. It shows how lonely women can be without the love of a man in their life, and how wounds take so long to heal, and how easily they can be made. Jean Simmons is beautiful and sensitive in her portrayal of a New Zealand lass trying to remain decent and understanding emotional pain and restriction in a time of war. Paul Newman is positively gorgeous and plays his role as a cynical soldier so well i could seriously believe him really being one. The ending of the movie, although somewhat predictable, is lovely and suitable. I recommend this film to all lovers of Jean Simmons, Paul Newman and the classically romantic dramas of the 50's.

This is not the most spectacular "women in war" movie ever made, but Robert Wise didn't disappoint either.The focus of this film is on Jean Simmons, which was a little disappointing for me because I watched it for Joan Fontaine. Her screen time is pretty much focused into a 20 minutes sequence showing Anne falling in love in Dick (Richard Bates), him shipping off to Tawara, ending with the despair on her face when Paul Newman told her that causality list is still top-secret. To top it off, the script annoyingly turned Anne's tragedy into a happy ending - having Anne receiving telegram and a large sum of money from her mother-in-law, a congressman writing to the Marines demanding that she be sent back as royalties. The audience is led to believe that Dick was from a good, wealthy family and Anne and her little boy will live happily ever after. If you want to see a more realistic look on how the foreign war brides adjust to their American life without their husbands, I recommend Oliver Stone's "Heaven and Earth".The best developed story line is of course the relationship between Paul Newman's Jack and Jean Simmons's Barbara. It's a gentle but thoughtful criticism of the war marriages of 1940's, which Hollywood was beginning to examine during the 50's. And the film took its time bring them together, which makes the feelings Jack and Barbara have for each other more believable than that of Anne and Dick's. Again, I would have liked it better if they didn't end up together. But then, these four girls have been through so much.....and it never hurts to look into those blue eyes of Mr. Newman's as he says "I don't love you" (yeah right!)

Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee and Paul Newman star in "Until They Sail," a World War II romantic drama directed by Robert Wise. Four sisters watch their husbands and boyfriends go off to war and meet different fates. The central story is the romance between the widowed Barbara (Simmons) and an American marine (Newman). This is an early film for Newman; he has fourth billing.The drama emphasizes the tremendous loneliness of the American soldiers and the New Zealand women and the resulting changing morality. The liaisons that result are sometimes one-nighters, sometimes serious that end with a soldier's death, and sometimes end in marriage and relocation. Anne (Fontaine) falls in love with a soldier (Charles Drake) and becomes pregnant; Dee (Piper Laurie) has a husband she doesn't love who is a prisoner of war - she moves to Wellington and takes up with an assortment of soldiers; and Barbara's husband is killed. Evelyn, a mere child at the beginning of the war, matures as it continues and falls in love."Until They Sail" begins with a courtroom scene and continues as Barbara's flashback. It moves somewhat slowly and has a tendency to be talky. The performances are uneven. Laurie, a vibrant actress, nevertheless seems as if she belongs to a different family, much more American than a New Zealand resident. Fontaine gives a gentle portrayal of a woman who finds love later in her life. As Barbara, Simmons gives us a serious young woman with certain standards who nevertheless finds herself drawn to the cynical Newman character. Though she enjoyed an excellent career, Simmons never had the career she deserved, belonging to an era that put her in competition with Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. It's a shame - of the three, she's the best actress. Her work in "Angel Face" is proof enough of that and that she is a stunning beauty who, when allowed, could also be sexy. In "Until They Sail," she again conveys her thoughts with no dialogue. At the end, she stands outside alone and the viewer can read her mind, as they could when she walked into the house in "Angel Face" after the death of her parents.This is a pleasant film, not spectacular, worth seeing for an early Newman and some likable actors.