FROM THIS DAY FORWARD

US, 1946, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Joan Fontaine, Mark Stevens, Rosemary de Camp, Henry Morgan, Wally Brown, Arlene Judge, Bobby Driscoll.
Directed by John Berry.

From This Day Forward is one of several films about the rehabilitation of military personnel in the post-war United States, The Best Years of Our Lives, Till the End of Time.

This is a brief but very effective film. It was directed by John Berry who began his career in the '40s but was soon blacklisted, making a few films in France and eventually returning to the United States to make oddball films like Thieves and The Bad News Bears Go To Japan. Joan Fontaine is very attractive in the central role and Mark Stevens is introduced. There is strong support from Rosemary de Camp and Henry Morgan (later of many films and M*A*S*H and after M*A*S*H). There is much New York location filming, many scenes which have an almost-documentary detailed style, seeming an authentic picture of city life in the '30s and '40s. The musical score is by Leigh Harline and there is a schmaltzy title song introduced into the middle of the film which serves as a theme. One of the better post-war films showing the ordinary American way of life, its difficulties, its hopes.

1. The popularity of post-war romantic dramas? The comparisons with this film? Quality, topicality? Treatment? Impact later?

2. Production values: New York City, locations, strong atmosphere of authenticity? The detailed study of the characters, their behaviour, talking? The feel of New York: 1938, 1945? The popular and sentimental score and song?

3. The significance of the title (and the tone of the song): marriage, commitment, security and lack of security, for better, for worse, pre-war, during the war, post-war? New beginnings?

4. The structure of the film: the focus on New York City, the life of the city, the people, the end of the war, the servicemen looking for jobs, frustrations. Bill's voice-over and his reminiscences, moods, the changes of mood as he sought the job and had the interviews, the details of the story, the encounter with Suzie and her hope in him? The audience interest and emotional response?

5. Bill and Suzie: 1945 hopes, their memories - the courting sequence, the travelling to see Hank and Martha, the visit, the squalid apartment, the box of chocolates, Martha's work, the image of family and marriage, Hank without a job, Martha’s warnings, the kids and the troubles, the talk, the proposal, the discussion on the bridge about security and commitment, marriage? His new job, Suzie's work at the bookshop? The first day and their involvement, hurrying home, a genuine touch of happiness? Bill's toolbox and its significance for him? Meals at home? The $25 wedding present and the contrast with the letter about the sacking? Suzie and Hank and Martha at the meal, Bill's drinking and disappointment? No job, baby sitting? Hank's son offering to get meals for Bill? The humiliation? The effect of unemployment? His art and doing the job for the bookshop owner, the arrest, the court case, the worry for each? The new job, the night hours, Bill and Suzie not meeting each other, going to sleep, waking up, leaving notes? Their hopes and the coming of the war ? his enlistment, the alarm not going off, being out of everything, the last day? The portrait of an American marriage, the touches of detail, the vitality of the stars?

6. Bill and the experience of the war, getting out, looking for a job, the incessant filling in forms, the complaints of the fellow service men? What questions should be on a form about a person's life? Skills, unemployment, frustration, the police record? The personnel at the office listening, asking questions? The final interview? Phone calls, hopes? Suzie's pregnancy?

7. The sketching of Martha and Hank, ordinary marriage, loving each other, taking each other for granted, Martha and the hard and drab work, Hank and no employment, jokes, their kids and the shouting, incessant noise, the squalid touch? Cautioning Suzie? The rest of the family and their wandering in, fights, shouting, socials? Mother and her tightfistedness but giving the money for recovering Bill's toolbox? The pregnancy and her delight? Hank and Martha finally getting the farm? Credible detail of marriages?

8. The bookseller, friendship with Suzie, his artist, giving Bill the job, the irony of the court case, obscenity? The family helping?

9. The film's strong feel for characters, details of life, humanity, authenticity? Perennial values?

10. The social comment of the film? American dreams, realities, life in the cities, drabness, jobs, factories, shops? Making ends meet, unemployment? Laying off workers? The war effort and employment? The difficulties of adjustment after the war? The strong sense of social comment throughout the film?

11. The picture of American dreams, the '30s, the effect of the war, change and hopes for the post-war future?