The Very Thought of You (1944)

By CinemaSerf

Two American sergeants have a weekend pass from their bitterly cold Aleutian Islands posting before they must report back for new wartime duties, so they head to Pasadena for some some fun. Almost immediately they alight on "Janet" (Eleanor Parker) and "Cora" (Faye Emerson) who work making parachutes. It's "Dave" (Dennis Morgan) who takes a shine to "Janet" - reciprocating a childhood crush, but her wary mother (Beulah Bondi) wants none of him, fearing the dangers to her daughter of a wartime romance. Luckily her father (Henry Travers) is a little more sympathetic, but can they make things work? Meantime, "Cora" has found love with his friend "Fixit" (Dane Clark) and their path is moving along altogether more smoothly. On the face of it, this is just another feel good piece of thinly veiled propaganda, with the script making several references to the war and to the "Japs", but the acting - especially from Parker and Bondi elicits a more genuine sense of romance, yes, but also trepidation and that feeling that striking while the iron is hot may well be the best, or only, way forward. It tempers the sentimental, and there is a fair bit of that, with the realistic in quite an effective fashion taking a plausible look at how people juggled their responsibilities and aspirations in time of great peril and uncertainty. Ray Noble's title song features but sparingly, yet poignantly and the film is far better than that expected from the usual standard WWII spirit-lifter.