A pacifist ,(" a farewell to the arms" "no greater glory" )Frank Borzage was one of first American directors to be concerned with the rise of Nazism : the depiction of the German society just before the war in "three comrades ",the ending of which hints at troubles in the city ;then what I consider his masterpiece " mortal storm" which was released before Pearl Harbor....
Maureen O'Hara was to play the female lead but she was pregnant and had to give up the part :Barbara Britton replaced her successfully as this nun ,who discovers the hostile outside world ; the rapport she has with John (Ray Milland ) is extraordinary,both actors deeply moving us :one knows the aviator's wife and son -who never appear,even in a conventional flashback- as one has always known them ; their scenes in the forest and the final one before the player piano is heard are precious and dear to us because one knows the title is a marvelous litotes. They will be short ,as the hour Janet Gaynor is given before being arrested in "street angel" (1927).
The mayor (Walter Slezak ) may be a caricature ,but there were collaborators like him in occupied France and his last scene shows he's not rotten to the core; echoing mother superior's death , the nun's sacrifice allows her to be faithful to her religious belief ; martyrdom is par excellence the Christian way ;hence the meaning of the the title :we ll meet again ,but not in this world ;she leaves a world gone mad , but in which she has known true pure love which transcends everything ,and thanks to her ,a little boy will be proud of his father.
Should the Peace Nobel Prize have been given to a director , it would have been to Borzage !
Maureen O'Hara was to play the female lead but she was pregnant and had to give up the part :Barbara Britton replaced her successfully as this nun ,who discovers the hostile outside world ; the rapport she has with John (Ray Milland ) is extraordinary,both actors deeply moving us :one knows the aviator's wife and son -who never appear,even in a conventional flashback- as one has always known them ; their scenes in the forest and the final one before the player piano is heard are precious and dear to us because one knows the title is a marvelous litotes. They will be short ,as the hour Janet Gaynor is given before being arrested in "street angel" (1927).
The mayor (Walter Slezak ) may be a caricature ,but there were collaborators like him in occupied France and his last scene shows he's not rotten to the core; echoing mother superior's death , the nun's sacrifice allows her to be faithful to her religious belief ; martyrdom is par excellence the Christian way ;hence the meaning of the the title :we ll meet again ,but not in this world ;she leaves a world gone mad , but in which she has known true pure love which transcends everything ,and thanks to her ,a little boy will be proud of his father.
Should the Peace Nobel Prize have been given to a director , it would have been to Borzage !