Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

l_rawjalaurence The plot of this propagandistic tearjerker has more than a passing resemblance to LITTLE WOMEN, even down to the central character's name, Jo Jones (Ginger Rogers). Four women whose spouses are fighting abroad during World War II set up home together and learn how to survive. One of them, Barbara Thomas (Ruth Hussey), loses her husband during the Battle of Midway, while another, Doris Dumbrowski (Kim Hunter) has the pleasure of an unexpected visit from her newly-married spouse Mike (Richard Martin). Meanwhile Jo remembers about her courtship and early married life with Chris (Robert Ryan) in a series of extended flashback sequences. Manya Lodge, their newly-engaged housekeeper (Mady Christians) looks back on her early life in Nazi Germany and contrasts it with the happier existence she enjoys in the United States. Inevitably the film has a sad ending. As might be expected from Dalton Trumbo, who later in the decade was to experience several dealings with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the script preaches an egalitarian message, of everyone pulling together in order to defeat the perceived threat of Nazism. While family bereavements are inevitable, individuals should realize that this is a consequence of war, and should therefore be spurred on to fight harder. This is as important on the Home Front as it was on the battlefields: in one climactic scene, Jo berates Barbara, who displays a regrettable tendency towards xenophobia, for putting self-interest above community concerns. At the end Jo realizes the importance of practicing what she preaches, so as to ensure a better world for her newly-born child once the war has ended. Despite the undoubted seriousness of its message, the action of TENDER COMRADE tends to drag a little; there are certain sequences (especially the flashbacks to Jo and Chris' early life) that become so treacly that the plot tends to get lost. Rogers gives a creditable account of herself, although it's noticeable that she manages to go through the film without one strand of her impeccably coiffed hairdo falling out of place, in spite of her responsibilities both inside and outside the home.

mark.waltz That's how WWII wife Ginger Rogers insists that she and three other co-workers at a war plant in Los Angeles will run the house they rent on Adams Blvd. together while their husbands are away fighting the war. She's very lonely without husband Robert Ryan (seen at the beginning leaving for combat as well as flashbacks throughout the film) so she thinks this will be a great way for all four of them (and the housekeeper they eventually hire) will be able to save expenses. Patricia Collinge, Ruth Hussey and Kim Hunter are the three co-workers; Mady Christians is the German immigrant they eventually hire to be their housekeeper. Each of them are totally different so the typical "roommate" conflicts arise, some amusingly humorous, others more serious and political.What makes this film interesting is the politics behind it involving the creators-both screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and director Edward Dmytryk were both later part of the Hollywood Ten. The hints of communism are really so subtle that you'd have to be a mind-reader or easily manipulated to pick them up. In fact, the film is really so democratic that I'm surprised that it was filmed in black and white, not in Red, White and Blue. It sure has enough stars.If communism is a group of people, unrelated, living together to make ends meet and forming a community, then yes, this is communistic. But, as Myrna Loy would later point out, that if there were communists in Hollywood, they were not the dangerous ones, and they certainly were not out to take over the country. This movie has the message to preserve it. It is simply a movie that offended the conservatives with its rather liberal message.Rogers, is of course, the shining star of the film, still hot after a slew of hit musicals with Fred Astaire and fresh from winning her Oscar for "Kitty Foyle". This was the film that ended her long contract tenure at RKO Radio (even though she'd return a few times later on), and she's playing a very complex character. Like her early 30's sassy pre-code women, she's an outspoken broad who several times in the movie wants to kick herself for putting her foot in it. The scene where she tells off seemingly unfaithful wife Ruth Hussey then finds out that Hussey's husband has just been reported as missing after his ship was bombed in the Pacific Ocean is one of the film's many emotional highlights. Future Oscar Winner Kim Hunter is the young and innocent one whom Rogers becomes a surrogate sister to, while Patricia Collinge (Oscar Nominee for "The Little Foxes") is the older and wiser one who is like their den mother.And then there's Mady Christians as the German Immigrant who fled her homeland after Hitler's takeover, a justifiably angry woman who accuses her own people of murdering their own country. It is her character that is the most political, and that makes sense. If you had to flee your homeland and saw your husband go off to war to fight your own people, you'd be a bit political, too. The issue of rationing is of course one of the film's most discussed, and no bones are made about what a pain it is to have to give up desires like lipsticks and nylons just because the military needs the elements that make them. I have collected World War II ration books found in my family's estate, and they are truly amazing and historical to research.I wonder what happened with the character played by Jane Darwell when Rogers bids Ryan farewell. She introduces herself to the sobbing Rogers then disappears from the film. I wonder if there was a bigger scene cut out, her being so fresh from winning the Oscar for "The Grapes of Wrath".Robert Ryan is one of Hollywood's most unique actors, not traditionally handsome but talented and versatile nonetheless. He could do westerns, gangsters and comedy, and in this film, he is a truly unglamorized leading character that seems as real as the situation as the women are living through.

edwagreen No, this is not some Russian comedy staged during World War 11. That's what I thought it was about when I saw the title of this 1943 film.Instead, we get a nicely crafted story with Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan, a young idealistic couple, whose plans are thwarted by World War 11. Yes, this is another home front picture. Several women decide to live in the same house when their spouses go off to war.Definitely a tribute to the human spirit. Flashbacks are well done to show that the problems that Ryan and Rogers encountered with their marriage mean nothing when our country called upon its citizenry to create their finest moments.While the movie ends on a down note, Rogers' final lines may be regarded as a bit too preachy; however, they were needed and served the country well during one its many critical periods.

broadwaylady-1 I remember when we first got cable and had AMC. (This was back when AMC really did show the golden oldies... real classics.) It was at the beginning of the summer, and so of course i spent my days watching AMC, and my evenings watching I Love Lucy. This was on AMC twice one week, and I loved it. I have been searching for a copy of it ever since. I have checked every movie rental place (including one with dozens and dozens of the good old movies... Gene Kelly, Ava Gardner, etc.) and no one nearby seems to have one. Not even on ebay could I find a copy. I have craved this movie ever since that summer, and remember it as being one of the best movies I had ever seen. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in this type of movie. It is excellent. I miss it so much, I just wish i could see it again.