Homecoming (1948)

At first, MGM didn't understand this change in Gable, and that's why his first outing post war, "Adventure", is such an abysmal failure. That character is pre-Carole's death Gable; he could never be convincing as that again. "Homecoming", made a few years later, is closer to Gable's own life experience, and is therefore more appropriate. Here we encounter Gable as he is on a ship returning stateside after the war has ended in Europe. There's a poignant scene of him just sitting on the deck as he is lost in thought, remembering something that is painful for him. We learn as the story unfolds through flashbacks that he had a romantic involvement with a nurse, played by Lana Turner, and that she was killed in action. So that scene on the deck, that's not really acting for Gable, is it? He's thinking of his own wife's death and what potentialities died with her.

The plot of "Homecoming" concerns how Gable's character, a society doctor who enjoyed an insulated, high-society life and a somewhat superficial marriage to Anne Baxter, comes back determined to change his life. Will people understand why he's doing all this? What will happen to this pre-war marriage of his, can this wife adjust to the stranger who came home to her? That sort of thing. If there's a problem with the movie, it's that I think Anne Baxter was too young to play a wife of a number of years to Gable. She comes across as more naive than out of touch with him and what he's gone through. Any one of the other Metro actresses about ten years older than Anne would have been better. But, nobody's watching this movie for her anyway, so you could argue what does it matter. Personally, I think it was very brave of Clark Gable to make a movie that must have been very difficult for him to do. However, like the character he portrays here, Gable was able to find happiness again in love; he went on with his life and married again. So, "Homecoming" both looks back on the tragedy in Gable's life and looks ahead to the life-affirming lessons that were there for him and anyone else who has ever lost a loved one. View it yourself and see if you find that to be the case.


One of the best war movies of all time!   December 31, 2004
Dave (Tennessee United States)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

This classic WW2 tearjerker is not only a great war movie but is also one of the greatest screen romances of all time. Clark Gable ("Useless") and Lana Turner ("Snapshot") seem so natural together and as always make a wonderful couple. One of the things I like so much about this is the fact that Gable and Turner's relationship is slowly developed, making it much more believable than other screen romances from this period. Anne Baxter is great playing Gable's worried wife "left behind", and John Hodiak is awesome playing Gable's only close friend. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Hodiak and Baxter, because they were married in real life. They had first met and appeared on-screen together in the 1944 classic "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier", which has sadly not been released on dvd or vhs. Many view this as simply another adverage melodrama of the 1940s, but I think it's an underated classic that should've won several oscars. Gable and Turner both deserved oscars for their incredible performances. I hope it's not too long before this film is released on dvd.


Stirring performances make a needed point   September 19, 2004
Michelle Holland (Texas)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

As the granddaughter of a man who never said a word about his World War II experiences once he returned home, I appreciated the importance this film placed on how necessary it is to tell your loved ones about what you went through during war. Otherwise, a wall is always there. My mother is still haunted by the fact that she never really knew her father.

Homecoming is no Oscar winner, but I found it entertaining and well worth the time spent watching it. My main complaint is Lana Turner's nickname, Snapshot. Gotta love those names that I'm sure at the time were quaint but now merely grate on one's nerves! The supporting cast is all-star as well with Ray Collins and Gladys Cooper, and I especially liked John Hodiak, with whom I was not familiar, as Dr. Sunday.

Watch it and see what you think :)



A Movie to fit the Mood   August 19, 2006
Randy Keehn (Williston, ND United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I don't know about you, but I have noticed a definite change in the acting style of Clark Gable after he went off to War. Prior to his service, he was a fast talking, often humorous, center of attention. His later movies, with the notable exception of "The Misfits", seemed to portray a somber, pensive man; someone who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. It could be the script, it could be the directing, it probably had a lot to do with the death of Carole Lombard as well, but Gable just wasn't the same. He wasn't one of the guys and his romantic roles made him look antiseptic and distant. The reason I make note of this is that this style found a movie that suited it to a tee in "The Homecoming".

Gable plays a good doctor who means well but finds his personal life more important than his professional life. And he finds his well-to-do clients more appealling than those across the tracks. He volunteers for War, goes off with the right intentions while leaving a devoted wife (Ann Baxter) behind. He meets up with Lana Turner and falls in love. He also discovers a few things about duty and responsibility. In the end, he comes home a sadder but wiser man who realizes that his failures in the past don't have to repeat themselves in the future; a future he resignedly accepts that he'll have to face.

"The Homecoming" wasn't all that great of a movie. There was a fair amount of the plot that was properly left to our imagination. The acting was decent as was the direction but it's no accident that this movie doesn't pop up often on the late show. It is a good morality play and, thanks primarily to Gable, it works well. I realized, as the movie was coming to a close, that the very reason that most of his other Post-War movies were mediocre was the same reason that this was worked well. Gable looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders in the role of a man who was supposed to look like someone who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I rate the movie a C and the casting an A.