Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)

Set in the weeks prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a journalist (Clark Gable) and his brother (Robert Sterling) are both involved with the same girl (Lana Turner), also a reporter. Things come to a head when all three are assigned to cover the Japanese activity in Indo China. Directed by Wesley Ruggles, this uncomfortable mixture of romance and WWII propaganda was designed as a follow up for Gable and Turner who had scored a success the year before in HONKY TONK. The two lead characters are so off putting that it's hard to find any affinity for them. Gable is a cold hearted cad who treats Turner abominably yet she keeps coming back for more and Sterling is a milquetoast who sits on the sidelines whining. The film plays as a standard romance with a war background for most of the film until the last twenty minutes or so when it goes all jingoistic and flag waving. Only Patricia Dane, who makes an all too brief appearance late in the film as a predatory good time gal seems worth our attention. Fortunately the star power of Gable and Turner is strong enough to hold our interest. Co-starring Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Lee Patrick, Charles Dingle and Sara Haden.