Eve Of St. Mark (1944)

On leave from basic training, a young solider (William Eythe) brings his girlfriend (Anne Baxter) home to meet his parents (Ray Collins, Ruth Nelson). A few months later, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and he's shipped off to the South Pacific. Based on a play by Maxwell Anderson (KEY LARGO), this is a rather odd duck among WWII Hollywood films in that there's a certain mysticism to it: the young soldier is able to communicate with his mother and girl through dreams. It plays rather mawkishly and I think we're supposed to be moved by it but it's all too pedestrian to be effective. There's a reason Maxwell Anderson's play are rarely revived these days. Directed by John M. Stahl who's done far better work (LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, FOXES OF HARROW) but with material like this, there's not much one can do but plod away. With Vincent Price as a Shakespeare quoting Southern solider, Michael O'Shea, George Mathews, John Archer and Harry Morgan.