The White Cliffs of Dover Movie Review 1944

Prime example of a successful 40s "women's weepie." American Dunne goes to England in 1914, falls in love, and marries the British Marshal. He joins the WWI troops and is killed, without knowing he had a son. Dunne raises the boy in England as a new threat looms with the rise of Hitler. Now grown, he goes off to do his duty and she joins the Red Cross, where she sees him again among the wounded, another victim of the ravages of war. Dunne is fine in her noble, sacrificing role. McDowall is the young son with Taylor (with whom he'd already worked in "Lassie Come Home") as a childhood friend. Based on the poem by Alice Duer Miller. Bring the hankies.

Distribution

Movies Unlimited, 3015 Darnell Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19154, Phone: (215)637-4444, Toll-free: 800-668-4344, Fax: (215)637-2350, Email: movies@moviesunlimited.com, URL: http://www.moviesunlimited.com

Available on VHS
Running time 126 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Tearjerkers, Tragedy, Family Ties, The Homefront: England, World War I, World War II, Great Britain, Red Cross, Adapted from a Poem

Screenplay

George Froeschel, Jan Lustig, Claudine West

Cast

Irene Dunne, Alan Marshal, Frank Morgan, Peter Lawford, Gladys Cooper, May Whitty, C. Aubrey Smith, Roddy McDowall, Van Johnson, Elizabeth Taylor, June Lockhart, John Warburton, Jill Esmond, Norma Varden, Tom Drake, Arthur Shields, Brenda Forbes, Edmund Breon, Clyde Cook, Isobel Elsom, Lumsden Hare, Miles Mander, Ian Wolfe

Cinematography

George J. Folsey

Director

Clarence Brown

Music

Herbert Stothart

Other

Cyrl Seys Ramsey-Hall

Producer

Sidney Franklin, MGM