PamelaShort Review of I'll Be Seeing You

I'll Be Seeing You (1944)

" I'll Be Seeing You Every Christmas "

[8/10 · 30 September 2013]

This is not a traditional Christmas movie, but it is set a week before Christmas and ends just after the New Year. For that reason, I do watch this film every holiday season, because it captures the old fashioned family and Christmas mood so well. Yes the story may be a little bit overly maudlin, and off-beat, but somehow it works, and remember this is the 1940s. The cast is a perfect ensemble for this story. Joseph Cotten plays a shell-shocked soldier, his doctors have furloughed him for the Christmas holidays, and he encounters Ginger Rogers, on a train going to visit her relatives for the holidays, but she has a dark secret, she to is on a furlough from prison. Joseph Cotten gives a marvellously balanced performance, that creates real depth to his character. Ginger Rogers acting is very pleasing, for you can really feel how hard it is for her to keep the secret hidden from Cotten, making her character's quandary all the more believable. Shirley Temple was a real teenager when this film was made, and she is perfect for her part, sweet but as all teenagers are, thinks she is just as smart as the adults. Spring Byington is her usual warm and lovable self as the Aunt of Rogers and Temple's mother. Tom Tully rounds out the cast as Byington's laid-back, understanding husband. Put it all together and surprisingly you have a lovely, heartwarming story, chock full of sentiment. I suggest it's worth a look.