This Above All (1942)

Wonderful character development!

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Tyrone Power is completely deprived of all his Hollywood attributes here, he is shabby and unshaved like a bum, his good looks are purposely disposed of and as much altered as possible to the contrary, his character is doubtful, while Joan Fontaine outshines him all the way and constantly more and more, which makes it impossible not to burst out into tears when she does.It's a chapter out of the most critical point of the war after Dunkirk at the beginning of the long nightmare blitz of London, and all the bombing scenes couldn't have been made more real and convincing. Tyrone is a veteran from Dunkirk, almost decorated, bitterly disillusioned about the war and its glory and finds no meaning in any aspect of the struggle, while Joan in bursts of impressing honesty gives him second thoughts. But there is much more to it than their epitomized romance.Perhaps the most important ingredient is the other characters. Thomas Mitchell actually saves the show, Alexander Knox is the only one who immediately and thoroughly understands Tyrone's predicament of conscience, Gladys Cooper is gloriously superior as always, Nigel Bruce adds some vital Dickensian comedy, Philip Merivale as the doctor is another vital contribution, and there are others, some not even mentioned. On the whole, it's a perfect masterpiece of film pinpointing the very eye of the storm of the second world war.

This is certainly not a great movie, but it is well made, thanks to Anatole Litvak's first-class direction. Some of the early scenes, where the characters are in shadow, are particularly interesting.As for the story, it is somewhat difficult to swallow. Tyrone Power/Briggs has gone AWOL, not able to return to the fighting. He doesn't give a particularly good explanation of why. He is not a coward, however, as we see most notably near the end when he risks his own life and a chance to see the woman he loves to help another man's wife and baby escape a burning building. (No, it's not subtle.) But the part of the movie that I found hard to swallow was the scene between Power and Joan Fontaine in the hotel room, where, out of the blue, she delivers a lecture on why radicals like Power/Briggs should forget about their concerns with the Englisn class structure and its iniquities for the duration of the war. For a character who had rejected those very iniquities near the opening of the film, her speech comes out of nowhere.The ending is schmaltzy, but there was a war to be won, and that excuses a lot of clichéd cinema.Tyrone Power has never done much for me. Joan Fontaine gives a fine performance, as do the many great character actors with whom she plays. Worth one watching, but not more than that.

This film stars Joan Fontaine and Tyrone Power as a couple who meet and fall in love during the darkest days of WWII--even though Fontaine actually knows very little about Power and his checkered past.From the onset, I was a bit surprised by the decision to cast Tyrone Power. Sure, he was a big, handsome star with 20th Century-Fox, but he was playing a Brit--even though he had no trace of a British accent. Now had they said he was a Canadian, it might have been much more believable. As for Ms. Fontaine, I am often critical of her performances (since I think she got the Oscar for a lackluster performance), but here she is exceptional and very effective.The other major problem I have with the film is the whole notion of the romance. First, Fontaine is a true patriot--a member of the nobility that could have sat on her butt through the war but volunteered for the military. Yet, she manages to fall in love with a man who, as far as she knows, hasn't volunteered or served. And, when it turns out he's a deserter, she STILL agrees to marry him!!! Now, you do discover that he's really not such a coward and he does manage to redeem himself, but still you wonder how Fontaine could come to love this man based on who he was at that time.It's a shame really because apart from these problems, it's a very lovely film--with exceptional direction, music, acting and a wonderful evocative mood. In fact, as a positive propaganda piece, it's exceptional and was very timely in 1942--though just a tad preachy. Overall, it's still a good film and worth your time--just don't try to get too hung up on the plot holes or it will ruin your viewing.PS--In the film, Fontaine says "I am not a blue stocking". I looked up this term and it's an outdated slur that refers to a educated rich woman who was a member of a particular British literary society. The members were known for being total "fuddy-duddies".

Tyrone Power is a man with a secret when he falls in love with upper class Joan Fontaine in "This Above All," a 1942 film that also stars Thomas Mitchell and Gladys Cooper. Fontaine plays Prudence, a young woman from a wealthy British family who joins the WAFs. One night, a fellow WAF asks her to double date with her and her soon to be fiancée, and there, in the darkness of a blackout, she meets Clive Briggs (Power), a very complicated young man who's not in uniform. The two fall in love and go on holiday together, and it is while vacationing that Prudence realizes that Clive has seen battle. She finally wrenches his secret out of him.This is a really lovely, dark film based on the book of the same name. Unlike the movie, the book is filled with sex so there, it disappoints. Thanks to the code, the couple have adjoining rooms, and Prudence tells her father, "We've done nothing to be ashamed of." It's somewhat frustrating - I mean, it's Tyrone Power in the next room, and you're not sleeping with him?Despite this, the performances are wonderful. Fontaine, with her soft, elegant beauty, is totally believable as both a compassionate and a passionate woman. Power's almost ridiculous beauty of the 1930s, that ethereal perfection that outshone his female costars, has been replaced by 1942 with the wonderful handsomeness that would carry him through the '50s. His looks - and the roles given him by his studio - caused him to be underrated as an actor. Here, however, he's the Larry Darrell of "The Razor's Edge" gone over to the dark side - troubled, pensive, sometimes cold, with moods that change abruptly - and he's excellent in what is a very different kind of role for him.One never loses what's Clive's about. For instance, Clive resents and hates the upper class. When he walks into the office of the commanding officer he begged to see and hears him making social plans on the telephone, his face changes, and you realize that this is the type of person that he detests. If only Mr. Zanuck hadn't been so enamored of Power's voice that he discouraged him from doing accents. There's no doubt, if his fooling around in "Rose of Washington Square" and suggestion of an accent in "Lloyds of London" are any indication, that he could have done a British accent without any problem were it demanded of him. Gregory Peck didn't use one either in The Guns of Navarone which confused people. But according to "Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck," the studio head had very rigid ideas about his most important star. One poster thought this would have been a good role for Olivier - I disagree. Olivier would not have been as convincing as a common man as Power was.This is a propaganda film, of course, so Fontaine has a big monologue about England and what it means. It's a little melodramatic but appropriate given the times and the subject matter. This is a minor point in a film rich with characterization and atmosphere. When Clive and Prudence first meet, they catch a glimpse of one another while a cigarette is being lit - it's terribly romantic and sweet, as is the entire film. Highly recommended.