From This Day Forward

As Sgt Stevens endures the bureaucracy of demobilisation he remembers the '30s - privation, unemployment, insecurity - the past which must never return. Such strands as post-war optimism, the impact of neo-realism, the socialist convictions of director and chief writer (Butler), both blacklist-bound, can easily be picked out. But as ever when Hollywood tried to engage with everyday realities, the trade off came in glamourisation - syrupy music, Fontaine (as Stevens' wife) never looking less than a film star, and an idea of poverty that must have irritated many audiences on home ground, never mind in Europe. It's surprisingly vigorous but you do have to keep making allowances. From the novel All Brides Are Beautiful by Thomas Bell.