Tender Comrade (1943)

Synopsis: Ginger Rogers stars in this rousing, patriotic drama as Jo, a young woman whose husband (Robert Ryan) goes off to fight the Nazis, leaving her home, poor and pregnant. In order to make ends meet,... Ginger Rogers stars in this rousing, patriotic drama as Jo, a young woman whose husband (Robert Ryan) goes off to fight the Nazis, leaving her home, poor and pregnant. In order to make ends meet, Jo takes a job riveting planes and then moves into an all-girl commune with three other women (Ruth Hussey, Patricia Collinge, and Kim Hunter). It's a touching illustration of grace under pressure as the ladies pool their money and share the household chores while nervously awaiting word about the fate of their brave husbands overseas. The major irony is that the film's title, along with the concept of the women pooling their salaries and living together in a commune-style environment, prompted the HUAC to later use this film as part of their case in blacklisting writer-director Edward Dmytryk, despite the movie's patriotic premise. Whatever one's take on the film today, it was a big hit at the time of release and is certainly unusual from a historical perspective. No other film before or since has offered such a strange blend of genres: part wartime morality booster, part unashamed tearjerker, and part (perhaps) communist propaganda. As a curious piece of history, it is certainly worth rediscovering. [More]

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Patricia Collinge

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Patricia Collinge, Kim Hunter, Jane Darwell, Mary Forbes, Richard Martin

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Director: Edward Dmytryk
Producer: David Hempstead
Composer: Leigh Harline

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