Knitty, I'd never seen
Since You Went Away until you and Sandykaypax told me about it a few years ago. Now I like to see it about once a year--hopefully when it is snowing outside!
![Image](http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac140/moirathefinn/since-you-went-away1.jpg)
I am very moved by the scenes on the train when Mama Claudette and her girls are trying to see their father before he is shipped overseas and meet the lady whose daughter was at Corregidor. The other parts of the movie that affect me the most are when Claudette has to tell her daughter (Jennifer Jones) that her fiancee won't be coming back--and of course, when she answers that phone on Christmas Eve. One of the earliest moments when
Colbert expressed that her longing for her husband was keenest came when, all alone in her room with two single beds (courtesy of the Production Code), she suddenly scoots into his bed and sobs quietly, with almost no words spoken, though I think we can hear her call his name softly.
For fun, the movie's best moment comes when CC tells Agnes Moorehead's wonderful baddie to hit the bricks!
I know that many women didn't have a beautiful person like
Hattie McDaniel eager to be her maid as well as working elsewhere (though many African Americans did find that the war was the first time they could make a decent living). Nor did they have cool curmudgeony boarders like
Monty Woolley, but Selznick (who apparently rewrote most of the script about 5 times), was trying to stuff everything he could about the home front into one flick! I am also fascinated by the backstory on this movie (poor Robert Walker!), but I also like just about every movie I've ever seen directed by
John Cromwell, though the poor man must have put up with a lot from batty but talented David O. Selznick. Two people in the movie who never seem to be noticed, but I like: Shirley Temple's Bridget (I may be prejudiced since that is the name of one of my own sisters) and her silent, shy friend, who only peeks around corners at the adults.
The other thing that moves me about SYWA is that, sadly, it is still applicable to the lives of so many people today. I might never have come across this movie if you hadn't told me about it.