Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

rickscafe419 Very enjoyable indeed. I always enjoyed the stoic acting of Paul Henreid anyway and to see the very attractive and talented Ida Lupino at age 26 was a treat.The important idea of a beau, either male or female, not being good enough for the family into which he or she's becoming a part of through marriage, is ancient. I know that here in the USA, it reigns galore but of course from studying history, I had learned that the "quality" of the beau in aristocratic Europe families was intense. Like for instance, here in the USA, family crests and all that jazz are meaningless but not so in Europe. There, lineage, pomp and ceremony are of supreme importance.This is why Ida Lupino's entrance into the family of Count Orvid's of Poland is fascinating. It was like pitting the old Brooklyn Dodgers against the mighty New York Yankees in so many World Series games. Obviously in the film, Dodger Lupino didn't stand a chance except for uncle Leopold Baruta's warm understanding of why aristocracy shouldn't destroy love.In the meantime, this enchanting love story is set in the backdrop of maniac Hitler's preparations for invading Poland. The film therefore has tension cleverly wound within the fabric of the entire film. And what will happen to the love affair and marriage of Ida and Paul once Hitler attacks? See for yourself--it's a good movie on Turner Classics.

sol1218 (Some Spoilers) Very heavy handed WWII propaganda movie involving a young British tourist Jenny Whittridge, Ida Lupino, in Warsaw Poland looking to buy antiques for her picky boss British interior designer Mrs. Bowley, Mary Boland, who also happens to be a marshmallow addict. Jenny ends up falling in love with handsome Polish Count Stefan Orwid who's played by everyone's favorite refugee from fascism back in those WWII Hollywood days Paul Henreid.Meeting Jenny in a Warsaw antique shop Stefan is fascinated with her knowledge of one of Poland's favorite sons musical composer Chopin and falls for her in Jennys ability to pay his piano concertos so expertly. As it turned Jenny's father was a piano teacher back in England who was also a Chopin enthusiast. In no time at all, in what seems like 48 ours, Stefan asks Jenny for her hand in marriage. Now living at the 10,000 acre Orwid Estate Jenny gets to work on her helpless, in him being forced to stay there, husband Stefan by taking control of the estate's summer harvest. Using tried and true principles of the Social/Capitalistic system Jenny uses a profit shearing scheme to get the local peasants who work there in order to increase their own output in the harvest. This all has Stefan's Uncle Pavel, Victor Francen, the man who controls the money for the Orwid clan get very angry in that Jenny who's not even Polish and didn't go beyond high school in her educational pursuits is able to make him look ridicules in his inability to get those, the local peasants, at the estate to do their jobs like she did! What's really bugging Uncle Pavel is the peasants planing to form a union in order to get higher, instead of slave, wages for their labors. This would end the gravy train that Uncle Pavel and his good for nothing and high minded, in themselves, relatives have been riding on for the last 400 years!All this is suddenly put on the back burner when Hitler's Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 with his Panzers Stukas and mechanized divisions. Stefan who joined up with his unit, in which he ended up being its only survivor, in the Polish Calvary had his horse shot from under him as he tried to stop the German advance. Now with Poland not only fighting off the Germans but the USSR ,who joined the war as Germany's ally, as well it became obvious that Poland's days as a free and independent nation were numbered. With Poland now totally defeated and devastated all Jenny and Stefan could do is join the Polish resistance and continue the fight against fascism as guerrilla fighters. As the movie ends we see Jenny & Stefan set the Orwid Estate aflame to prevent the Germans from getting their hands on it and march off into the Polish forest to join up with the Polish partisans to the music of the Polish National Anthem "The Polonaise". As for the fearless and take no BS, from Jenny & Stefan, Uncle Pavel he played it safe and checked out of the country with all the gold coins and silverware he could carry to peaceful and neutral Romania. As things, and history, was soon to turn out Uncle Pavel's freedom was short lived with peaceful and neutral Romania joining up with Germany and becoming her ally two years later in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union! The very nation that helped him carve up Poland two years earlier! That while Poland's "steadfast" allies France and England, who declared war on Germany for its invasion of Poland, stood by without as much as lifting a finger to stop it!

dglink Vincent Sherman's "In Our Time" tries to do for Poland what "Mrs. Miniver" did for England: raise American awareness to the plight of a European nation besieged by the Nazis. Unfortunately, the film wanders all over the hack-writing map from romance to propaganda to social issues and loses its focus early on. Even the style of the film shifts from intimate drama to semi-documentary with voice-over narration to stirring morale booster complete with back-lit clouds and beams of inspirational light. Despite the varied styles, the movie seems to linger on far too long despite a running time of less than two hours. By the time that the requisite patriotic speech has been made, the music has risen to stirring proportions, and the march towards the sunset has begun, many viewers may already have tuned out.The unconvincing story begins in an antique shop where Ida Lupino, the young companion of Mary Boland, an English antiques buyer, meets Paul Henreid, a Polish nobleman. Only those who have never seen a Hollywood film from the Golden Age will be surprised by the Romeo-and-Juliet romance that develops or by the obstacles that stand between the couple and eternal bliss. Class-conscious family, impending war, and stubborn peasants are only some of the roadblocks to those inspirational beams that beckon on the horizon.Unfortunately, some first-class talent has been lavished on this less-than-classic film. Ida Lupino is the shy companion to an overbearing employer. Within two hours, she blossoms into an assertive woman who fully supports and inspires her husband in his idealistic pursuits. Paul Henreid, whose seductive eyes and voice won Bette Davis and Ingrid Bergman, works his magic on Lupino. Like his role in "Casablanca," Henreid's character is caught up in patriotic fervor and self-sacrifice. Both leads are excellent although they cannot overcome the messy script. Silent film star Alla Nazimova offers especially fine support as Henreid's aristocratic mother. However, while the cast often rises above the writing, "In Our Time" remains dated in its message. Considering what Poland endured under Communism after World War II, many of the film's inspirational lines about fighting for the future ring with irony. Despite the length, lapses, and inconsistencies, Lupino, Henreid, and Nazimova make "In Our Time" worth a viewing, but the film is hardly a repeatable experience.

verbusen The main reason why I was interested in watching this was how a Hollywood movie made in 1944 would handle the invasion of Poland. Afterall the Soviets were now our Allie. Well Hollywood took the easy way out and didn't mention the Nazi-Soviet non aggression pact and the co invasion of Poland by the USSR, it was all a Nazi show. I only watched the first few minutes and than woke up (it was showing at 3-4 am) right at the start of the invasion on what looked to be Ida's and Henried's wedding night. It's a good thing Henried's character didn't get captured by the Soviets as I don't think they took a kind view of aristocrat Polish officers judging by the mass graves that were discovered full of them. Real sappy war propaganda fluff.