Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

maryelizabeths I am currently watching this movie on television. I am a native of Christchurch, New Zealand, where this movie was made in 1957.I am afraid to say that,despite any positive attributes this film may have, it is completely spoilt for me by the total absence of any detectable NZ accent spoken by the lead characters so far.The accents seem to swing from Jean Simmonds "cut glass" English tones, to the other obvious American accents of the principals, supposedly playing NZ girls.There has been one attempt at our accent so far, by a man, which ended up sounding broad Cockney.I appreciate that back when this film was made,credible New Zealand born actors were in much shorter supply than nowadays, but these voices playing Kiwis must have been as grating to NZers watching then, as they are now.Jean Simmonds speaks the way the Queen does...nothing like a New Zealander!Voice coaches must surely have been in existence back then? We don't talk in English or American accents, and didn't then either.Sloppy work..."if a jobs worth doing, its worth doing well."

edwagreen What exactly was going on during World War 11 in New Zealand when American forces were there?This awful story of 4 sisters was really pathetic to view. Can you imagine casting Joan Fontaine as the older sister to Sandra Dee? Fontaine looked more like her mother. Even funnier was that Fontaine becomes pregnant in the film.Piper Laurie and Paul Newman who showed such great on screen chemistry 4 years later in "The Hustler," have no scenes together in this film. Laurie plays another sister who goes off to Wellington to tramp around there, despite the fact that she is married. Woe to her when her husband comes back from the war.Jean Simmons is widowed and finds romance with a much subdued Paul Newman. There is even romance for the young Miss Dee here.The picture has little to no meaning. Are they trying to say that all is fair in love and war? If they are, they did a poor job in selling this.The conflict of interest with Newman and Simmons is quickly disposed of. That is what should have been quickly done to this terribly disappointing film of 1957.

SHAWFAN Having spent six years living in New Zealand I was especially gratified to see some of my old haunts and gorgeous scenery up there on the screen. When I was there 1986-1992 the people were still very upset about the goings-on between their native daughters and the visiting Americans despite 40 years having gone by. I was struck, in reading the reviews, both external and internal, by the insufferable condescension shown by the reviewers toward the finely nuanced shades of human emotion they had just been privileged to witness as created by author James Michener and director Robert Wise. Some of these people wouldn't know an authentic emotion if it shouted "Boo" at them. The clichéd use of the terms "women's movie" and "soap opera" ought to be finally banned from any attempt at serious criticism. Such marvelous performances by all concerned (both English and American) are to be treasured and appreciated rather than sneered at from some vantage point of aesthetic superiority on high. The emotional melting of the uptight moralistic Joan Fontaine and the pained, cynical Paul Newman are both heartbreakingly beautiful moments in this film. And the cottage pre-departure embrace between Newman and Peters reminded me of the similar moment on the beach between Lancaster and Kerr in From Here to Eternity of four years before. I think Until They Sail is one of the most wonderful movies I've ever seen.

17268 For a "woman's picture," "Until They Sail" is surprisingly effective. The acting is generally first-rate, but Piper Laurie is a stand-out. This was possibly the first time she was able to overcome that silly flower-eating publicity gimmick that Universal foisted on her and then proceeded to condemn her to swashbucklers and other junk while she was under contract to them. It's too bad that she couldn't have started with a studio that would have known what to do with her and was interested in filming more than mindless fluff. Jean Simmons was also great in a somewhat rare opportunity at a role with some depth--anyone remember most of the dreck she miraculously survived in her RKO period?Even Joan Fontaine was less arch than she usually was in her later films (even the shark was better in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea").