Until They Sail *** (1957, Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee, Paul Newman) – Classic Movie Review 11,760

The 1957 black and white wartime romantic drama film Until They Sail stars Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee and Paul Newman in James A Michener‘s tale of the loves and misadventures of four foul sisters.

Jean Simmons in 1955.

Director Robert Wise’s 1957 American black-and-white CinemaScope wartime romantic drama film Until They Sail stars Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee and Paul Newman.

The loves and misadventures of four foul New Zealand sisters, Barbara, Anne, Delia and Evelyn Leslie (Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee) in World War Two wartime New Zealand come under the movie microscope. They fall for four US soldiers on their way to the Pacific war zone.

The four actresses all make a strong impact in these classily handled soap-opera-style melodramatics, with a touch of edge in a murder courtroom drama element.

The meaty screenplay by Robert Anderson is taken from a story by James A Michener included in his 1951 anthology Return to Paradise, handling the women’s roles satisfyingly, though it is none too rewarding for the men. It is very compact and compelling, with a lot of plot and characters in just 94 minutes.

It is shot in New Zealand.

It is the film debut of Sandra Dee, aged 15.

Also in the cast are Charles Drake, Wally Cassell, Alan Napier, Ralph Votrian, John Wilder, Tige Andrews, Adam Kennedy, Mickey Shaughnessy, Dean Jones, Hilda Plowright, David Thursby, James Todd, Anne Wakefield, Ben Wright and Patrick Macnee (scenes deleted).

The score is composed and conducted by David Raksin. The title song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn is performed by Eydie Gormé.

The film cost $1,841,000 and earned $745,000 in North America and $675,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss to MGM of $1,055,000

Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005)

Sandra Dee in 1959.

Sandra Dee was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942 in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Dee earned a Golden Globe Award as one of the year’s most promising newcomers in Until They Sail and became a teen star in Imitation of Life and Gidget (both 1959),

She was married to Bobby Darin (1 December 1960 – 7 March 1967)  (divorced) (one child). But by 1967, her marriage to Darin ended, along with her film career more or less, though she did make The Dunwich Horror later, with Dean Stockwell, in 1970.

She died in 2005 of kidney disease, aged 62.

The cast

The cast are Jean Simmons as Barbara Leslie Forbes, Joan Fontaine as Anne Leslie, Paul Newman as Captain Jack Harding, Piper Laurie as Delia Leslie Friskett, Charles Drake as Captain Richard Bates, Sandra Dee as Evelyn Leslie, Wally Cassell as Phil “Shiner” Friskett, Alan Napier as Prosecution Attorney, Ralph Votrian as Max Murphy, John Wilder as Tommy, Tige Andrews as US Marine #1, Adam Kennedy as Lt. Andy, Mickey Shaughnessy as US Marine #2, Dean Jones, Hilda Plowright, David Thursby, James Todd, Anne Wakefield, Ben Wright.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,760

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