Marriage Is a Private Affair ** (1944, Lana Turner, James Craig, John Hodiak) – Classic Movie Review 12,567

Lana Turner appeared at the world premiere of her 1944 war comedy film Marriage Is a Private Affair at a cinema in Naples, Italy, to support US combat forces.

The 1944 American war-comedy drama film Marriage Is a Private Affair is based on Judith Kelly’s 1941 novel, and stars Lana Turner, James Craig and John Hodiak. It is notable as the first Hollywood film to have a world premiere specifically for US combat forces overseas. At the height of the war, Lana Turner made a personal appearance at the premiere on 23 September 1944 on US enemy territory at a cinema in Naples, Italy.

Lovely Lana Turner plays party girl Theo Scofield West, who doesn’t let the little matter of a new husband and a baby prevent from her usual flirting, in this overlong, moral drama spiced with a dab of humour. John Hodiak plays her husband, Air Corps lieutenant Tom West, while James Craig plays Major Miles Lancing, the guy whom Lana longs to love, if only briefly. When Tom (Hodiak) is busy working with his company’s defence contracts, making lenses for bomber sights for the war effort, Theo (Turner) turns to her dashing old flame Major Lancing (Craig) for comfort.

The handling is sleek but the self-regarding tale is wan and smug, and the MGM big-studio escapist style now seems hollow and grandiose for such a project. The performances of the two male stars aren’t very exciting, and Turner needs stronger support for her to spark fully. Marriage Is a Private Affair is in the interesting category, with its strong, nostalgic flavour of the war era, but it is not one of Lana’s best.

Also in the cast are Frances Gifford, Keenan Wynn, Natalie Schafer, Hugh Marlowe, Paul Cavanagh, Herbert Rudley, Morris Ankrum, Jane Green, John Warburton, Byron Foulger, and Tom Drake.

Marriage Is a Private Affair is directed by Robert Z Leonard, runs 116 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by David Hertz, Lenore J Coffee Michael Kanin (uncredited) and Ring Lardner Jr (uncredited), based on Judith Kelly’s novel, is shot in black and white by Ray June and Harold Rosson (uncredited), is produced by Pandro S Berman, and is scored by Bronislau Kaper.

It was released on August 23, 1944. It was a hit. The film earned $1,934,000 in North America and $715,000 elsewhere, making a $237,000 profit.

Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner on February 8, 1921. She died at the age of 74 on June 29, 1995, of complications from cancer. She is adored as a Hollywood glamour and screen legend, a sex symbol, a popular culture icon and a gay icon.

James Craig (born James Henry Meador, February 4, 1912 – June 27, 1985) is best known for Kitty Foyle (1940), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Human Comedy (1943).

John Hodiak was featured by Alfred Hitchcock in Lifeboat (1944). Hodiak met Anne Baxter while they were starring in the 1944 film Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, and married on July 7, 1946, but divorced on January 27, 1953. At age 41, Hodiak had a fatal heart attack at his parents’ home in Tarzana, California, on October 19, 1955.

The cast are Lana Turner as Theo Scofield West, James Craig as Major Miles Lancing, John Hodiak as Air Corps Lieutenant Tom Cochrane West, Frances Gifford as Sissy Mortimer, Hugh Marlowe as Joseph I. Murdock, Natalie Schafer as Mrs Irene Selworth, Keenan Wynn as Major Bob Wilton, Herbert Rudley as Ted Mortimer, Paul Cavanagh as Mr Selworth, Morris Ankrum as Mr Ed Scofield, Jane Green as Martha, Tom Drake as Bill Rice, Shirley Patterson as Mary Saunders, Neal Dodd as Minister, Rhea Mitchell as Nurse, Nana Bryant as Nurse, Cecilia Callejo as Señora Guizman, Virginia Brissac as Mrs Courtland West, Byron Foulger as Ned Bolton, Addison Richards as Colonel Ryder, Gino Corrado as Wedding Party Guest, and Alexander D’Arcy as Mr Garby,

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,567

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