Until They Sail 1957

     This film is based on a story by James A. Michener from his anthology Return to Paradise.  Four sisters are living in Christchurch, New Zealand during WWII.  Most of the men in Christchurch have gone to fight in the war.  Many American soldiers arrived in this country to help with the fight.  Anne Leslie is not married, Barbara Leslie Forbes and Delia Leslie Friskett are married to New Zealand soldiers, Evelyn Leslie is a teenager.  Kit is their brother and they receive a notice that he has been killed.  Delia’s husband Shiner enlists soon after their marriage and Delia leaves her sisters and moves to Auckland.  It’s too lonely for her in their town, she wants to get a job with the New Zealand Navy and meet some of the American soldiers.

     Unfortunately, US solders often didn’t leave a very good impression with the people in New Zealand and other countries.  There was an officer assigned to the job of interviewing soldiers and the women they wanted to marry.  Military approval was needed for any soldier to get married.  There was also a training session for the bride-to-be.  You can see how difficult it is for the women when the men are in the war or they are leaving to join the fight.  Every day is the possibility they will be killed in action.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)  

94 min, Drama directed by Robert Wise with Jean Simmons, Paul Newman, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Charles Drake, Sandra Dee, Wally Casell, Alan Napier, Ralph Votrian, John Wilder, Tige Andrews, Adam Kennedy, Mickey Shaughnessy.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, 60% critic 64% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 62 reviews, TCM Leonard Maltin 3.5* out of 5* user reviews 4.5* out of 5*, Letterboxd 3.2* out of 5* with 146 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Canterbury and Wellington, New Zealand; Culver City, California.  This is Sandra Dee’s first film and she was 15 years old at the time of the film release.  She started school early and she was just four years old when she started second grade.  She was a successful model at the age of 12 years old and then she did television commercials.  Mark Robson and Robert Wise owned two stories from the novel Return to Paradise.  The first story Return to Paradise was filmed with Gary Cooper.  Until They sail was sold because Robson and Wise ran out of money.  A few years later the story was given to Charles Schnee at MGM.  Wise now worked at MGM and he ask MGM to do the filming.  There is a mistake with the map that the sisters put up on the wall to keep track of the soldiers.  The map was printed in 1957 and shows nations that didn’t exist in 1939.  Also, the hairstyles and the clothing for the women are from the 1950’s and not the 1940’s.