Tyrone Power is a man with a secret when he falls in love with upper class Joan Fontaine in "This Above All," a 1942 film that also stars Thomas Mitchell and Gladys Cooper. Fontaine plays Prudence, a young woman from a wealthy British family who joins the WAFs. One night, a fellow WAF asks her to double date with her and her soon to be fiancée, and there, in the darkness of a blackout, she meets Clive Briggs (Power), a very complicated young man who's not in uniform. The two fall in love and go on holiday together, and it is while vacationing that Prudence realizes that Clive has seen battle. She finally wrenches his secret out of him.
This is a really lovely, dark film based on the book of the same name. Unlike the movie, the book is filled with sex so there, it disappoints. Thanks to the code, the couple have adjoining rooms, and Prudence tells her father, "We've done nothing to be ashamed of." It's somewhat frustrating - I mean, it's Tyrone Power in the next room, and you're not sleeping with him?
Despite this, the performances are wonderful. Fontaine, with her soft, elegant beauty, is totally believable as both a compassionate and a passionate woman. Power's almost ridiculous beauty of the 1930s, that ethereal perfection that outshone his female costars, has been replaced by 1942 with the wonderful handsomeness that would carry him through the '50s. His looks - and the roles given him by his studio - caused him to be underrated as an actor. Here, however, he's the Larry Darrell of "The Razor's Edge" gone over to the dark side - troubled, pensive, sometimes cold, with moods that change abruptly - and he's excellent in what is a very different kind of role for him.
One never loses what's Clive's about. For instance, Clive resents and hates the upper class. When he walks into the office of the commanding officer he begged to see and hears him making social plans on the telephone, his face changes, and you realize that this is the type of person that he detests.
If only Mr. Zanuck hadn't been so enamored of Power's voice that he discouraged him from doing accents. There's no doubt, if his fooling around in "Rose of Washington Square" and suggestion of an accent in "Lloyds of London" are any indication, that he could have done a British accent without any problem were it demanded of him. Gregory Peck didn't use one either in The Guns of Navarone which confused people. But according to "Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck," the studio head had very rigid ideas about his most important star.
One poster thought this would have been a good role for Olivier - I disagree. Olivier would not have been as convincing as a common man as Power was.
This is a propaganda film, of course, so Fontaine has a big monologue about England and what it means. It's a little melodramatic but appropriate given the times and the subject matter. This is a minor point in a film rich with characterization and atmosphere.
When Clive and Prudence first meet, they catch a glimpse of one another while a cigarette is being lit - it's terribly romantic and sweet, as is the entire film. Highly recommended.
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