The Wilsons (Robert Donat, Deborah Kerr) are a drab British couple leading dull ordinary lives when World War Two separates them for three years as he goes off to the Royal Navy while she joins the Wrens (Womens Royal Naval Service). Shy and retiring before the war they slowly acclaimate to the service and the responsibility that comes with it. Away from each other, they also flirt with infidelity, making them question their marriage and its future.
The tepid pair are gently played by Donat and Kerr to a point where their transformation rings hollow in moments of confrontation with Donat the least convincing, Kerr barely, with the uniforms not only making the man but the woman as both see action and mature overnight.
Charles Korda's direction is cautious and uneven as he treads lightly around the adultery aspect with both. George Perinel's cinematography provides some dramatic backdrops but this British hybrid of screwball meets "Best Years..." simply fails to jell as comedy or comment.
The tepid pair are gently played by Donat and Kerr to a point where their transformation rings hollow in moments of confrontation with Donat the least convincing, Kerr barely, with the uniforms not only making the man but the woman as both see action and mature overnight.
Charles Korda's direction is cautious and uneven as he treads lightly around the adultery aspect with both. George Perinel's cinematography provides some dramatic backdrops but this British hybrid of screwball meets "Best Years..." simply fails to jell as comedy or comment.