Homecoming (1948)

Release Date: April 29, 1948
Directed by: Mervyn Leroy
Studio: MGM

Costarring:
Lana Turner
Ann Baxter
John Hodiak

Available on DVD through The Warner Brothers Archive Collection
DearMrGable.com’s Movie of the Month, August 2011

Gable is Dr. Ulysses “Lee” Johnson, a successful surgeon with a loving and caring wife, Penny (Baxter). When he volunteers for the Army and heads overseas to fight in World War II, he meets a snappy nurse, Jane “Snapshot” McCall (Turner). At first his stuffy, conservative ways and her free-thinking style clash, but soon they are working well together in crisis and become friends. Penny becomes suspicious of their relationship when Lee mentions her frequently in his letters home. Her suspicions ring true, as Lee and Snapshot fall in love. But what can he tell his wife, upon returning home after three long years?

Quote-able Gable

“Thank you.” first line

“Don’t let the headlines bother you. Europe’s a long way out to be bothering us.”

“There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to look out for himself.”

“Well. I guess that washes us up nicely!”

“Why can’t people just stay at home and live their own lives? Enjoy the good things–their work, their homes, music–why must they always be chasing around sticking their noses in other people’s affairs?”

“When women talk world politics it makes me laugh!”

“He was just another case. That’s the way it’s been with all my patients–just cases, not human beings. You were right, Snapshot, I’ve never cared enough.”

“Snapshot, I’m going to be lost without you.”

“It might have been easier if I hadn’t told you, and yet, that would have been impossible. I couldn’t think of anything else coming home and then on the boat I met a man, a perfect stranger who couldn’t have possibly known what was in my mind, yet somehow he seemed to convey my innermost thoughts. He said it’s only fair for the people over here to know that they’ve got to live with us, coming home. He was right. I had to tell you. Because it isn’t just my problem. it’s our problem together and I couldn’t go on living with this inside of me without your sharing it. Penny, bear with me a while, can you?”

“What, darling?” last line

Behind the Scenes

Based on a short story by Sidney Kingsley entitled “The Homecoming of Ulysses”. Kingsley also wrote the play on which Gable’s film Men in White was based. In both films Gable plays a doctor.

For one of the love scenes, Turner was chewing gum to freshen her breath. Gable kissed her so forcefully that he had to pick gum out of his mustache. Turner said after that she used mouthwash instead.

For the scenes that flashed back to Gable and Baxter’s courtship, hemorrhoid cream was applied to Gable’s face to shrink his eye bags, heavy makeup was applied to his face and neck, and his jowls were pulled back with rubber bands. The result was less than flattering and he hated it. The flashback scenes were thus cut back.