A Guy Named Joe

A jingost and agreeable tale about the angel of a dead WWII pilot guiding another young one . ¨A Guy Named Joe¨ stars Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, it was one of MGM's top grossers for 1944. A gal named Dorinda loved a guy named Joe. They couldn't hear him. They couldn't see him. But he was there when they needed him... Even after he was gone. It deals with a likeable WWII pilot (Spencer Tracy) in love for the beautiful Dorinda (Irene Dunne) . One day he is killed , as he finds himself returning as an invisible ghost who's presence is barely felt giving advice to his successor. As he is guiding another young pilot (Van Johnson) throughout aerial battles and also helping him to romance his girl , who's still devoted to hiis memory . Pete then finds that his successor is also falling in love with her . A guy - a gal - a pal - It's Swell!

Thi is an exhilarating, heart-satisfying emotional experience - you will long remember .A patriotic , sentimental Hollywood fantasy dealing with the spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind . This classy film was remade as ¨Always¨ (1989) by Steven Spielberg . A clip from that film was featured in Poltergeist (1982), which was co-written by director Steven Spielberg. In ¨Always¨ Pete's angel's name is Hap , an early military aviation pioneer, trained at the Wright Brother's flying school, and the only five star general of the US Air Force, was "Hap" Arnold ; in the film this movie was based on , ¨A guy named Joe¨ (1943), Joe's angel was also a former pilot, this makes Hap's name more than a coincidence , originally, the character was supposed to be male . Spencer Tracy's sincerity is major asset as an airman who, after getting killed , looks after the fortunes of his fellows . The secondary cast of MGM reliables includes notorious stars such as : Van Johnson, Ward Bond, James Gleason, Lionel Barrymore , Barry Nelson , Henry O'Neill , Don DeFore , Addison Richards , and a very young Esther Williams without swimming pool in sight.

The motion picture was well directed by Victor Fleming . Victor worked for the Hollywood's main Majors , as in Paramount , Fleming's first major successes were Lord Jim (1925) , The Blind Goddess (1926) and Abie's Irish Rose (1928) , all of them Silent Pictures . The following year, he brought Clara Bow to fame in Mantrap, filmed the now-lost Spanish-American War epic The Rough Riders, and in 1927 he was Emil Jannings' first American director with The Way of All Flesh. Fleming's first all-sound film, The Virginian, established Gary Cooper's laconic character. At MGM, Fleming vaulted Clark Gable to stardom with Red Dust (1932) and began a string of fast-paced hits with Bombshell (1933), Treasure Island (1934), Reckless (1935) , Captains Courageous (1937) , A Star Is Born (1937) co-directed with William A Wellman and Test Pilot (1938). He also remade a large portion of The Great Waltz (1938) after the studio fired original director Julien Duvivier. Fleming took over The Wizard of Oz from Richard Thorpe in October 1938, but before he ended that picture, was asked to take over David Selznick's troubled production of Gone With the Wind from George Cukor. In the following decade, all Fleming's last pictures were big office hits and with the greatest stars , such as : Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) with Spencer Tracy , Lana Turner , Joan of Arc (1948) with Ingrid Bergman , José Ferrer , Guy Named Joe (1943) , Adventure (1945) with Clark Gable , Greer Garson, Joan Blondell , among others.

"A Guy Named Joe" is a beautiful, sentimental, tear-jerker of a film starring Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Lionel Barrymore, Ward Bond, James Gleason, and Dom Defore. Tracy is Pete, a fighter pilot in World War II involved with Dorinda (Dunne), a female flier. Apparently pilots whose "number is up" emit some kind of dead man walking spirit, because Dunne recognizes the signs and wants Pete to return to the states with her and teach fledgling pilots. She's so desperate that he agrees, but he's called for one last mission, and the inevitable happens. Before he knows it, no one can see him or hear him, he's escorted around heaven and earth by Barry Nelson, and assigned to be an angel for a young pilot (Johnson).

For all the warmth of this film, it was fraught with problems behind the scenes. Van Johnson was in a horrid car accident before he finished filming. The actors said they wanted to wait for him rather than see him replaced. That story may or may not be true, as the scar on his forehead is only visible in a couple of scenes; there can't have been much left to film. The second problem was that Spencer Tracy kept coming on to Irene Dunne, which made her furious, and she complained to the front office. She never worked with him again, which is a pity, because they made a charismatic screen couple.

Spencer Tracy is fantastic as a cocky pilot who comes down to earth only when he dies. His scenes as he stands behind Dunne telling her what he should have said to her while alive are very tender. Dunne is excellent as always - strong yet vulnerable, and she gets to sing "I'll Get By" in her lovely soprano. Johnson, in his breakthrough role, is good-looking, boyish, and likable. One of the nicest thing about "A Guy Named Joe" is some of the lighting effects - the silhouette of Dunne as she says goodbye to Pete; the look of his plane in the distance when she first arrives - these really add to the sense of foreboding.

Strangely, when viewed today, "A Guy Named Joe" is a feminist movie in more ways than even it knew. Dunne is a female pilot and proves her mettle in a dangerous mission. But more than that, consider the fact that she becomes involved with Johnson in the film and was 18 years his senior! She was 45 when this movie was released, and Johnson was 29. The age difference is obvious. Good for her - playing a lead at that age while employed by Louis B, no less, and having a younger love interest! Mayer is the man who booted out Joan Crawford and didn't make any noise when Garbo and Shearer left.

If your eyes aren't moist at the end of "A Guy Named Joe," it'll be surprising. Much loved by Steven Spielberg (who remade it), and a lot of other people, it still touches the heart today and reinforced to wartime audiences that the spirit of their deceased ones continues on, with love the tie that binds.

Guy Named Joe, A (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Well-acted drama has a hot shot pilot (Spencer Tracy) getting killed during a WW2 battle leaving his fiancé (Irene Dunne) all alone. The dead pilot eventually comes back as a ghost to help a young pilot (Van Johnson) but soon his morals come into question when the young man starts dating his fiancé. This here seems to remain a popular movie considering how many times Turner Classic Movies plays it a year. The same can't be said for the Steven Spielberg remake, Always, which seems to have already been forgotten as one of the director's minor works. This film here is certainly sappy and predictable but the wonderful cast makes it very entertaining to watch even though the running time is a tad bit long. Tracy leads the way with a very touching performance that lets the actor show off various emotions ranging from anger to sweetness to even some nice comic tones. Tracy was also great at playing the tough guy with a heart and this here is no exception. Dunne is good in her role but I was surprised to see how blandly written it was. She basically just sits around (or stands) waiting for one of the men to come up to her and considering how star level at the time it's rather shocking to see her role not juiced up a bit. Johnson steals the film as the new pilot who mirrors Tracy's character too much. The naive innocence Johnson brings to the role is quite memorable. Lionel Barrymore, James Gleason and Ward Bond all offer up nice support. Barry Nelson and Esther Williams have small roles as well. The are a few battle scenes, which look extremely well including the main battle at the middle of the film when Tracy gets killed. The aerial footage was well shot and manages to be quite dramatic as well. The cinematography is another plus as is the music score. Again, the main problem tends to be in the screenplay, which really doesn't allow for too many surprises and that includes the ending, which isn't believable and really comes off rather silly. The great cast makes it worth watching though.

This is one of those old-fashioned, nice stories with generally nice people, some good lessons to be learned and some touching scenes. You just have to go with the fantasy-type theologies, in this story dead people coming back as angels-you-can see.

Irene Dunne never looked better, although the soft-focus lens helped her looks. She isn't beautiful but she's wholesomely pretty, and thus appealing. Spencer Tracy gives his normal strong performance but I liked supporting actor Ward Bond in here better. Tracy gives an excellent short speech at the end of this film.

The special-effects in the aviator-war scenes were not good but, hey, this film was made about 65 years ago. You could tell the planes were model airplanes on several shots.

Note: this film was re-made by Steven Spielberg 40 years later under the title "Always." That was a nice film, too, but I think I'd still take this version.

'A Guy Named Joe' had a lot going for it, as cliched as this sounds it is a good way of describing something that have a lot of major things that makes one want to see it. Something that has happened numerous times but with varied success in execution. Victor Fleming was responsible for great films, 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone With the Wind' being timeless. Also respect Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne highly as actors so that was another interest point.

Watching it finally, 'A Guy Named Joe' may not completely live up to its potential and everybody involved gave better performances in better things. It does however have more than enough to make it well worth watching and it still is a good representation of the cast and Fleming, so promise is a long way from squandered (am very happy about that as that is a pet peeve of mine watching films etc and has happened many, many times).

Sure, it is not going to work for everybody and is in no way my definition of a classic. The story can be silly and is not always realistic, with it not always gelling with the wartime setting. The effects do show their age and are really quite artificial.

The script can descend into melodramatic soap, not always but when it does it is as subtle as a sledgehammer.

However, 'A Guy Named Joe' shows a lot of polish and care, without being too glossy, in the production values. One can really see the effort in the lavishly produced, without being overly elaborate, sets and equally handsome photography. The music avoids being too stock or syrupy, as well as not being too intrusive. Fleming's direction shows no signs of coldness or indifference, it instead came over as assured and sympathetic while showing momentum. The script is not perfect but nothing came over as toe-curling and the cast show a lot of committment in making it ring true.

Like the script, the story is not perfect but it is never dull, the air sequences do have an exciting momentum regardless of how they hold up visually and the emotional impact is definitely there. Will admit to feeling misty-eyed at the end, and didn't think that the film got too sentimental and despite being a film with heavy-handedness being a big danger it just about avoided that mostly (lapses of subtlety is obvious at times having said that) though somewhat by the skin of its teeth. The cast are uniformly strong, with a subtle and charming performance from Tracy and a truly heartfelt one from Dunne. Their chemistry does have a spark, couldn't tell that behind the scenes they apparently didn't get along. Van Johnson's acting here is some of his best and it is always great to see Lionel Barrymore and Esther Williams.

In a nutshell, well worth watching if not a classic. 7/10