Until They Sail

1957
Approved
1h 34m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

During WWII, unmarried New Zealand women meet and marry American soldiers who are fighting in the Pacific theater.During WWII, unmarried New Zealand women meet and marry American soldiers who are fighting in the Pacific theater.During WWII, unmarried New Zealand women meet and marry American soldiers who are fighting in the Pacific theater.

Director
- Robert Wise
Writers
- Robert Anderson
- James A. Michener
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Robert Wise
Writers
- Robert Anderson
- James A. Michener
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Photos53

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Aspen Pictures, owned by Mark Robson and Robert Wise, bought two stories from James A. Michener's anthology "Return to Paradise." After Robson filmed one of the stories as Return to Paradise (1953) with Gary Cooper, they ran out of funding and had to sell the rights to the other story, "Until They Sail" to Burt Lancaster. Although the two films' plots differ greatly, some modern sources attribute Until They Sail (1957) as a remake of the earlier film, also set in World War II South Pacific. Some years later, it ended up with Charles Schnee at MGM. At one time, MGM wanted Glenn Ford for lead Marine. Later, Wise was at Metro and he asked to film the property as his last film of his contract with the studio.

Goofs
At the start of the film, set in 1939, the four sisters put up a map of the world to keep track of the soldiers' locations, but the map is contemporary from the year the film was made (1957), showing numerous nations that did not exist in 1939, for example: Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (which would have been French Indochina in 1939), Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies), Thailand (called Siam in 1939), and Pakistan (which was part of British India), among other countries.

Quotes
Barbara Leslie Forbes: [Last lines] If my father could read the history of his daughters...
Capt. Jack Harding: He'd understand.
Barbara Leslie Forbes: As they say, to understand is to forgive. Or is it, to understand is not to forgive? I can never remember.

Connections
References Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Soundtracks
Until They Sail
Music by David Raksin
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Sung by Eydie Gormé

User reviews44

Review

Featured review

7/10

Great Romantic Story

This film was written by famous writer James Michener and also a very famous director Robert Wise along with a great cast of actors who made this into a great 1957 Classic to view and enjoy. The story revolves around sister's who live in New Zealand during the war and most of the men have gone into the service of their country and left a small town without any men and strictly women. As the war continues, these women seek men and when the United States troops arrive in New Zealand many women want to get married, some have babies out of wedlock and the war upsets the morals of all men and women in this small town. Jean Simmons, (Barbara Leslie Forbes); Joan Fontaine Anne Leslie and Sandra Dee, (Evelyn Leslie) are all sisters, some married and some simply living with one man after another. Sanda Dee plays the role of the baby sister in her teens who also begins to fall in love. Paul Newman, (Capt. Richard Bates) has a great interest in Barbara Leslie after her husband is killed, but he will not commit himself to her and is really afraid to start a relationship because he has to fight in the Pacific against the Japanese Government. This is a very emotional film and shows the horrors of war and the suffering it causes men and women. Enjoy.