IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.7K
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.
- Awards
- 1 win
Patrick Macnee
- Pvt. Duff
- (scenes deleted)
Nicky Blair
- US Marine
- (uncredited)
William Boyett
- US Marine
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAspen 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.
- GoofsAt 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.
- ConnectionsReferences Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Featured review
War starts, the New Zealand men go off to fight, and four sisters are left to cope with that- and the arrival of the American fleet! It sounds like a recipe for the most hackneyed sort of wartime romance weepie, but this film is certainly not that.
First, this is an ensemble movie, where no one 'star' dominates. From Paul Newman (probably the best-remembered name now) on, we are given a whole clutch of accomplished and finely nuanced performances.
The cinematography is superbly judged: this is one of those lovingly observed pictures where a shot of 'two people talking' is rarely just that; the backgrounds and choice of shots are a delight. This must be viewed in the original format, not 'scanned'!
The script is intelligent and daring. Sexual topics such as promiscuity and having children outside marriage are dealt with in a surprisingly straightforward and sophisticated manner for a 1950s movie. And, it must be said, they are dealt with in a human and sympathetic fashion. There is no hint of the lurid sensationalism nor of the tight-arsed repressiveness that films of this era often display when dealing with such subject matter.
In a situation where the old well-patterned expectations have gone by the board, the sisters attempt to keep track of their universe with a wall-map of the world on which they plot where their men are now. The scope of this exercise is enlarged to include the dead, and then American 'friends'. Ultimately, the map is screwed up and thrown on the fire as the old world- including the old moral universe- goes up in smoke.
The only jarring note is the plot device allowing the film to open and close with a murder trial. One of the sisters has married a 'local'- clearly marked as unsuitable by his working class tones and chest hair! The relationship ends in worse than tears. This element of the film has all the sophistication of an Enid Blyton 'Famous Five' childrens book, and sits uneasily in such an- otherwise- intelligent performance!
First, this is an ensemble movie, where no one 'star' dominates. From Paul Newman (probably the best-remembered name now) on, we are given a whole clutch of accomplished and finely nuanced performances.
The cinematography is superbly judged: this is one of those lovingly observed pictures where a shot of 'two people talking' is rarely just that; the backgrounds and choice of shots are a delight. This must be viewed in the original format, not 'scanned'!
The script is intelligent and daring. Sexual topics such as promiscuity and having children outside marriage are dealt with in a surprisingly straightforward and sophisticated manner for a 1950s movie. And, it must be said, they are dealt with in a human and sympathetic fashion. There is no hint of the lurid sensationalism nor of the tight-arsed repressiveness that films of this era often display when dealing with such subject matter.
In a situation where the old well-patterned expectations have gone by the board, the sisters attempt to keep track of their universe with a wall-map of the world on which they plot where their men are now. The scope of this exercise is enlarged to include the dead, and then American 'friends'. Ultimately, the map is screwed up and thrown on the fire as the old world- including the old moral universe- goes up in smoke.
The only jarring note is the plot device allowing the film to open and close with a murder trial. One of the sisters has married a 'local'- clearly marked as unsuitable by his working class tones and chest hair! The relationship ends in worse than tears. This element of the film has all the sophistication of an Enid Blyton 'Famous Five' childrens book, and sits uneasily in such an- otherwise- intelligent performance!
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,841,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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