A Guy Named Joe

Director: Victor Fleming Victor Fleming

Overview

Victor Fleming's tearjerker stars Spencer Tracy as the spirit of a dead World War II pilot who returns to Earth to guarantee that his grieving girlfriend (Irene Dunne) finds happiness with another flyboy (Van Johnson).

Product Details

Release Date:	05/21/2013
UPC:	0883316787670
Original Release:	1944
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Spencer Tracy	Pete Sandridge
Van Johnson	Ted Randall
Irene Dunne	Dorinda Durston
Lionel Barrymore	The General
Ward Bond	Al Yackey
James Gleason	Col. "Nails" Kilpatrick
Barry Nelson	Dick Rumney
Esther Williams	Ellen Bright,Girl at Bar
Henry O'Neill	Col. Sykes
Don DeFore	"Powerhouse" James J. Rourke
Charles Smith	Sanderson,Sanderson
Addison Richards	Maj. Corbett
Mary Elliott	Dance Hall Girl
Earl Schenck	Col. Hendricks
Maurice Murphy	Capt. Robertson
Gertrude W. Hoffman	Old Woman
Mark Daniels	Lieutenant
William Bishop	Ray
Eve Whitney	Powerhouse's Girl,Officers in Heaven
Walter Sande	Mess Sergeant
Gibson Gowland	Bartender
Leatrice Joy	Actor
Kirk Alyn	Officers in Heaven
James Millican	Orderly
Ernest Severn	Davy,Cyril,Elizabeth,Peter
Edward Hardwicke	George
John Frederick	Lt. Ridley
Frank Faylen	Major
Philip Van Zandt	Major
Blake Edwards	Flier
Marshall Reed	Flier
Robert Lowell	Flier
Michael Owen	Flier
Stephen Barclay	Flier
Neyle Morrow	Flier
Irving Bacon	Corporal
Joan Thorsen	Actor
Peter Cookson	Sgt. Hanson
Matt Willis	Lt. Hunter
Jacqueline White	Helen
Bill Arthur	Cadet
John Bogen	Cadet
Herbert Gunn	Cadet
Harold Landon	Cadet
Robert Sully	Cadet
Johnny Dunn	Cadet
James Martin	Cadet
Richard Woodruff	Cadet
Ken Scott	Cadet
Louis Hart	Cadet
Fred Coby	Cadet
Charles King III	Lt. Collins, Radio Operator
Eddie Borden	Taxi Driver
Arthur Space	San Francisco Airport Captain
Alan Wilson	Sergeant in Jeep
Leslie Vincent	Sentry
Elizabeth Valentine	Washerwoman's Child
Arthur Stenning	Fisherman
George Kirby	Fisherman
Mary McLeod	Hostess
Aileen Haley	Hostess
Oliver Cross	American Major
Wyndham Standing	English Colonel
Violet Seton	Bartender's Wife
Rebecca Bohannen	English Girl
Jean Prescott	Mother
Simon Oliver	Boy
Richard Graham	Crew Member
James Warren	Irish Guard
George Atkinson	Waiter
Howard Davies	Bartender
Carlie Taylor	English Captain
Jack Saunders	American Captain
Stanley Orr	English Captain
Allen Wood	Tough Corporal
Eddie Coke	Corporal
Carey Harrison	American Major in Red Lion Inn
Dora Baker	Scrub Woman
Clarence Straight	Flight Sergeant
Vernon Downing	English Liaison Officer
William Manning	Co-Pilot
Jessie Tai Sing	Headwaitress
Martin Ashe	Sergeant in Chinese Restaurant

Technical Credits

Chandler Sprague

Dalton Trumbo

David Boehm

Victor Fleming	Director
Chandler Sprague	Screenwriter
Dalton Trumbo	Screenwriter
David Boehm	Screenwriter
Everett Riskin	Producer
Donald Jahraus	Special Effects
A. Arnold Gillespie	Special Effects
Warren Newcombe	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

A Guy Named Joe walks a fine line between realistic World War II drama and fantasy, and it does so successfully for 95 percent of its two-hour-and-one-minute length, ending up an excellent example of how to make this kind of movie work. It's not quite as ambitious as the slightly similar Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger fantasy A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairwar to Heaven), but it has its own conjuring trick to pull off, mostly in the acting and dramatic departments rather than special effects, which are minimal. The presence of Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne helps immeasurably in achieving this finely textured mix of drama, romance, and fantasy; the two of them are such fine actors that they can make almost everything that the movie tries to do seem believable, even in the denouement as Dunne's character flies a solo combat mission. But primary credit must go to director Victor Fleming and his writers, who included future blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. Fleming, a man's man who also was involved with bringing off the most renowned screen fantasy of all, The Wizard of Oz, provides masterful direction throughout, even making the climactic Dunne-as-bomber-pilot sequence work. He knows the exact balance to strike, just how much whimsy to allow in amid the setting of World War II air combat, and when to focus on the more realistic interactions and relationships. Some of the dialogue verges on poetry in places, while other passages achieve a honest poignancy that was rare for a Hollywood war film. Tracy gives one of the best performances of his career as a daredevil fly-boy who is even able to look death in the face without flinching; the only seeming flaw in his work lies in the early section of the movie, where one never gets a real sense of his character's love for Dunne's Dorinda Durston, and that seeming flaw is rectified in the second half, in which Tracy's Pete Sandidge realizes for the first time -- almost more deeply than he knows -- how much he loved her. Dunne has the unfortunate task of pretending she is much younger than she is; nothing that the makeup or lighting department can do can hide the fact that she's almost two decades older than Van Johnson (and, for that matter, four years older than Tracy), and her efforts at projecting a youthful, not-far-from-girlish charm seem awkward; but when she tells Ward Bond's Al Yackey how losing a man like Pete is something "you die over," it's also totally believable. (This is why until the 1960s, when appearances overwhelmed other considerations, one had to cast women ten to twenty years out of adolescence as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.) Equally striking is the almost erotic arousal that she displays late in the movie, as Dorinda (herself something of a daredevil pilot) watches Ted -- being guided irresponsibly by a jealous Pete -- engage in some daring and dangerous aerial maneuvers. Additionally, they get excellent support from Van Johnson, who was seriously injured in a car accident during shooting (and would have been replaced but for Tracy's insistence otherwise) and was hospitalized for three months. He's much more than a pretty, callow face here, and plays everything he's asked to do straight and perfectly, with a beguiling, youthful verve. The other player worthy of mention is Ward Bond, who should have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his performance here; he did most of his best work in movies directed by John Ford, but working under Fleming here he gives a beautifully understated and affecting performance, striking the perfect balance between comedy and drama in a role that's as much at the center of the plot and the drama as Dunne's. It's doubly amazing that the movie holds up as well as it does, given that it required extensive retakes and a reshooting of the ending -- as originally scripted and shot, Dorinda dies on the bombing mission and joins Pete in heaven, but the Motion Picture Production Code office objected to this, interpreting the ending as a suicide, which was forbidden; so a new ending had to be written and shot. It all still held together, an amazingly poignant yet comforting fantasy-drama with some good moments of comedy and some exciting and extremely well-staged flying and combat sequences. The result is an engrossing, feel-good romance with enough action overtones to keep even the manliest of viewers entertained. Incidentally, the title of the movie is explained in the opening minutes of the movie as a reference to the slang of the period -- to quote one of the English children who idolizes Pete Sandidge, "In the American air forces, any man who's a 'right' chap is a guy named Joe."