Hearts, Honesty, and the Homefront

Read Time:5 Minute, 31 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Dear Ruth (Blu-ray)
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Genre: Comedy, Romance
Year Released: 1947, Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director(s): William D. Russell
Writer(s): Arthur Sheekman, based on the play by Norman Krasna
Cast: Joan Caulfield, William Holden, Mona Freeman, Edward Arnold, Billy De Wolfe, Mary Philips, Virginia Welles, Marietta Canty
Where to Watch: available now, order here: www.kinolorber.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: There’s an instant warmth to this kind of studio-era comedy: a family tossed into gentle disorder, a front door that never stops opening, and a romance that blooms because everyone tries to do the right thing at the wrong time. DEAR RUTH is built on a premise with generous payoffs. A teenage idealist has been writing morale-boosting letters to a soldier overseas and signing them with her older sister’s name. When the soldier shows up on leave expecting to meet his sweetheart, the household scrambles to sustain the illusion, protect the sister’s very real engagement, and keep Sunday dinner from curdling into scandal.

William Holden is still in his “smiling straight-arrow” period here, and the role plays to his strengths. His lieutenant is earnest without being “square,” confident without swagger, and disarmingly sincere when he describes why those letters mattered. Holden doesn’t push; he lets the dialogue lead the energy of each scene, which gives the film a steady heartbeat. Joan Caulfield counters him with an underplayed poise that keeps the situation from turning into farce. She’s caught between courtesy and commitment, pulled into a performance of affection she never volunteered for, and Caulfield keeps the character clear: polite, a little flustered, and sharper than anyone expects.

Mona Freeman’s mischievous younger sister lights the fuse. Instead of playing Miriam as a stock expectation, Freeman leans into conviction; she believes in her wartime pen-pal project, and that belief softens the character’s meddling. When the truth threatens to surface, her panic doesn’t read as guilt so much as a dawning awareness of consequences. That small repositioning of motive is why the comedy holds. We’re not laughing at the character; we’re watching people manage a snowballing circumstance with only their manners to shield them.

Arthur Sheekman’s adaptation of Norman Krasna’s hit stage play keeps the machine humming. You can feel the theatrical bones — contained spaces, hand-off entrances, the ensemble stacked — but the film never feels trapped by them. The camera respects the room while delivering pace. There’s a nice sense of timing in how new information enters: a knock, a delivery, a disheartened fiancé. Billy De Wolfe, as that fiancé, threads a tough needle. The part could easily tip into caricature, yet he shades it with enough self-importance to make his flustered retreat funny rather than mean-spirited. Edward Arnold and Mary Philips bring authority and warmth as the parents; they’re not oblivious, they’re just trying to keep the temperature down, which is often the funniest choice.

The best scenes let the ensemble's conflicting obligations play out until someone has to break the stalemate. A simple living-room conversation becomes a social chess match — who sits where, who speaks first, who gets escorted to the door, and under what pretext. The banter is quick without feeling canned, and the jokes often spring from manners colliding with desire.

What gives the story staying power is how it takes wartime letter-writing — a practice of kindness — and shows how kindness can corner people. Ruth isn’t cold to the lieutenant; she’s considerate to a fault, trying not to puncture his leave with embarrassment. The film respects that impulse while still steering toward romantic inevitability. It’s not framed as betrayal. It’s presented as clarity: the realization that someone you’ve never met may know your better self because your sister wrote it down.

A touch more bite in the middle — perhaps one scene where Ruth’s façade costs her — would deepen the stakes without losing the film’s gentleness. Similarly, the lieutenant’s idealism is appealing, but a single moment of doubt, privately expressed, might add dimension to his certainty and make the eventual romantic pivot feel less ordained.

A film like this benefits from context, and an informed commentary can highlight how the Broadway origins shaped the film’s structure, why certain gags are paced in a particular way, and how the studio system guided Holden and Caulfield through roles like this on their path to future-defining work. For collectors, having a well-presented version with attention to detail is crucial; for first-time viewers, it serves as an ideal entry point into mid-century romantic comedies that prioritize wit over wisecracks.

Bottom line: this is an easy recommendation, performed by actors who understand the precise temperature at which politeness turns into flirtation. The premise is clean, the scenes click, and the finale lands with the kind of satisfaction that comes from characters choosing candor over the safety of pretense. It’s a film that invites a smile at the start and earns a bigger one by the end — and that confident, steady glow aligns with the way you’ve scored it.

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[photo courtesy of KINO LORBER]

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