From This Day Forward

Good example of studio films from the forties. A love story,but also a history lesson on the labor unions trials and problems of getting a foothold in industry.True to the novel, Mark Stevens and Joan Fontaine are perfectly cast.

Joan Fontaine was hardly the right choice to play a Bronx housewife and yet, opposite newcomer Mark Stevens, she gives a sensitive, believable performance as a young woman coping with poverty, marriage and the adjustments that have to be made when hubby returns from the war. Small in scale when compared to films like 'The Best Years of Our Lives' which dealt with these kind of problems on a broader canvas. And yet, the realistic sets and the sincerity of the leading players does a lot to make this modest film both watchable and absorbing.

Rosemary DeCamp, Harry Morgan and Bobby Driscoll are fine in the chief supporting roles. The soap opera effects that might have ruined this sort of story are missing--instead it settles for an honest treatment of post-war problems faced by many young couples in the '40s.

Mark Stevens would later play Olivia de Havilland's husband in 'The Snake Pit' with even more success. (Joan Fontaine's sister, in case any of you don't know it!!)

A little-known slice of life from the postwar era. Mark Stevens plays a war veteran who is having problems adjusting to his return to civilian life. Set in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, with some pivotal scenes on a footbridge to Manhattan. Not filmed there, of course, but the movie has realistic touches. Not so real is the leading lady (Joan Fontaine is no Bronx housewife) and the characters are ridiculously de-ethnicized. But the movie is genuinely touching and is a kind of time capsule of the sentiments of its era.

From This Day Forward is directed by John Berry and adapted to screenplay by Garson Kanin and Hugo Butler from the novel All Brides are Beautiful written by Thomas Bell. It stars Joan Fontaine, Mark Stevens, Rosemary DeCamp, Harry Morgan, Wally Brown, Arline Judge and Renny McEvoy. Music is by Leigh Harline and cinematography by George Barnes.

Rom-Dram that finds Stevens and Fontaine as a young couple struggling with the perils and optimism of post-war life. Story unfolds in flashback as Stevens reminisces about how he met Fontaine and their subsequent courtship that was fraught with uncertainty about what the future had in store. The Depression bites hard and Stevens finds himself a kept man as Fontaine's wages has to cover for the both of them. It's a pretty simple fable, but one of romantic hope in times of hardship, Stevens and Fontaine are good together, if a little miscast considering the themes at work in the screenplay. Popular with audiences back in 1946, its escapism factor would have been a huge pull, it is however now something of an antiquated sitting, a laborious picture that sort of just exists as a time-capsule piece. Approach with caution. 5/10

Some kind of "the best years of my life" in miniature , "from this day forward" is mainly "backwards" for it essentially consists of flashbacks ; back from war,the hero has now to fight against a Civil Service , with a staff who is often inconsiderate to men who risked their life for their homeland.

As Mark Stevens makes his way through those forms to fill in ,he remembers the past , his wife (Fontaine) ,her family , his difficulty to find a job, his failed attempt at an illustrator career ,his brother-in-law's idle life ,and ,last but not least,the draft morning ...

The secondary characters are not developed enough ,notably the tight-fisted wealthy mom ,but both principals are endearing;Stevens would play opposite Joan Fontaine's sister ,Olivia De Havilland, in "the snake pit "(1948) but this time was overshadowed by his partner.

Fontaine and Stevens dance on the title song.