Claudette Colbert was one of the crown jewels of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was adept in both comedy and drama and she was something of a rebel off-camera. She also had that rare quality of being both chic/glamorous and down-to-earth.
In this touching homefront drama, she plays the mother of two whose husband is off fighting in WWII. She has received a telegram months before this scene, saying that he is missing in action and she and her family have almost accepted the fact that he is probably dead.
In this final scene of the film, Colbert's maid has placed gifts that were left by her missing husband a year ago under the Christmas tree. He has given her a beautiful powder box and a loving note that finally causes Colbert to break down and shatter her stoic demeanor. She can no longer hold back the tears and sadness that she's let sit inside her all these months. After opening the gift, her telephone rings and it's a cable gram alerting her that her husband is safe and on his way home. She goes off to tell the girls (played by Shirley Temple and Jennifer Jones, who just recently passed away). It's a bit of a quickie Hollywood happy ending, but you feel so deeply for Colbert and the love she has for her husband in these final moments that you could care less if it's a plausible conclusion or not. You simply sit back and celebrate the good news right along with the brave ladies at home. This is one of those quiet, tender scenes of real human emotion that make all the expensive sequences of battle and war pale in comparison.
I wanna borrow this one.
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