Tender Comrade

Tender Comrade
Tender Comrade
	Theatrical poster
Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Written by	Dalton Trumbo
Produced by	David Hempstead
Starring	Ginger Rogers; Robert Ryan; Ruth Hussey; Kim Hunter; Patricia Collinge; Mady Christians
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Edited by	Roland Gross
Music by	Leigh Harline
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	December 29, 1943 (U.S.);
Running time	101 minutes (copyright print)
Country	United States
Language	English

Tender Comrade is a 1943 black-and-white film released by RKO Radio Pictures, showing women on the home front living communally while their husbands are away at war.

The film stars Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, and Kim Hunter and was directed by Edward Dmytryk.^[2] The film was later used by the HUAC as evidence of Dalton Trumbo spreading communist propaganda. Trumbo was subsequently blacklisted.

The film's title comes from a line in Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "My Wife" first published in Songs of Travel and Other Verses (1896).^[3]

Plot[]

Jo Jones (Ginger Rogers) works in an airplane factory and longs for the day when she will see her husband (Robert Ryan) again. The couple have a heart wrenching farewell at the train station before he leaves for overseas duty in the war. With their husbands off fighting in World War II, Jo and her co-workers struggle to pay living expenses. Dissatisfied with their living arrangements, they decide to pool their money and rent a house together, soon after which they hire a German immigrant housekeeper, Manya (Mady Christians). Jo discovers she is pregnant and ends up having a son whom she names Chris after his father. The women are overjoyed when Doris's (Kim Hunter) husband comes home, but the same day Jo receives a telegram informing her that her husband has been killed. She hides her grief and as the film ends descends the stairs in order to rejoin the homecoming celebration.

Cast[]

Ginger Rogers as Jo Jones
Robert Ryan as Chris Jones
Ruth Hussey as Barbara Thomas
Patricia Collinge as Helen Stacey
Mady Christians as Manya Lodge
Kim Hunter as Doris Dumbrowski
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Henderson
Richard Martin as Mike Dumbrowski

Reception[]

The film made a profit of $843,000.^[4]

References[]

^ "Tender Comrade: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
^ Hal Erickson (2012). "Tender Comrade". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2011-05-05.
^ Hanson, Peter (2007). Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel. McFarland. pp. 70–1. ISBN 0786432462.
^ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p190

External links[]

Tender Comrade at AllMovie
Tender Comrade at the American Film Institute Catalog
Tender Comrade at IMDb
Tender Comrade at the TCM Movie Database

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[1] "Tender Comrade: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2014.

[NY_Times-2] Hal Erickson (2012). "Tender Comrade". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2011-05-05.

[3] Hanson, Peter (2007). Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel. McFarland. pp. 70–1. ISBN 0786432462.

[rko-4] Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p190

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