‘Til We Meet Again ** (1940, Merle Oberon, George Brent, Pat O’Brien, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Binnie Barnes) – Classic Movie Review 11,459

‘Til We Meet Again (1940) lobby card with Merle Oberon (left) and Geraldine Fitzgerald.

Director Edmund Goulding’s 1940 Warner Bros black and white romance film ‘Til We Meet Again stars Merle Oberon and George Brent as two doomed, star-crossed lovers.

The 1932 weepie One Way Passage (with William Powell and Kay Francis) revisited, this time with Oberon playing Joan Ames, the dying beauty who falls in love with condemned criminal Dan Hardesty (Brent) aboard a grand ocean-bound vessel.

Unlike love, this long drawn-out and pretty tedious romancer was better the first time around. However, Oberon and Brent aren’t bad, though, and there is other good acting in the support playing.

Although the character’s name is changed to Rockingham T Rockingham, Frank McHugh played the same role of Achilles Peddicord in the original.

Oberon replaced an exhausted and reluctant Bette Davis, who had just played a terminally ill woman in Dark Victory so she turned down the role of the dying beauty here.

Geraldine Fitzgerald was pregnant with her son Michael Lindsay-Hogg during filming and missed several shooting days. She has many close-ups and a double was used where possible.

Goulding’s illness with pneumonia meant he had to be replaced for some of the film but he shot 70 per cent of it. Anatole Litvak shot about 26 per cent of the film, William Keighley 4 per cent and William K Howard shot some retakes.

The screenplay by Warren Duff is based on the story by Robert Lord, who won the Best Original Story Oscar in 1933 for the original story.

The same basic musical theme is used in One Way Passage and ‘Til We Meet Again. Leo F Forbstein, Vitaphone Orchestra Conductor for One Way Passage, is Music Director this time.

Also in the cast are Pat O’Brien as Police Lieutenant Steve Burke, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Bonny Coburn, Binnie Barnes as la Comtesse de Bresac, Frank McHugh as Rockingham T Rockingham, Eric Blore as Sir Harold Pinchard, George Reeves as Jimmy Coburn, Henry O’Neill as Dr Cameron, Frank Wilcox as Assistant Purser Frank, Doris Lloyd as Joan’s maid Louise, John Ridgely, Marjorie Gateson, Regis Toomey, William Halligan, Victor Kilian, Wade Botelier, Frank Orth, and Chester Gan.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,459

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