SUNDAY DINNER FOR A SOLDIER
(20th Century Fox)
HAVING just used a gustatory metaphor, I will continue it by saying that I found the plain, homely fare of Sunday Dinner for a Soldier
more acceptable to my present appetite than the lavish spread in Mrs. Parking. ton. Not that the dinner served for John Hodiak, the soldier in the story, is simple: fried chicken is the piece de resistance. But the family serving it is a desperately poor one (by movie standards anyway), living by the skin of their teeth and Grandpa’s pension on a ramshackle houseboat in Florida, and part of the tale concerns their sacrifices to secure a chicken suitable for frying, The other part concerns their efforts to find a soldier to enjoy it. It is in the cinematic nature of things that this soldier will turn out to be such an attractive, lonely guy so much in need of affection that, when he leaves for the front in his bomber a few hours later, he will take the heart of the heroine (Ann Baxter) with him. There are moments in the picture su resolutely arch as to be embarrassingfor instance; I found the practice of referring incessantly to Grandpa (Charles --
Winninger) as "Grandfeathers" very trying. But the general effect is pleasant and human: you do get (pardon me df I mention it) a real feeling of family life aboard the improvident houseboat, of the humour and affection that survives drudgery and cumulative domestic disasters. And though I have no direct evidence for this, I suspect that Tarpon Springs, Florida, where the story is told, is a teal place and not just a studio set. It looks real anyway.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19451005.2.40.1.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 19
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282SUNDAY DINNER FOR A SOLDIER New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 328, 5 October 1945, Page 19
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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