Our Town (1940)
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Our Town Movie Review
Our Town is a 1940 romantic drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring William Holden and Martha Scott. It’s a very mediocre Oscar nominee.
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“It seems to me, once in your life, before you die,
you ought to see a country where they don’t speak
any English and they don’t even want to“
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Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. Based on a popular stage play, the movie definitely felt stagey in its feel, which made it super dated. My main issue here was the story or the lack of story thereof. You can make a point that the film being about nothing is a good slice of life tale for the whole family to enjoy, but even in that regard it did not register for me as the characterization isn’t the greatest.
Martha Scott was actually nominated for an Academy Award for her performance here, which makes her stand out in that year’s crowd of very famous actresses in the nominations slate. Although I personally wouldn’t nominate her, I still found her to be the best thing about this movie as she is very likable and sweet.
Others fare much worse, though. William Holden is underused here and quite forgettable while the same can be said for the great Fay Bainter. Beulah Bondi also deserved more to do. This is definitely a pretty solid cast, but the characters that they were given were too one-note and plain, which was unfortunate.
Probably the worst thing about this film is the narration. That part really frustrated me. The old man narrating it in a lot of the film’s sections, particularly in the long beginning and ending stretches – that simply felt incredibly dated. The whole movie is dated, and I don’t use that word often, but here it must be used as it’s the truth.
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The moral behind Our Town is simplistic and the themes are non-existent. The movie is short, but it felt longer. There are some charming moments to be had here for sure and the fantasy third act was intriguing in some scenes, but overall it did not deserve any of its Oscar nominations as it hasn’t stood the test of time well at all.
