wonderful filmThe cast is incredibly attractive. You have Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons, Sandra Dee all in beautiful black and white. People look so much better in black and white, as it evens the skin tone. Probably a provocative movie in its day, and Michener sure has a way of weaving a story around history. The people are so pretty in this movie, and their voices are so nice too. Love to see a young Paul Newman, he is a very feminine, very unusual man. I don't see movies that cover this much in 90 minutes now. I feel as if films today are afraid to cover ground too fast, and that the art of cinema has become overemphasized over storytelling, which this movie does rather well.

There is not a single genuine New Zealand accent to be heard in the whole movie. A couple of actors sounded sort-of Australian.I guess most Americans wouldn't know a New Zealand accent if they fell over one anyway...This seriously impacted the authenticity of the movie for me.Otherwise the movie is very poignant and enjoyable. As an aside, I found it somehow reassuring to see how ready the women were in those days to jump into bed with American servicemen.This is all I have to say to make up my compulsory ten lines.

Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, Sandra Dee and Paul Newman star in "Until They Sail," a World War II romantic drama directed by Robert Wise. Four sisters watch their husbands and boyfriends go off to war and meet different fates. The central story is the romance between the widowed Barbara (Simmons) and an American marine (Newman). This is an early film for Newman; he has fourth billing.The drama emphasizes the tremendous loneliness of the American soldiers and the New Zealand women and the resulting changing morality. The liaisons that result are sometimes one-nighters, sometimes serious that end with a soldier's death, and sometimes end in marriage and relocation. Anne (Fontaine) falls in love with a soldier (Charles Drake) and becomes pregnant; Dee (Piper Laurie) has a husband she doesn't love who is a prisoner of war - she moves to Wellington and takes up with an assortment of soldiers; and Barbara's husband is killed. Evelyn, a mere child at the beginning of the war, matures as it continues and falls in love."Until They Sail" begins with a courtroom scene and continues as Barbara's flashback. It moves somewhat slowly and has a tendency to be talky. The performances are uneven. Laurie, a vibrant actress, nevertheless seems as if she belongs to a different family, much more American than a New Zealand resident. Fontaine gives a gentle portrayal of a woman who finds love later in her life. As Barbara, Simmons gives us a serious young woman with certain standards who nevertheless finds herself drawn to the cynical Newman character. Though she enjoyed an excellent career, Simmons never had the career she deserved, belonging to an era that put her in competition with Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. It's a shame - of the three, she's the best actress. Her work in "Angel Face" is proof enough of that and that she is a stunning beauty who, when allowed, could also be sexy. In "Until They Sail," she again conveys her thoughts with no dialogue. At the end, she stands outside alone and the viewer can read her mind, as they could when she walked into the house in "Angel Face" after the death of her parents.This is a pleasant film, not spectacular, worth seeing for an early Newman and some likable actors.

Literate, well-acted, depressing story of the effects of wartime upon a family of six (parents and four daughters) in Christchurch New Zealand.For some reason, the four New Zealand daughters are played by two Englishwomen (Joan Fontaine and Jean Simmons) and two Americans (Piper Laurie and Sandra Dee). The casting of the Englishwomen at least marks a contrast with the Americans soldiers - the casting of the Americans as daughters is just terribly strange - particularly Sandra Dee who only sometimes attempts some kind of accent. (One's left to wonder why more plausible English actresses such as Barbara Steele or Dana Wynter weren't cast).**** SPOILERS **** The family's losses are staggering. Both parents, one of the two husbands of the four daughters, one daughter's fiancé, and one sister killed by the other husband -- all dead on separate occasions. You begin to feel that these daughters have the mark of death upon them - anyone they touch -- will be killed. And this makes for a very dark story.In addition to the actual deaths, one sees the deaths of the moral ideals of the four girls. Unfortunately, it is not really made clear why this is so - except that "the men have been away for X months". That's the only explanation. And the viewer thinks, well, so? If the men were home, then, uh, what? Presumably the film means that if they were home, the girls would not be dying of their lusts -- but why? This central theme of the film is simply odd. There just isn't an explanation of why the women MUST have sex in X months despite the vows some took to God and before all those they knew, to remain faithful until their deaths.It's a dark film in a number of ways. The four daughters seem to know or care for no one outside their own family.There is no larger society of which they are a part -- no aunts, no friends, no uncles, no cousins, no bosses or former bosses, no co-workers, no neighbors, to ease loneliness, participate in social functions, see films and plays, play cards, etc. No one.And in apparent result, two of the three surviving daughters leave the country permanently.So the happy family of six in New Zealand becomes by the end of the film -- a single person remaining in the entire country. It's as if some bomb had hit the family.The film is very muted, worried, fraught with usually untold dreary unhappiness. Yet it's a well-made film -- Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie, and Jean Simmons (and Paul Newman as her suitor) are particularly fine.So, I can't say I particularly recommend it - but it's not bad if you're feeling you need to come down from some over-ebullient mood.