Since You Went Away (1944)

Jane Deborah Hilton: How are things out at the field?
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Oh, they're fine, thank you. How's everything with you?
Jane Deborah Hilton: Oh, just fine. I want to get a war job, but Mother won't let me.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Well, I think she's right. You ought to stay home -
Jane Deborah Hilton: No, it isn't that at all. Mother wants me to go to college.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Oh. Oh, gee. That would take four years, wouldn't it?
Jane Deborah Hilton: If I go.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: You don't want to go?
Jane Deborah Hilton: No, it's so silly. If I were three or four years older, I could be a Wave.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Or a Wac.
Jane Deborah Hilton: Or a nurse. That's what I'd rather be most. A nurse.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: That would be swell if I was wounded.
Jane Deborah Hilton: You shouldn't say such things.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Oh. I won't be wounded. I'll be killed.
Jane Deborah Hilton: Bill!
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Oh, Jane would you care?
Jane Deborah Hilton: Well, of course I'd care, silly.
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Well, gee, that'd be fine.
Jane Deborah Hilton: What would be fine about it?
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Well, I thought that if - Well, what I mean is I would be glad if you were sorry if I were killed.
Jane Deborah Hilton: What good would that do if you were dead?
Corporal William G. 'Bill' Smollett II: Yeah, I guess you're right.
Jane Deborah Hilton: I don't ever want to hear

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Mrs. Anne Hilton: [on the phone] How much will that be for three days? What? Brig, turn that thing off, I can't hear. I'm awfully sorry. Yes. Will this get into the early edition? Yes. Fireplace and bay window. Oh, all right, put in "homey atmosphere."
Bridget 'Brig' Hilton: Mother! Mother! Wait, please!
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Keep quiet, Brig. Would you send the bill to this address, please? Thank you.
Bridget 'Brig' Hilton: Mother, you don't mean you're going to rent *your* room?
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Of course I am, that's the room that will bring the most money. I'll take your room, and you can double up with Jane.
Bridget 'Brig' Hilton: But Mother, you're not going to put somebody in Pop's room? Oh, I didn't mean that.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Now, you wouldn't want those characters in that other city to put Pop in anything but their best room, would you?
Bridget 'Brig' Hilton: But that's different. He's Pop.

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Colonel William G. Smollett: He struggled so hard to be a soldier, because I insisted on it. I, in my infinite wisdom.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: He would have been a soldier anyway, as things turned out.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Yes, but all he learned from me was the glory, the decorations, the parades.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Bill had character and courage. I know you gave him those.
Colonel William G. Smollett: I hope so.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: He loved you.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Mrs. Hilton, I'm not a child. He hated me. To whom did that telegram come? Why, he didn't even list me as next of kin.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: The telegram came to Jane, because they were to be married.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Oh, I didn't know, of course.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: I should have told you before. Colonel, if only you could believe that he loved you. Don't you remember the message he sent you? That he was a Smollett, all right, and before the war was over, you'd be proud of him.

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Claudette Colbert originally turned down the chance to play the lead as she didn't like the idea of playing mother to two teenage daughters. Enlisting the help of gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper, David O. Selznick was able to finally convince her to take on the part.
The photos of Anne's husband Tim shown frequently in the Hilton home is that of Neil Hamilton. Having just left for the war as the movie starts and heading home as the movie ends, the often-referred to Tim never actually appears in the movie.
David O. Selznick was credited as producer for his writing the screenplay.
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