Letter to a Hero (1943)

A schoolmistress is writing a letter to one of her former pupils who is off at war. “Sgt. Dan” has just been awarded the silver star and so the town of Monroe in the American state of New York is thrilled. Her letter isn’t one that blows that trumpet, though, it’s much more of a “snapshots from home” style of missive. It tells of the weather, the busy Friday night’s in the soda bars, of his gal - soon to be a music teacher - and his mother both busying themselves with day-to-day life. His dad, meantime, and younger brother “Bobby” are putting extra effort to maintain their family farm and it’s forty head of independently minded milkers. The film seems to serve two purposes. The first uses specially shot actors and more generic photography to show the world that for America, it is still business as usual and secondly to let this brave man, and all of his cohorts, know that what he is fighting for is worth saving. It is sentimental, unashamedly, but it’s one of the few examples of wartime American feel-good films that could just as easily be applied to any nation whose sons, husbands and brothers are away perilously doing their bit whilst their families serve in a different fashion at home.