Tender Comrade

1943
Approved
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan in Tender Comrade (1943)

Jo Jones, a young defense plant worker whose husband is in the military during World War II, shares a house with three other women in the same situation.Jo Jones, a young defense plant worker whose husband is in the military during World War II, shares a house with three other women in the same situation.Jo Jones, a young defense plant worker whose husband is in the military during World War II, shares a house with three other women in the same situation.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

1.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins total

Photos20

+ 13

Top cast20

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Ginger Rogers

Jo Jones

Robert Ryan

Chris Jones

Ruth Hussey

Barbara Thomas

Patricia Collinge

Helen Stacey

Mady Christians

Manya Lodge

Kim Hunter

Doris Dumbrowski

Jane Darwell

Mrs. Henderson

Richard Martin

Mike Dumbrowski

Robert Anderson

Chris Jones as a boy
(uncredited)

Patti Brill

Western Union Girl
(uncredited)

Tom Burton

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Donald Davis

Boy
(uncredited)

Jane Farrar

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Edward Fielding

Doctor
(uncredited)

Mary Forbes

Mrs. Flanagan - Jo's Mother
(uncredited)

Richard Gaines

Waldo Pierson
(uncredited)

Euline Martin

Baby
(uncredited)

Freddie Mercer

Boy
(uncredited)

Director
- Edward Dmytryk
Writer
- Dalton Trumbo
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This film was introduced as evidence when director Edward Dmytryk and writer Dalton Trumbo were hauled before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating them on suspicion of being Communists. Despite the film's many flag-waving speeches, the communal living arrangements of the ladies in the film was cited as evidence of how Dmytryk and Trumbo attempted to brainwash unsuspecting American moviegoers with Communist propaganda. As even more damning evidence, there was the use of the word "Comrade" in the title.

Goofs
When Chris comes around the hanging laundry in Jo's flashback, we hear the end of his whistling "You Made Me Love You," but his face is totally relaxed, and clearly not that of a person who is whistling.

Quotes
Jo Jones: We're going to pool all of our salaries and we'll pay the rent, take care of the expenses of the house, and what's left over, we'll split five ways. You see, we're running this joint like a democracy!
Manya Lodge: Like a democracy! Oh, that's good! That's good. Once, in Germany, we had a democracy. But we...
Helen Stacey: You lost it.
Manya Lodge: Nein. We did not lose it. We let it be murdered - like a little child.

Crazy credits
TO MY WIFE - Teacher, Tender Comrade Wife, A fellow-farer true through life, Heart-whole and soul-free, The August Father, Gave to me. Robert Louis Stevenson

Connections
Featured in Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story: Dark Victory (1987)

Soundtracks
Symphony No. 40 in G minor K. 550
(1788) (uncredited)
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
First movement played on the radio in the opening scene

User reviews30

Featured review

7/10

wartime propaganda

Jo Jones (Ginger Rogers) is heartbroken watching her husband Chris Jones (Robert Ryan) go off to war. She goes to work at an aircraft plant. She befriends fellow workers Doris Dumbrowski (Kim Hunter), Barbara Thomas (Ruth Hussey), and Helen Stacey (Patricia Collinge). They decide to rent a house together.

The war propaganda is obvious and completely expected. There isn't anything that compelling. They have made each lady do something different. The German housemaid gives voice to all the underlying politics and warnings from Europe. The flashbacks are hit and miss. A better use of the time could be Chris writing letters from the war. Maybe it could show him being heroic. That would be great war propaganda. Barbara hearing about the Yorktown sinking is probably the most compelling moment. The most compelling Hollywood history has to do with the writer Dalton Trumbo who would fall victim to the Red Scare.