Jeff Chandler was one of Universal's biggest film stars of the 1950s - it's odd he didn't make more movies with Ross Hunter, whose plush cinematic melodramas and comedies would've suited the granite-jawed Chandler. While Hunter mostly used Chandler types like Rock Hudson and John Gavin, he did work with Chandler on The Spoilers and this.
Chandler plays a test pilot who has PTSD. He's pressured to visit the widow and mother of a fellow pilot who died in Chandler's arms during the Korean War. Mum is Mary Astor in a classic 50s castrating mother performance. Also entirely suitable to the genre is June Allyson's noble, brave widow.
The nub of the plot is that dead man Peter Graves was a useless piece of work - a coward (Graves is good in flashback). Mum Astor wants him to have the Medal of Honour and Jeff is unsure whether to tell the truth That's not a bad idea for a film.
It does lack something extra - some drama playing out in the present day. Written in the Wind, from the same writer as this (the original novel, not the script) had more stuff going on - Robert Stack and Rock Hudson were childhood friends, so there was an element of betrayal when Hudson fell for Stack's wife; Stack kills himself and there's a murder trial; Stack's sister Dorothy Malone loves Hudson.
This doesn't have that. The most interesting character dramatically is Peter Graves who is dead when the film starts. He didn't love Allyson and was a coward. Sandra Dee is on hand as Graves' sister - a bit of a minx, I think meant to be along the lines of Dorothy Malone... but she's too young to be a threat for Allyson/Chandler.
I think Graves had to be alive - or Dee needed to become obsessed with Chandler - or Astor tried to kill him. Or something, anything, that played out more in the present day. There's nothing at stake except Graves' reputation and Astor's feelings and a slight feeling of awkwardness for Chandler. Compare so say Rock Hudson in Written on the Wind who was best friends with Robert Stack and wound up on trial for murder.
It doesn't help that the film is in black and white and lacks production values. Douglas Sirk lite.
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