I Want You [1951] [DVD]

Producer Samuel Goldwyn's attempt to follow up the critical and popular success of his Oscar-winning 1946 masterpiece The Best Years of Our Lives resulted in this similarly themed movie, this time portraying the effects of the Korean War on American small-town families.

The screenplay by novelist Irwin Shaw (The Young Lions, Two Weeks in Another Town) is excellent, and the performances ring touching and true, especially those of young Peggy Dow, who retired all-too-early from the screen, and Dana Andrews, who also appeared in the first film. This is very much a period artefact, fascinating to watch today and, incidentally, inspired by the induction of Goldwyn's own son.

The aggressively sexual command implicit in the title is somewhat mitigated when you realise that those three words are usually surmounted by a drawing of Uncle Sam: it's the US Army recruiting slogan.

Drama starring Dana Andrews and Dorothy McGuire. A small community faces the prospect of its menfolk going away to fight in the Korean War. One wife in particular is hit hard, having endured her husband's absence during the Second World War.