Irving Rapper's Voice of the Turtle (1947)

One of the pleasures of Turner Classic Movies is discovering unheralded films that one sees with no great expectations and that turn out to be quite charming;  Irving Rapper's Voice of the Turtle is one such film, the title referring to the coming of Spring.  Rapper does not have a particularly personal visual style but he was a Warner Brothers house director who could, like Michael Curtiz, soar somewhat with the right material, as in this film and Now, Voyager (1942).  Voice of the Turtle is from a John Van Druten play that ran for three seasons during WWII and, though filmed in 1947, it takes place during the war years, as a soldier on leave falls in love in New York City (Vincente Minnelli's The Clock, from 1945, is one of the best examples of this kind of film)

The improbable stars of this film are Ronald Reagan and Eleanor Parker.  Reagan had a long career with Warner Brothers but seldom got important parts and seldom worked with the best directors, though he later made two pretty good films with Don Siegel and two Westerns with Allan Dwan.  In the Rapper film he shows some surprising ability with both physical and verbal comedy, at one point beautifully juggling a hot toaster quietly to keep his presence unknown, lest he compromise Parker's reputation.  Reagan comes to New York to take out man-eater Eve Arden, who has received a better offer and pushes him on the gentle Parker, who has just had a serious break-up and is trying to avoid love.  Parker and Reagan share their melancholy stories and when Parker says, "You're not happy now?" Reagan's reply is "Is anyone?", it effectively captures the sadness and loneliness of the wartime years.

The film unselfconsciously explores, with humor and intelligence, the quotidian details of a couple learning about each other:  making a bed, cooking a breakfast (Reagan sleeps on Parker's couch when he can't find a hotel room), eating an apple, turning on a light, choosing a hat to wear, going for a walk. The music is by Max Steiner, the editing by Rudi Fehr, the elegant cinematography by Sol Polito, all Warner Brothers regulars who worked with director Irving Rapper and writer Van Druten to capture initial affection gradually turning into love.