The Searching Wind (1946)

Plot: Adapted from the Lillian Hellman Play.  A wounded GI demands his mother and Diplomat father explain their Inter-war record of appeasement and failed marriage.
Stars: Robert Young, Sylvia Sydney, Ann Richards.

One the most obscure Hellman plays, and certainly her most forgotten movie,  The Searching Wind  currently has a grand total of six IMBD user reviews. While a popular wartime play, the film was dated when released, and did poor Box Office. Y'see in  December 1946, people were more interested in Joe Stalin and a possible Cold War than"who was to blame for Munich."

Viewing it 72 years later, its not that bad - there's a Young-Sydney-Richards love triangle, the acting is OK and the production values are high.  Plus, Robert Young is well cast as the indecisive, if well-meaning, lead. As a history buff, I enjoyed it.  But if you don't care about Mussolini's 1922 rise to power - you're in for a long movie.

Note: Hellman fans might give it a whirl, because its so unusual. First, Hammett wasn't involved - and second, its not a melodrama with a nasty villain (unlike Little Foxes/Watch on the Rhine). OTOH, the play has some typical Hellman touches.  We have:

• the self-righteous -but uncertain - youngster who judges his elders; 
• the noble character who's lost his leg fighting fascism (cf: Julia);
• Rich people who are bad or empty headed; and
• some nasty, if witty, put-downs and insults.  

Summary:  For history buffs and Robert Young/Lillian Hellman fans only.  Others will be bored.