Since You Went Away is a 1944 American epic drama film directed by John Cromwell for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It is an epic about the US home front during World War II that was adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the 1943 novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret Buell Wilder. The music score was by Max Steiner, and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes, George Barnes (uncredited), and Robert Bruce (uncredited).
The film is set in a mid-sized American town, where people with loved ones in the armed forces try to cope with their changed circumstances and make their own contributions to the war effort. The town is near a military base, and some of the characters are troops serving Stateside.
Though sentimental in places, Since You Went Away is somber at times about the effects of war on ordinary people. Some characters on the home front are dealing with grief, loneliness, or fear for the future. Wounded and disabled troops are shown in the hospital scenes.
This movie features Anne Hilton, whose husband is away from home during war. Anne strives to tackle problems that arise at home and manages to earn a decent living for her daughters.