David O. Selznick has taken the simple story of the Home front and packed it with enough expert talent in acting and directing to produce one of the war's more eloquent screen productions. It's a tear-jerker from beginning to end, and even the toughest hombres will flick a salt-saturated drop from their grizzled exam beards.

When a movie is based on an unoriginal idea and an overabundance of emotion, it takes a truly professional touch to keep matters from getting trite. Claudette Colbert as Mrs. Hilton, the young wife of the Navy officer reported missing in action, repeats her dramatic success in "So Proudly We Hall" with plenty to spare. Joseph Cotton scores his own triumph, and Monty Wooley adds the inimitable Wooley flavor in his rivalry with the family bulldog. Shirley Temple in her stock role of the tomboyish teen-ager injects a warm appeal.

But the chief credit goes to Director John Cromwell, whose careful attention to the little things produces the meticulous emotional suspense which keeps the movie on its feet and the audience pinned to its collective chair. Everyone knows from the start that everything's going to turn out all right, but there's always that doubt-and it's the human atmosphere that has to sustain the interest.

And it does. Jennifer Jones proves that she's got the versatility deserving of an Academy Award, and Robert Walker is pleasant when he's not trying to be cute. Albert Basserman rounds out a first-rate cast in a first-rate piece of cinema, simply conceived, beautifully executed.