A Girl for Joe
was the reissue title for the 1951 WWII romantic drama
Force of Arms
. William Holden and Nancy Olson, previously teamed in
Sunset Boulevard
and
Union Station
, co-star once more as, respectively, an Army sergeant and a WAC officer. While on leave, Holden and Olson fall in love, but before long Holden is sent back to the front. Surviving the battle of San Pietro, Holden is tortured by the fact that he may have "choked" under fire, indirectly causing the deaths of his CO Frank Lovejoy and several of his comrades. Even after his happy marriage to Olson, Holden cannot purge himself of his guilt feelings. Despite his wife's protestations, Holden re-ups to atone for past mistakes. Told that Holden is missing in action, Nancy refuses to give her husband up for dead and heads for the front herself. Officially based on a short story by Richard Tregaskis, this drama is actually a semi-remake of Hemingway's
A Farewell to Arms
, previously filmed in 1932 (this may partially explain why Warner Bros., producers of
, purchased the rights to the 1932 film).