When missionary Deanna Durbin arrives in San Francisco with eight young orphans after the ship she was on was torpedoed by the Japanese, she is mistakenly identified as the widow of a ship's commander by his gold-digging family. She confesses the truth to the commander's grandson (Edmund O'Brien) and they slowly develop a friendship that turns into romance. We learn from a well placed flashback of how Durbin ended up on the commander's (Harry Davenport) ship and why the elder members of his family (Grant Mitchell, Elisabeth Risdon and Freida Inescort) believed she had married their elder brother. Durbin decides the facade is necessary to provide the children with a home, and everything is going right until a surprise during a party honoring the late commander occurs.
This is one of Durbin's most tender movies, and all of the children (including one simply billed as "The Chinese baby") are adorable. Barry Fitzgerald stands out as Durbin's confidante, one of the ship's crew members, who helped smuggle Durbin and company aboard the ship. In his brief role, Davenport (Grandpa in "Meet Me in St. Louis") is also great, and Gus Schilling, one of the funniest unknown character actors in films, shines in a brief role as a stranger whom Durbin and O'Brien encounter at Grand Central Station. Durbin briefly sings, but this is not a musical. The film is also important as a view of how important it was for Americans not in combat during World War II to be involved in more ways than just buying war bonds or working the swing shift.
This is one of Durbin's most tender movies, and all of the children (including one simply billed as "The Chinese baby") are adorable. Barry Fitzgerald stands out as Durbin's confidante, one of the ship's crew members, who helped smuggle Durbin and company aboard the ship. In his brief role, Davenport (Grandpa in "Meet Me in St. Louis") is also great, and Gus Schilling, one of the funniest unknown character actors in films, shines in a brief role as a stranger whom Durbin and O'Brien encounter at Grand Central Station. Durbin briefly sings, but this is not a musical. The film is also important as a view of how important it was for Americans not in combat during World War II to be involved in more ways than just buying war bonds or working the swing shift.