There's no time for songs when you've got less than a year to live, and for wife and mother Margaret Sullavan, finding out that she has cancer and only six to ten months of a productive life left has her setting the wheels in motion of how she intends to finish off her life with dignity, concentrating on continuing the lives of husband Wendell Corey and daughter Natalie Wood. When rumors of an affair between Corey and his assistant Viveca Lindfors circulate within her social circle, Sullavan puts a plan in motion that will move the future forward.
This most delightful of tearjerkers isn't so much sad as it is moving. Here is a woman of such pure unselfishness who isn't prideful to not see the importance of her mission, and see the years ahead she won't physically be a part of. After surviving the material trappings of wife Joan Crawford in "Harriett Craig" and fight the fury of Barbara Stanwyck in the same year's "The Furies", Corey took on a gentler partner with Ms. Sullavan here. She gives a bravura performance as that most laughable of 30's movie heroines: the completely noble wife, but with the onslaught of time and lots of tougher, more manipulative females, Sullavan's lady is a delightful change of pace. Corey still has that brick wall acting style, but this time, he's not a sap, so the result is a somewhat stronger performance.
Lindfors, wasted during the film's first three quarters with small appearances here and there, strongly brings her character to life in the last quarter, making you see why Corey would be tempted by her, and understand why Sullavan might choose her as a potential replacement. This is evidenced in a scene where Sullavan visits her home town and runs into a male widowed friend who is now involved with a selfish harpy. Wood manages not to inflict too much pre-teen obnoxiousness into this character, making her more real for a change and not a pain in the neck that on occasion in her roles could make you wince every time she came on screen.
As far as women's pictures go, many of them attempt to manipulate the audience's emotions, but this one steers clear of that path. This can be attributed to a better than average screenplay and Sullavan's believable portrayal of a wonderful woman fighting for a dark victory with dignity and class.
This most delightful of tearjerkers isn't so much sad as it is moving. Here is a woman of such pure unselfishness who isn't prideful to not see the importance of her mission, and see the years ahead she won't physically be a part of. After surviving the material trappings of wife Joan Crawford in "Harriett Craig" and fight the fury of Barbara Stanwyck in the same year's "The Furies", Corey took on a gentler partner with Ms. Sullavan here. She gives a bravura performance as that most laughable of 30's movie heroines: the completely noble wife, but with the onslaught of time and lots of tougher, more manipulative females, Sullavan's lady is a delightful change of pace. Corey still has that brick wall acting style, but this time, he's not a sap, so the result is a somewhat stronger performance.
Lindfors, wasted during the film's first three quarters with small appearances here and there, strongly brings her character to life in the last quarter, making you see why Corey would be tempted by her, and understand why Sullavan might choose her as a potential replacement. This is evidenced in a scene where Sullavan visits her home town and runs into a male widowed friend who is now involved with a selfish harpy. Wood manages not to inflict too much pre-teen obnoxiousness into this character, making her more real for a change and not a pain in the neck that on occasion in her roles could make you wince every time she came on screen.
As far as women's pictures go, many of them attempt to manipulate the audience's emotions, but this one steers clear of that path. This can be attributed to a better than average screenplay and Sullavan's believable portrayal of a wonderful woman fighting for a dark victory with dignity and class.