User Reviews

Walter Huston, Kay Francis and Gloria Warren star in "Always in My Heart," a 1942 film featuring Sidney Blackmer, Frankie Thomas and Una O'Connor. Francis plays "Mudge," a woman whose ex-husband (Huston) is in prison. She is getting ready to marry again, this time to a wealthy man, Philip (Blackmer). Her daughter Vicky (Warren) doesn't care for him, but her son (Marty (Thomas) likes his money. Mudge goes to see her former husband, a talented musician, in prison to tell him that if there's any chance of a pardon, she'll wait for him; he lies and says there's no chance, although he already has one (he was innocently involved in a shady business deal; a fight broke out, and a man died). He wants her to remarry and the kids to be taken care of. The children have been told he's dead. When he's released, he goes into their home town to get a look at the kids and ends up staying in "Fish Town," an Italian community, where he works and plays his music. It's through music that he bonds with Vicky, who wants to be a singer. Meanwhile, he watches his son, who is dating a street smart woman who's a little older than he is and becomes concerned.

This is a very sweet film with some enjoyable music and operatic singing by Warren. With the success of Deanna Durbin, the studios apparently all scrambled for their own version. Warren had a well-trained, small coloratura voice that had a very high sound to it (everything she sang sounded as if it started about an octave higher than anyone else's music), the kind of voice very popular back in the days of the French soprano, Lily Pons. She was dark and pretty with a certain appeal, but the voice didn't have the versatility of Durbin's, nor was she as charismatic. Huston, of course, does a beautiful job as her father. Francis looks fantastic and gives a lovely performance. Warner Brothers was just about to dump her. Una O'Connor is very funny as the housekeeper, and while some may have found her annoying, I thought Patti Hale, who played O'Connor's granddaughter, was adorable.

If you're a Kay Francis fan, a Walter Huston fan, or an opera fan, you should enjoy "Always in my Heart."

Kay Francis is mother to two children--one who is a bit of an idiot and a daughter who is constantly singing. Francis has a fiancé who loves her but obviously wants to ship her nearly adult children off to college. You can't blame him too much, especially with all the singing, but you wonder about Kay's sanity as she seems to be the only one who doesn't recognize this.

Unknown to all but Kay is the fact that her dead husband isn't dead after all but is in prison. Since he was sentenced to prison for life, they both decided to tell the children he was dead and Kay was encouraged repeatedly by her husband (Walter Huston) to remarry. Huston is not your typical Hollywood prisoner, as he's a model of decency and eventually the state decides to pardon him just before Francis' wedding to her stuffy but rich boyfriend. However, Huston does NOT want to return to their lives, as he feels they have a right to continue as they are--he just doesn't want to upset their lives. But, he's also curious how his children have become so he secretly checks up on them with no intentions of letting them know who he really is. Of course, this plan has complications--otherwise, there wouldn't be much of a movie!

The plot of ALWAYS IN MY HEART isn't believable but despite this, the story is quite entertaining and watchable. However, Warner Brothers' latest singing discovery, Gloria Warren, made the movie tough going. That's because her style of singing was akin to Jeanette MacDonald combined with a banshee!! One reviewer called it "screeching" and this isn't far from the truth!! I can see why this young prodigy only made a few films, as every time she sang the hair on my neck stood up and my ears burned. So my advice is if the movie comes back on TV, copy it first. Then, when you watch it, you can speed through the god-awful songs!!

Despite the Warners fanfare and Warners leading lady Kay Francis, it has influences of other studios. There's the multi-ethnic-music-making a la MGM; the also Metro-like mixing of highbrow and lowbrow music; the attempt to launch Gloria Warren as the studio's answer to Universal's Deanna Durbin (she's not bad, but she's not Deanna); "funny" musicians led by Borah Minevitch, sort of like RKO's Kay Kyser, or Spike Jones; and a melodramatic premise that would embarrass anybody. The small-California-town ambiance, with everybody nice to everybody, and smiling mailmen and ice cream men and such, is so dated it seems to belong to another planet. The plot, with Kay Francis planning to marry rich but unlikable Sidney Blackmer, then finding out that her convict husband Walter Huston is still alive and paroled, is absolutely ridiculous. And yet, and yet. Huston, one of the three or four best actors American movies ever had, underplays everything so beautifully that you're hooked. Watch him watch his unsuspecting kids who don't know he's their dad, or singing the appealing title song in that high, heart-tugging voice of his to his daughter, I got teary. The director pitches the emotions too high and cuts too rapidly (at times it approaches MTV pacing), and the ethnic stereotypes are grating--lots of "ot'sa fine" Italians, and just guess which harmonica player in Minevitch's band swings it hot. Not a good movie, and yet, thanks to Huston, and, to a lesser extent, the ladylike Francis (who sure knew how to wear a hat), I couldn't stop watching.

Always In My Heart was taken from the play Fly Away Home which ran for 204 performances in 1935. In the original Broadway cast, Thomas Mitchell was the star in the role that Walter Huston played on screen. And a 15 year old Montgomery Clift made his stage debut in the role of the son.

During the interim before it reached the screen the film that became known as Always In My Heart was adapted for the wartime present. It also became a musical of sorts with one original song written for it, You're Always In My Heart and some classical and standard pop songs filling out the score. Because it was a musical the emphasis went away from the son and father to the daughter and father with Gloria Warren who Jack Warner was obviously building up to be his answer to Universal's Deanna Durbin. Warren sang pretty, but never quite made it as a second Durbin.

Walter Huston is the father of Frankie Thomas and Gloria Warren who was in jail for about 15 years and was pardoned. During that time he divorced their mother Kay Francis at his insistence. He figured he was going to be in jail for life as that was the sentence meted out to him for a homicide of a business partner who doubledealed him. The kids were told he died and Francis is now ready to marry the stuffy, but rich Sidney Blackmer.

Stopping by the house and not meeting Francis, Huston ingratiates himself with Warren when he tunes her piano and in that displays the musical knowledge and gift he's passed on to Warren. They develop a relationship of sorts as Huston decides to hang around see his kids for a few days before exiting their lives.

Thomas is getting his hormones in an uproar over the sexy Amida on this California coast town, but she's only using him to make her boy friend Anthony Caruso jealous. He's in need of some fatherly advice even if he doesn't know it's his father. As for Warren she likes singing with the poor fisher folk living on the wharves with their harmonica band led by Borrah Minevitch. Blackmer does not approve of her associating with the lower classes.

Towards the downside of her career, Kay Francis gradually transitioned into mother roles, if the film had been done at MGM, Greer Garson might have been cast. She and Huston do well together in their joint scenes.

The title song for Always In My Heart received an Academy Award nomination as the Best Song, the only nomination the film received. But this was the year of White Christmas and no other song was going to win the Oscar that year.

Certain things in the film tell me that the original play was a great deal more serious. The changes were made in keeping with wartime years as Gloria Warren the Harmonica Rascals led by Borrah Minevitch were aiming at both a USO show and a big radio contract. Of course Warren is also aiming to study seriously as well.

The changes leave Always In My Heart quite a hybrid film, not quite drama and not quite comedy. Still it's a pleasant enough film with the cast doing very well by their roles.

Several reviews have been posted for this film which deride the movie's music. Don't buy into them! Gloria Warren's voice (despite the fact that she only made 5 films), is every bit the equal of Kathryn Grayson, Deanna Durbin and Jeanette McDonald. Also, the performances of the harmonica "orchestra" are nothing short of amazing. Coupled with the performances of Walter Huston and Kay Francis, this is decidedly an endearing film.

I hadn't seen this film for years, and then I only remembered parts of it. The parts I did remember were the dialogue scenes between Kay Francis and estranged hubby Walter Huston, and between Huston and the children who do not know him. This part of the film is very good and made me want to see it again.

When I saw it again the other night for the first time in years on TCM I was horrified. Worse, I was somewhat bored. Either I never saw or my memory blocked out the musical portions. Obviously, Warner Bros. was trying to turn Gloria Warren into their own Deanna Durbin, but she just lacked the "star quality" Durbin had and was a completely uninteresting actress, at least in this film.

The film could have been a great one if the music had been eliminated and the focus kept on the melodrama - a man (Walter Huston) getting out of prison and giving up a woman who loves him and his children so they can all have some security with a rather bland fellow who wants to marry the woman (Kay Francis). Instead, Huston paces from the "good" side of town where we are tormented by Warren's operatic screeching, to the bad side of town where a novelty harmonica band act torments us some more. Just goes to proves bad music has a home in both the low-brow and high-brow varieties.

What gets five stars from me is the warm family story and the title song, "Always In My Heart" which is really quite beautiful and a bit of a theme song for the entire situation portrayed in the film.

If you want to see what Kay Francis and Walter Huston can do for a film without all of this distraction thrown in, try to track down a copy of "Gentlemen of the Press". There they really sizzle.

I watched this on cable TV, and was delighted with the characters and their bonds of love. The love and understanding of "Munch" for "Mac" made it an uplifting story of how love transcends the years and rough times. I thoroughly enjoyed the contrast of Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals with the otherwise serious elements of the movie. It reminded me of the contrast between John Denver and Placido Domingo singing "Perhaps Love", two beautifully competent musicians of different genres and cultures coming together to make beautiful music! It made the movie interesting, and I enjoyed the humor and music of Borrah and those harmonicas! If I could find it, I'd purchase the DVD for myself and one for my mother, who also loved it!

Even 1942 audiences must have wondered what Walter Huston and Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals were doing in the same movie!

A dated, misguided mishmash of soapsuds (a paroled convict goes home incognito to meet his estranged wife and children who think he died), ghastly musical numbers (the theme song is indeed haunting, but after 15 renditions you'll wince), star-vehicle (Warners' ill-advised attempt to turn Gloria Warren into the next Deanna Durbin? Not!), and cornball melodramatics (the waterlogged ending is a corker).

All of the above notwithstanding, the luminous performances by Walter Huston and Kay Francis provide fleeting moments of genuine emotion, and the supporting cast -- Sidney Blackmer, Una O'Connor, and the always likable Frankie Thomas -- is first-rate. A pity they weren't rewarded with a first-rate script.

I have seen this movie over 20 times. Every time it moved in me the deepest feelings about family, friendship, solidarity, truth, happiness and the joy of music. The husband who is a musical composer and is in prison, has lost all hope about joining his family again. He directs the orchestra in prison which is playing his composition "alwasy in my heart" at the time his wife visits him. He tells her to go ahead and marry again. Next day he finds out he has been given an "indult" and is free. He decides to pass by his town just to see his children and then leave. His children did not know he was alive (his wife had said that to them attending his request) so they meet him as a stranger who likes music and plays "always in my heart" to an audience where his daughter is present together with a group of harmonica players. Things happened in that visit. Manuel

I've tried to give Kay Francis so many chances, but every time I see her in a movie, I wonder why she was so popular. I'm just not a fan, and as she plays a so-called devoted mother in Always in My Heart, she doesn't convince me. I was looking forward to this drama since I love Walter Huston, and I imagined it to be a male version of Stella Dallas, but it was far from the Barbara Stanwyck classic. If another actress had been cast, it would have been so much better, but unfortunately his great acting talents were wasted on his costar.

Walter and Kay had children together, but he left and she spread it around that he died. Years later, as his kids are teenagers, Walter comes back to town. Without telling them who he is, he gets to know them and helps guide them as they struggle. His daughter has a penchant for music, and he teaches her the song he loved to sing in the past. No, it's not "September Song", but instead the title song. His son is involved in a gang war and a no-good girlfriend, and he tries to give him sound advice. Can he also win back his wife's affections after so long? If you like Walter and you want to see him in what's supposed to be a tearjerker, and you want to hear him sing, watch it. If you like Kay Francis, you'll like the movie that much more.

This movie is enjoyable except for the singing. I don't understand what people were thinking in the forties. How anyone could find the high pitched screeching enjoyable is beyond me. TMC seems to play the screechers early in the morning. I think it may be a fiendish plot of some kind. A strange mix of humor, tragedy, opera and cornball situations. But like I said, it is enjoyable. Just block out the screeching. Keep your thumb at the ready by the mute button. By the way, there must be a hundred harmonica players in this film. The harmonicas/screeching is a bizarre mix. In the middle of it all, there is some decent acting. The little girl, I am not sure of the familial connection, is a real cutie.

. . . but that didn't stop Warner Bros from trying to manufacture another. And failing. One minute listening to the high-pitched warbler and I hit the fast-forward button. Because this slapstick-teary eyes-opera and harmonicas-family values-melodrama film has some likable features, I will probably watch it again, but next time I'll use the mute button. Did 1942 audiences like what they were hearing? Did audiences like Gloria Warren? What an annoying personality. Non-stop smiling and perky cheerfulness. Depressing to watch her. I also fast-forwarded through the highjinks of the 3 kids chasing each other around the house. The Buster Brown bobbed kid gets my vote for most obnoxious child actor ever to appear on the silver screen.

What are the fabulous Kay Francis and Walter Huston doing in this B-movie? Warners should have made them the focus of the story, rather than the kids. Francis is so warm and loving and likable - a mother unlike any I've ever known in real life. And it's no contest between the grizzled Huston and his rich rival for Francis hand in marriage. One has star power and the other does not.

Although I'm certain home life in real American homes was not as warm and cozy as in Francis home, I liked it in the same way I like Judge Hardy's happy home. But I wonder, was it realistic that in 1942 a man would walk through an open door into a strangers living room and be welcomed by a teenage girl who is alone and practicing her high notes at the piano? If so, life in America has certainly changed in the last 70 years. But seeing how life was in the Hollywood version of the good old days is one of the major pleasures to be had from watching old movies.

Walter Huston and Kay Francis starred in this 1942 film.

Ms. Francis plays a middle class woman with 2 children, who supposedly is widowed. Wealthy Sidney Blackmer wishes to marry her.

It turns out that she is not widowed. She divorced her husband after he was sent to prison for killing a man. Both children have been told that their father is dead.

As Huston is about to be pardoned, Francis arrives at the prison to tell him that she is remarrying. Thinking only of her happiness and security for their children, Huston does not tell Francis of the pardon but instead encourages the marriage.

Huston, upon release, settles in a fishing area around San Francisco. Of course, he meets his children but says nothing.

Naturally, the children find out what they are and the film ends where he saves his son from a drunk and daughter, when she goes out in a storm in a boat.

There are some musical interludes in this as the daughter is training to be an opera singer. Huston does a little singing and there are several sequences where groups of fishermen turn to their harmonicas.

This must have been a play at one time. What an interesting romantic story about a family torn apart, because of bad/unlucky circumstances. I like all of Kay Francis' movies. I am learning more about Walter Houston. What a good looking and great actor. The story ends the way it should. It is a good romance without all the "love making"....A very talented singer is Gloria Warren. I am sorry I didn't know about her sooner. Frankie Thomas is so good looking and an impressive actor. I will have to find out more about him. As expected, Sidney Blackmer has always been good and I look forward to his movies. Thank you for listening. Florence Forrester-Stockton , Reno, Nevada

I just caught this film on TCM. It must has escaped because I was the unfortunate one to catch it. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when Gloria Warren comes on the screen as a 3rd rate Deanna Durbin. And she is on a boat (like THREE SMART GIRLS) then gets off the boat and gets on a bike to sing (every other Durbin film). The rest of the musical numbers done by groups of harmonica playing buffoons are torture to watch and more tortuous to listen to. The plot which is about Walter Huston an ex-con and Kay Francis his ex-wife gives them probably no more than an half hour of screen time. This was not remade as YOUNG AT HEART as it states in Trivia. YOUNG AT HEART was a remake of FOUR DAUGHTERS. If this was ever remade, someone forgot to take their pills that day. Slap-dash, moronic, ruined by over acting children and house keeper Una O'Conner. And Anthony Caruso dancing like a follies chorus boy with 2 left feet. And to think we have lost the negatives to such great films but this one survived. What a pity.

So I'm a sentimentalist who doesn't mind what could be considered corny when John Huston's ease and authenticity reels me into caring about some other characters too. Other reviewers have relayed the plot very well. To me the story isn't earth-shattering but nor is it trite. The people are worth knowing, the music is entertaining and most of all there's a sweetness to an unpredictably predictable resolution. Good escapism on a rainy afternoons.

Horrible screenplay hardly worthy of a great talent like Walter Huston, who plays a man apparently wrongly imprisoned for years. His wife, mediocre actress, Kay Francis, divorces him and tells the children their father died. Years later, when they're in their teens, Huston is inexplicably pardoned and hitchhikes to California to see his son and daughter. Could have been an interesting drama, but completely misses every opportunity for thoughtful character development.

The better part of the movie is nothing more than musical "filler" with the caterwauling daughter played by ingenue, Gloria Warren, either endlessly practicing her scales or launching into some totally forgettable song.

Also, much screen time is devoted to the bratty antics of what must be the most annoying child star in the history of movies, Patty Hale.

What a supple, burnished soprano for a twenty-or-whatever-year old, what range! - Do you tin-ears (sorry; I can't resist) realise she just held a HIGH F (that's UNGODLY high) for a long time at the end of "Una Voce Poca Fa?" - and that whole harmonica / soft shoe number just performed by the company was adorable, accomplished and fun. FUN! - No fighting Ninjas, no hugely amplified, droning electroid muzack. The movie's about half through (am watching it on TCM just now) and I think it's a gas. Well done, lovely Gloria Warren, Walter Huston and co. A human story, told with feeling and class. Who knew. --- Oh rats, that's all I want to say, and this dang IMDb thing won't accept this review unless I make it much more verbose. Ho hum. What shalt I say here: well, Una What's her-Face (Olivia de Havilland / Maid Marian's chaperone in 1939) just played a tiny comic scene TO PERFECTION: "Dinner is served in the breakfast nook" - hilarious accent; perfect, light timing. - Those Brits sure perfected comic chops. - OK, is that 10 lines now?? I hope so. - I shalt now re-submit this scholarly, authoritative tome. LET'S HEAR IT FOR WARNER BROTHERS!

...whose natural acting style is a revelation. Kay Francis is fine too, but the teenage children are simpering idiots, and the singing is awful and interminable.

By far the best thing in the movie is the little girl who plays Booley. Adorable, precocious and always on target. I fast forwarded after the first half of the movie just to see her.

If you are still tempted to watch this movie, be warned that you will hear the title song over and over and over, performed in every conceivable (and inconceivable) way. If you think Ernest Gold overused "Waltzing Matilda" in "On the Beach," you ain't heard nothin' yet.

The plot? Walter Huston plays a prison inmate - he conducts the prison orchestra. Guess what they play? Kay Francis plays his ex-wife, who is about to marry Sidney Blackmer (apparently, Ms. Francis' eyes and wits are failing). Ms. Francis does not know that Huston is about to be paroled. Huston's daughter (Gloria Warren) is an aspiring singer. Guess what she sings? Inexplicably, Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica Rascals make an appearance. Guess what they blow into their instruments? Johnny Puleo, who later achieved harmonica fame on his own, plays the vertically challenged member of the Rascals.

Repeat after me: You are always in my heart You are driving me insane

You will need intensive therapy to get this tune out of your head. Or else, try to replace it with "You Light Up My Life."

The title song received an Oscar nomination. Ninety minutes of musical torture. Enjoy.

A very touching story in which Kay Francis -- looking great -- is (improbably) married to Walter Huston, who's in jail.

She's being courted by a rich man, but no one likes him (us included).

The husband gets out of jail and, also a musician, hangs out in "Fish Town," an Italian community on the docks.

It sounds corny but it works.