User Reviews

Obviously it is out there somewhere. In a later episode of "Falcon Crest", a scene from this was used for the character of Angela Channing to be told that her son had died. An independent film that was released by RKO, this is a beloved film that collectors hold dearly and hopes that eventually a pristine print will show up. In the meantime, we'll have to deal with the graininess and much transferred TV prints that are out there, a surprise considering that both Jane Wyman and Joan Blondell received Oscar nominations for their performances.

While the word is never used, Jane Wyman is basically a nanny, not in the sense of Bette Davis or Fran Drescher in the film and TV series "The Nanny", closer to the nurse/governess of Davis in "All This and Heaven Too". Desperate for work after her husband and baby dies, she takes a job as a nurse made to the newborn child of the widowed Charles Laughton, and goes from family to family for decades, finding various situations and joys in the children that she helps rear.

There's uppity Agnes Moorehead, a socialite with little time for her own children, musical comedy performer Joan Blondell, and later, a mother who leaves her child behind when she goes off to war duty, causing Wyman to fight to keep the child when she returns several years later. When she's too old to work in that field, she becomes a cleaning lady in a grade school, still Loving the children from afar, and eventually reunited with all of her charges, now grown up.

Having been successful on Broadway, Vivian Vance had one of her few film roles here, playing the secretary to Lawton who is his second choice for a wife, rather condescending to Wyman in a passive aggressive manner, and quite different than Ethel Mertz, the TV legendary character she created the same year. She must have been frustrated by the pairing with Laughton considering his proximity in age to her TV co-star William Frawley. Indeed, the prospect of the portly Laughton being a new father is funny.

While Blondell's role as the musical comedy star is quite similar to other roles that she played, there's a different aspect to the character that obviously critics noticed and praise and ended up getting her awarded the Oscar nomination. Young Natalie Wood is her daughter who begins to claim that Wyman is her mother because of Blondell's unintentional neglect. Wyman does have opportunity for romance but gives it up in favor of her love for children, and her sacrifice will have you reaching for the kleenex.

In an amusing supporting role as Wyman's old friend, Cyril Cusack proves that his character is not the perfect representation of customer service, running a toy store even though he obviously despises children. Yes, this does get awfully sentimental but it's a sentiment that works and in spite of a few weaknesses in the screenplay, this will touch your heart deeply. It truly is one of Wyman's finest hours.

Copyright 27 October 1951 by Wald-Krasna Productions, Inc. Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at Loew's Criterion: 26 October 1951. U.S. release: October 1951. U.K. release: 26 November 1951. Australian release: 8 February 1952. 10,256 feet. 114 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: After the death of her own baby, a World War 1 widow devotes her life to looking after other people's children.

NOTES: A re-make of the 1942 French film of the same name, directed by Jean Stelli from an original story and screenplay by Francois Campaux, starring Gaby Morlay.

Jane Wyman was nominated for an AMPAS award for Best Actress, losing to Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire. Joan Blondell, nominated for the AMPAS award for Best Supporting Actress, dipped out to Kim Hunter, also of Streetcar.

However, Jane Wyman did win the 1951 Golden Globe Award (voted by members of the Foreign Press Association) for Best Actress of the year.

With a world-wide film rentals gross of $3.55 million, one of RKO Radio's most popular pictures of the year. In Australia, the movie proved a particularly strong draw-card, coming in at number 20 on the nation's list of major ticket-sellers for 1952.

COMMENT: A lengthy portmanteau film, tied together by a nurse who is not only the script's central character, but its active protagonist who appears in every single scene! Naturally, the film will stand or fall by the casting of this central role — and unfortunately it falls. Jane Wyman is totally inadequate. This is a woman who is supposed to have spunk and personality, but Jane Wyman's portrayal is consistently dreary, — the mousy, self-effacing stiff-upper-lip of the earlier scenes turning into the garrulous, old, cliché- chattering windbag of the concluding episodes (which are doubly slow-moving as Miss Wyman has chosen to totter through them at half her normal, snail-like pace).

The only other character that runs through the film is that of the misanthropic toy-shop proprietor, a creation of mind-boggling incredulity. It is never revealed that this character has any hidden wealth or private means, yet his shop is always well-stocked even though he persistently chases his few customers away. It is hard to see how the Jane Wyman character could be attracted by this anarchist, especially in view of the charmless manner in which he is played by Cyril Cusack.

The rest of the cast is rather better. Laughton over-acts atrociously, but Joan Blondell brings plenty of zing to her sketch and is only cowed by the impossible dialogue in a climax of sheer bathos. The other cast members flit across the stage but briefly and do not get a chance to make a deep impression, though Agnes Moorehead, Audrey Totter, Everett Sloane and Henry Morgan make the most of their limited opportunities.

The direction is competent but stolidly undistinguished, though it is well-served by the photography and art direction. Still, no matter how good these factors might be, you can't build a house on a foundation of straw — a script that descends to bathos and cliché at every opportunity and a lackluster performance in the pivotal role.