Margaret Sullivan, in a rare leading role, gets to sing her career swan song in an unfortunately lifeless sudser. She plays a middle-class housewife dying of an incurable disease.
The movie starts out as an interesting portrait of her wish to face this death with dignity. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is as maudlin as anything Hollywood has ever delivered -- and that's quite a statement. Some excellent character actors get to play well-meaning but ultimately self-absorbed guest stars in her life's terminal phase. Then, at the end, it further degenerates to completely unsatisfactory moralizing tone, wrapping up loose ends.
Roughly around this time, Mate, the movie's director, directed the classic film noir, D. O. A., where star Edmond O'Brien plays a man dying of interminable disease. I wish I could be more pleasant about Sullivan's overwrought valedictory performance, but in truth, it should have been buried in the film's can as D.O. A.
The movie starts out as an interesting portrait of her wish to face this death with dignity. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is as maudlin as anything Hollywood has ever delivered -- and that's quite a statement. Some excellent character actors get to play well-meaning but ultimately self-absorbed guest stars in her life's terminal phase. Then, at the end, it further degenerates to completely unsatisfactory moralizing tone, wrapping up loose ends.
Roughly around this time, Mate, the movie's director, directed the classic film noir, D. O. A., where star Edmond O'Brien plays a man dying of interminable disease. I wish I could be more pleasant about Sullivan's overwrought valedictory performance, but in truth, it should have been buried in the film's can as D.O. A.