And I'm a Margaret O'Brien fan!
Released in between the very good to great Meet Me In St. Louis with Judy Garland and Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, beautiful movie. This is not up to the standards of either. There's a reason this one is not rated as high as either of those.
This is just not a good movie.
This is a wartime propaganda movie, with June Allyson as her older sister (yes, kind of odd) and with this whole female symphony led by some pompous guy, playing music I didn't like, throughout it (an actual musical would have been much better - maybe). And Jimmy Durante as some kind of comic relief, except he ain't funny in this.
Oh and so O'Brien - as Mike - ?!?? - her sister is Barbara, played by June Allyson , and her husband is away, he's at war and...basically she's worried because she hasn't heard from him for a long time, and a letter comes in where the girls - including Marsha Hunt (Raw Deal) and Marie Wilson (My Friend Irma) all live - a boarding house, or whatever you call it - anyway Barbara is worried cause her husband hasn't written, so Marie Wilson - as Marie - gets her uncle to write a letter, forge one in the husband's style, saying he was away, because one letter already came from the army saying he was dead, and Marsha is hiding it from her - so they get this guy to write a letter, he'll do it for booze money. Anyway he writes this thing and they're so happy to be concealing the truth from June (what the hell did they think would make this okay when she later never had him coming home?!?? - oh yeah, she's pregnant by the way.) Anyway so near the very end we find out that he never DID write this stupid letter about being on an island for four months and eating coconuts etc, and that her husband really DID write the letter! So, their symphony or whatever is playing the song "Hallejuah! Halleujah!" as they 1) find out about it, and 2) her baby is born. Sheesh! Good God.....
I'm all for happy endings but this was way too much. Completely cringe-inducing, over the top.
The early scenes of Mike being lost, and her going onstage when the symphony is playing is nice, it's cute and the latter quite funny, and she was a great child actress, but in no way is this one of her better films. I'd recommend Our Vines Have Tender Grapes above all the others I've seen of her, if not that, then maybe Lost Angel or something.
This is just a pretty bad movie. Unless you want to see everything she's in, or everything Durante is in, I'd say pass by all means.
Released in between the very good to great Meet Me In St. Louis with Judy Garland and Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, beautiful movie. This is not up to the standards of either. There's a reason this one is not rated as high as either of those.
This is just not a good movie.
This is a wartime propaganda movie, with June Allyson as her older sister (yes, kind of odd) and with this whole female symphony led by some pompous guy, playing music I didn't like, throughout it (an actual musical would have been much better - maybe). And Jimmy Durante as some kind of comic relief, except he ain't funny in this.
Oh and so O'Brien - as Mike - ?!?? - her sister is Barbara, played by June Allyson , and her husband is away, he's at war and...basically she's worried because she hasn't heard from him for a long time, and a letter comes in where the girls - including Marsha Hunt (Raw Deal) and Marie Wilson (My Friend Irma) all live - a boarding house, or whatever you call it - anyway Barbara is worried cause her husband hasn't written, so Marie Wilson - as Marie - gets her uncle to write a letter, forge one in the husband's style, saying he was away, because one letter already came from the army saying he was dead, and Marsha is hiding it from her - so they get this guy to write a letter, he'll do it for booze money. Anyway he writes this thing and they're so happy to be concealing the truth from June (what the hell did they think would make this okay when she later never had him coming home?!?? - oh yeah, she's pregnant by the way.) Anyway so near the very end we find out that he never DID write this stupid letter about being on an island for four months and eating coconuts etc, and that her husband really DID write the letter! So, their symphony or whatever is playing the song "Hallejuah! Halleujah!" as they 1) find out about it, and 2) her baby is born. Sheesh! Good God.....
I'm all for happy endings but this was way too much. Completely cringe-inducing, over the top.
The early scenes of Mike being lost, and her going onstage when the symphony is playing is nice, it's cute and the latter quite funny, and she was a great child actress, but in no way is this one of her better films. I'd recommend Our Vines Have Tender Grapes above all the others I've seen of her, if not that, then maybe Lost Angel or something.
This is just a pretty bad movie. Unless you want to see everything she's in, or everything Durante is in, I'd say pass by all means.