No Sad Songs for Me (1950)

Mary Scott learns she only has ten months to live before dying of an incurable disease. She manages to keep the news from her husband, Brad and daughter, Polly. She tries to make every ... See full summary »

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Howard Koch (screenplay), Ruth Southard (novel)

Stars:

Margaret Sullavan, Wendell Corey, Viveca Lindfors

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview:
Margaret Sullavan	...	Mary Scott
Wendell Corey	...	Bradford 'Brad' Scott
Viveca Lindfors	...	Chris Radna
Natalie Wood	...	Polly Scott
John McIntire	...	Dr. Ralph Frene
Ann Doran	...	Louise Spears
Richard Quine	...	Brownie
Jeanette Nolan	...	Mona Frene
Dorothy Tree	...	Frieda Miles
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Mr. Caswell
Urylee Leonardos	...	Flora - the Maid

Storyline

Mary Scott learns she only has ten months to live before dying of an incurable disease. She manages to keep the news from her husband, Brad and daughter, Polly. She tries to make every moment of her life count, but her effort is weakened by the discovery that Brad is interested in his assistant, Chris Radner. But when she learns that Brad does indeed love her and not Chris, and that Chris is leaving town, she realizes what she must do to ensure the future happiness of Brad and Polly. She persuades Chris to stay, makes a genuine friend of her and watches Polly grow towards Chris.

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Plot Keywords:

surveying | romantic triangle | piano lesson | draftsman | cancer | 

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Taglines:

The BRAVE Picture of the Year!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first film that budding critic and future director Jean-Luc Godard reviewed, in January 1952, for the French magazine Cahiers Du Cinema (under a pseudonym).

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Soundtracks

Symphony no. 1 in C minor, op. 68, 4th movement
Written by Johannes Brahms

User Reviews

Not a bad movie

I fail to see how the movie was sexist or racist considering the timeframe. In fact, the movie shows a woman can perform well in a position tradionally held by men. Only recently up into the 70s were women being comepletely accepted in male dominated positions. Only recently were MDs required to give honest brutal but truthful information to their patients. They would withold some information if they felt is was beneficial to their patient. As far as patient confidentiality goes. HIPAA was not around then and a husband just as entitled to know about his wife's medical condition as she was. As far as a husband developing an affair with a coworker. Where and when does that not take place today? In fact, this movie may have predicted a complication of coed workforces that were not too common back then. It doesn't take much of a brain and a tiny bit of history to understand the setting of this movie. Now speaking from a medical professional, I can say the death was a little too clean for a person dying of cancer, but back then showing such misery and horror was frowned upon. Look at how people died in war movies back then. She would have shown progressive weight loss, signs of anemia, growing weakness, etc. But, even now I see people who seem to be doing fine, get hospitalized and are dead within a week or two. In the end, the movie was one of the pioneer movies to address the depressive and taboo subject of dying of cancer, something really only as recent as the late 60s and early 70s was able to be more open about. Though it is not a classic tearjerker, it is a sad and depressive movie about the real threat of carncer and I would recommend it to classic movie buffs and those wishing to study how Hollywood tackled death and dying in the films.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

No Sad Songs for Me

Filming Locations:

Bethel Congregational Church - 536 North Euclid Avenue, Ontario, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1