Paula (1952)

Distraught after her second miscarriage & learning definitively she could never have children Paula, while driving at night, accidentally injures a child. Confused and due to her commitment... See full summary »

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

James Poe (screenplay), Lawrence B. Marcus (story) (as Larry Marcus)

Stars:

Loretta Young, Kent Smith, Alexander Knox

Cast

Cast overview:
Loretta Young	...	Paula Rogers
Kent Smith	...	John Rogers
Alexander Knox	...	Dr. Clifford Frazer
Tommy Rettig	...	David Larson
Otto Hulett	...	Lieutenant Dargen
Will Wright	...	Raymond Bascom
Raymond Greenleaf	...	President Russell

Storyline

Distraught after her second miscarriage & learning definitively she could never have children Paula, while driving at night, accidentally injures a child. Confused and due to her commitment to attend a function that honors her husband she doesn't follow the child to the hospital as she thought she would. She attempts to tell her husband about the incident but has trouble finding the right time. Later, overcome with remorse, she looks to get close to this child and becomes a helper at the hospital. The child is an orphan with limited health care available. The doctor recognizes Paula's need to be useful and asks if she would become his speech therapist and guardian. She finds meaning and purpose in her life as she engages the little boy in intensive therapy necessary to recover his ability to speak. Will she be caught and punished, when the boy is able to speak, will he implicate her?

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | forename as title | miscarriage | female protagonist | deafness | 

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Taglines:

If you were Paula would you have stopped?

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paula drives a green 1951 Ford.

User Reviews

Good Drama

Paula (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting but too overly dramatic film about a wife (Loretta Young) who suffers her second miscarriage and is about to give up on life when another tragedy strikes. While speeding to a meeting, she runs over a seven year old boy who becomes deaf to the wreck. Another man takes the boy to the hospital so the police don't know who hit him but the woman feels so guilty that she adopts the boy so that she can try and teach him to speak again. However, the police are still on the hunt for who hit the boy and the boy eventually remembers who it was. This film could have been a lot better had they toned down the crying moments. By crying moments I mean that this is one of those films that tries to make you cry every five minutes, which becomes quite annoying after a while. The scene where Young learns she lost her second baby is heartbreaking but other moments don't come off as good. Young is very good in her role, which requires her to be a snob, a heartbroken mother and a woman trying to do what's right with both the child and the law. Kent Smith is also very good as her husband who at first doesn't want to take in a mute child. The film loses some steam in the final act as things turn very stupid during one scene where the man who drove the kid to the hospital shows up at Young's house and starts a fight. The ending is predictable but touching.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mother

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Ranch, Verdugo Ave. and Pass Avenue, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1