Memorable Hollywood Movies

This is an emotionally intriguing movie from 1948 starring one of my all-time favorite Old Hollywood actresses Irene Dunne. The time in this movie is about 1910 and tells the story of a Norwegian immigrant family in San Francisco, California. The interesting thing about this movie is that it also stars two actresses who are quite young here and who went on to have very famous roles on TV. One plays the oldest daughter of the family Katrin and her name was Barbara Bel Geddes who later went on to play Ellie the head of the Ewing clan in “Dallas” and the other is Ellen Corby playing Aunt Trina who became Grandma in “The Waltons”.

It is a movie very much about family and the struggles they face. Mama portrayed by Irene Dunne and Papa played by Philip Dorn never let their children worry about money. They have a family gathering to divide up the money that is needed for bills and other essentials when Papa brings home his pay and tell their children that it is good that they don’t have to go to the bank for more money. We see the children growing up and going to school.

One of the main themes is the eldest daughter Katrina’s efforts to become a writer and she writes a great deal. Mama goes to see a famous writer and gets her advice which she passes on to her daughter.

We see the amusing trials and tribulations of the alcoholic Uncle Chris played by Oskar Homolka who has a heart of gold. He gives money to help children who need operations and saves his own sister’s son from having to be lame all his life. A most emotional scene is when Uncle Chris dies from alcoholism and when Mama realizes how he spent all of his money.

We see Aunt Trina find the love of her life and settle down even though she was a spinster and the couple have a son. The middle daughter of the family Dagmar goes through an ear operation and through it all Mama and Papa watch over their children. It is an emotional time when Mama tells Katrina that she should write about her Papa but Katrina knows that it’s Mama that is the real pillar of the family. I won’t spoil the end but I can tell you that you better have that box of Kleenex by your side. The end is sad and happy and well does make you cry. It always gets to me because as the line says in the movie “first and foremost I remember Mama” and I certainly remember mine.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

This terrific Hollywood movie came out in 1945. I was particularly interested in seeing it because I had read the novel by Betty Smith which was published in 1943. The movie had fantastic talents like James Dunn, Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell and Peggy Ann Garner. Dunn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Garner won the Academy Juvenile Award.

This is a coming-of-age story about a girl named Francis Nolan growing up in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York in the early 20th century. She was portrayed by Peggy Ann Garner. Francis was a real bookworm and was reading her way through the library. She has a father Johnny Nolan who loves his children dearly but is a hopeless dreamer and alcoholic and making no real progress working as a singing waiter. He is hoping to be discovered for his great singing voice. Francis is 13 and her brother Neely is 12. This Irish American family is held together by the mother Katie Nolan who works extremely hard to get food on the table.

It’s heartbreaking to see that Katie has lost all the starry-eyed dreams she once had marrying Johnny and has become hard and bitter. Meanwhile, Johnny would like to have his wife still able to dream beside him but she keeps shoving reality into his face. This only makes him drink more.

Francis loves her father dearly and always tries to get him to clean up his act. Katie’s sister Sissy has had some heartbreak of her own but she knows that to change things in her sister’s life, Katie must show Johnny that all the love that was once between them is still there and help him through his crisis.

Unfortunately, things don’t turn out well. This movie takes you through the heartbreak and tragedy that this family endures. However, once the crying is done we do see that the ending is a happy one. Another movie well worth watching and don’t forget the Kleenex.

The reason why this movie hit me so hard was that except for the fact that my dad was not an alcoholic but a hard-working newspaper editor and well-known Latvian poet and writer I, like Francis in the movie was daddy’s little girl. I lost my dad when I was ten so I related to how the character in the movie felt when her dad died even though she was older. Oh, yes and I grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York.