I Remember Mama (1948)

The greatest movie ever!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Irene Dunne, Maureen O'Hara, and Barbara Stanwyck were all, to my mind, among the ten finest actresses that Hollywood ever saw, yet not one of them won an Academy Award. In I Remember Mama, Irene Dunne is at her best, and that is saying a great deal. She can convey, with a hurried glance, a stiffening of her pose, or a momentary melting of her features, or a slight tremor in the voice, whole great fields of feeling, thought, determination, and womanly strength; and by that last phrase I do not mean "strength, that happens to reside in someone of the female sex." The stronger she is, the more womanly she is, and the more womanly, the stronger. But in those days people did not generally fall into the fatal error of assuming that a woman had to be like the embarrassing Xena Warrior Princess in order to show forth strength.I Remember Mama is an episodic film, really six or seven short films in succession, each of them centering on some event in the life of the immigrant Norwegian family, whose head is played in a genial and understated masculine way by Philip Dorn, but whose beating heart is Mama. Mama takes in a boarder (Cedric Hardwicke) who reads to the family from the classics, and who stiffs them for the whole of his rent, while leaving to them his books; and she deals with the disappointment with charity and patience and human insight. She must take charge over the last moments of her dying Uncle Kris (Oskar Homolka, who won a well-deserved Oscar for his performance), and is at once vulnerable in her sadness and firm in her resolve to accept into their family his wife, whom the family had long thought to be merely a mistress. She and her variously irritating sisters -- portrayed splendidly and humanly, so that we may not like them, but we do not hate them or despise them -- had expected money from his will, but there is no money; and her emotionally heightened but not scornful reading to the sisters of Uncle Kris's notes, about where the money has gone, is one of the great moral triumphs in film. There are, in fact, moral triumphs everywhere, and high comedy, and understated sweetness that never galumphs into sentimentality. Barbara Bel Geddes, as the eldest daughter whose memoirs make up the movie, is splendid, as are all the supporting cast; Ellen Corby as the mousy aunt, Edgar Bergen as her nebbish of a fiance, and Florence Bates as the big-bosomed novelist lady with a weakness for really rich food.I think sometimes that Hollywood can no longer make movies such as this, because our actors and actresses are all far removed from the exigencies of real poverty, and from hard and daily physical labor. Dunne, Dorn, Homolka, and the rest were not so removed. This is a movie without any flaws.

Based on a true story about a family of immigrants from Norway who settled in San Francisco at the turn-of-the-20th century, this heartwarming comedy-drama features an unforgettable Academy Award nominated performance from (five-time Best Actress nominee) Irene Dunne as the titled Mama, the center of this extended family, and the film.It's narrated by the biography's author, Barbara Bel Geddes (who would become known to TV audiences as Miss Ellie on the series Dallas) as the eldest daughter Kathryn Forbes, whose character lovingly recalls growing up with her parents (Philip Dorn plays her father) and siblings.Oscar Homolka plays Mama's older brother Uncle Chris, an outwardly tough character with a soft underbelly, who visits occasionally; he was the first to travel to the "New World" of America, where he became successful enough to do what he pleases (like live "scandalously" with another woman who's not his wife!). Told through a series of vignettes, the film's story covers various hardships encountered by the family – financial struggles to afford schooling for the oldest son, the loss of a pet, an accident that puts one of the children in the hospital, the "coming of age" of a daughter – and how their love and teamwork help them to deal with these events. All the while, optimistic Mama and Papa impart some timeless values of unconditional love, hope and perseverance which contribute to making this movie an essential family classic, one that's very much worth the 134 minute time investment it takes to view it.In addition to Dunne, Homolka received a lead actor nomination (his only) and Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby, who plays Mama's sister Aunt Trina, received their only acting nominations, competing against each other in the Supporting Actress category and losing to Claire Trevor and her performance in Key Largo (1948). Nicholas Musuraca also received his only Academy recognition when his black-and-white Cinematography was Oscar nominated. Cedric Hardwicke, Edgar Bergen, and Rudy Vallee (among others) appear in supporting roles. It was directed by George Stevens, based on Forbes's novel and the play by John Van Druten; DeWitt Bodeen wrote the screenplay.

90/100. A very heart warming film, wonderfully written and believably done. There is a fine attention to detail and the film has a loving feel of the time. Superb cinematography, good art direction but it is the marvelous cast that makes this film work, as well as George Stevens sensitive direction. Irene Dunne is so perfect in the title role and gives one of her best performances. The movie boasts an amazing supporting cast, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka, Ellen Corby and Edgar Bergen. The scene with the cat is a classic! Bel Geddes, Homolka, Dunne and Corby were all nominated for Oscars, as was the fine black and white cinematography.

The day before Mother's Day, May 11, I had checked this out of my local library to see either the next day or a few after that. It's now a couple of weeks after as well as after Memorial Day that I've just watched one of the most touching depictions of a mom and the way she sacrifices for her family done as well on film as this one as helmed by George Stevens and performed ably as well by Irene Dunne as the matriarch. Also fine was Barbara Bel Geddes as Katrin, Martha's (Dunne's character) oldest daughter and second born child who is seen typing the story and is the narrator throughout. Special mention should also go to Ellen Corby, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, and especially, Oscar Homolka as Uncle Chris who provides some of the funniest scenes that this mostly dramatic movie encounters as well as the most touching fate of his character. Maybe Tommy Ivo with his reaction to his ailment was a bit much but that's just a minor quibble. Also touching was Martha's visit to her youngest daughter, Dagmar, in the hospital especially when the mother sings and her dealings with that same daughter's cat, Uncle Elizabeth, whose fate turns out much differently than one expects! All in all, this was a very worthy film for all involved and deserved all the Oscar nominations it got.