The Divided Heart

It shows how superficial my expectations are of a black and white film that I only watched this because I was ill, and it was either this, a cooking show or "Take the High Road" (an awful Scottish Soap.

What I found was a film full of believable characterisations that was not afraid to tackle a very difficult subject, where the true mother of a Yugoslavian boy raised by German foster parents during the Second World War returns to reclaim her child ten years later.

What makes the subject matter so difficult is the way in which the boy comes to be made available for adoption through the attrocities of the war. The two flashbacks are very well done, making you care about both of the women and the love they feel for the child - the subdued Yugoslav mother, speaking through an interpreter, refusing to betray her emotions in public having been scarred by her experiences, (I thought the short scene where she is in the church looking at Mary and baby Jesus was very revealing) and the German woman who has raised the child during his formative years.

The three judges from the American Control Commission are called upon to make the impossible decision, and the judgements that each of them decide, though different, ring true.

I was surprised by the abruptness of the ending, wishing to see what Toni would do in later year, but that is my only criticism of this film.

A knock at their door one evening throws the lives of "Inga" (Cornell Borchers) and husband "Franz" (Armin Dahlen) into turmoil. It's a woman from the post war child repatriation division there to try and establish where they got there son "Toni" (Michel Ray) from. They assure her they adopted him legally but after a few rudimentary questions they inform them that his mother "Sonja" (Yvonne Mitchell) wants him to live with her. A court must decide what happens next, and for the remainder of the film we watch as both the "bread" mother and the "blood" mother must metaphorically fight it out. It's delicately portrayed making it quite distressing to watch at times. The three judges - Alexander Knox, Liam Redmond and Eddie Byrne listen carefully and compassionately and as the case unfolds we, like them, realise that there can be no clear winners here - unless it's the ten year old boy who knows little of his wartime life in Slovakia but only of his current life with his new German parents. Perhaps he could decide? He's very young, though - is he competent to make such a choice? Charles Crichton directs with sympathy and he uses Geoffrey Keen quite effectively as a character trying to broker the best from a bad scenario - even if the process is really about securing the best for "Toni". There's a paucity of dialogue here, most of the scenario being presented as objectively as possible allowing us to make our own evaluation. It's touching and exposes a wartime topic not often addressed in cinema.

I went to see this film when I was about 15 yrs old. It made a big impression on me because I was very idealistic then. The film was honestly and earnestly made, straight as a die, that was its charm. The fact is it only cost 1/- to get in the cinema to see it. In todays money that is about 5p. The film belongs in that era of course, the fifties. I have never fogotten the little boy in court trying to decide which parent he should choose to be with. He conveyed the correct personal inner torment of knowing he should choose his real mother, but being so used to his adoptive one.

This is a heart-rending story illustrating the overwhelming problem after the war of dislocated persons, in this case children. The film is almost documentary in character, going into the fates of two mothers claiming the same child, the real mother losing her boy because of the war, and a German childless mother adopting him after the war and bringing him up as a German. Which mother should have the child? Why not let the child decide himself, but here is the divided heart. He wants to stick with one and still not do without the other. Alexander Knox is the one among the three judges who advocates the child's right to decide his own future, while the arguments of the other two American judges are a little difficult to understand. Anyway, it's a fascinating story in its close adherence to reality, and Yvonne Mitchell as the Slovenian mother (speaking fluently Slovenian) makes a lasting impression. She is willing to give up her child for the child's own sake, while the German adoptive mother has nothing to argue with except her feelings. It's a very difficult case and dilemma, and it should maybe be taken for certain, that the boy, in the unique position of having two mothers, would do his best to keep them both.

The spoils and utter disruption war creates, especially in the lives of the innocent bystander are dramatically, and believably spotlighted in this sincere Ealing Studios study of two families. At the core of this well produced British drama is the decision that has to be made (and then lived with) by two women over the fate of an orphaned young boy. A lad adopted into a loving German family, who after seven years of parenting - is suddenly confronted by the claims of a Yugoslavian woman who lost her husband and two other children --that the boy may be her lad-- taken from her just after the child's birth.

Beautiful Award winning performances, by Cornel Borchers and Yvonne Mitchell as the two women faced with the heat-breaking decision, are given strong support by Alexander Knox and Geoffrey Keen. These are captured on film by astute veteran Czech cinematographer Otto Heller ('Richard 111 '55) From an intelligent screenplay by respected writer's Jack Whitingham and Richard Hughes, based a true story, it's well realized by director Charles Crichton (Dead of Night '45). Child prodigy French Composer Georges Auric (The wages of Fear '55) supplies the rich score.

Not to be missed by admirers of fine British drama. The Studio Canal DVD transfer has been taken from a clean original source with fine-grain image and OK sound.