Our Very Own

I watched this movie on the strength of comments on this site. I was not a great fan of any of the actors save for Natalie Wood and Ann Dvorak and neither was the headliner. But I stand corrected. Notwithstanding the negative comments posted by adopted IMDb members I found the film compelling on several levels. It touched me deeply. Several scenes brought tears to my eyes with the same effect on my wife who is the tough one in the family. They weren't melodramatic, just done with the right dose of pathos to convey feelings and put the viewer in the characters' places. Each member of the family was successively portrayed and then relegated to the background to focus on Ann Blyth's character, her adoptive parents and her birth mother. All these actors' performances were just right, Dvorak's in particular.

One scene stands out in my mind and I don't think I'm giving much away in retelling it: after Blyth discovers she was adopted she asks the family maid Violet - played by Jessica Grayson in another memorable performance - if she knew. Violet answers "Honey I was here when they brought you 18 years ago". Grayson delivered it with just the right amount of sensitivity to underscore to us and the deeply wounded Blyth that the circumstances of her birth had no effect on her status within the family. There were many more such vignettes, when Blyth returns at 3am and gets yelled at by her father, when Blyth and Wyatt get tangled up in the meaning of the word "mother" the morning after the revelation, the look of fear on Wyatt's face when she allows her second daughter to look for her birth certificate. They showed us a strong, caring family, with patient, intelligent and understanding parents capable of mistakes they were not afraid to admit and tackle. Nobody was all good or all bad, just people with a full range of human strengths and frailties, people like you and me.

I could go on like this forever and give away the whole plot but I'll stop here and close with another memorable scene I feel rounds out this movie. It takes place before Blyth discovers she's adopted, on the beach with Farley Granger. They come out of the surf, draw close and Blyth reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss Granger. The camera draws away and looks down on them from high up as the waves approach them from both sides to merge where they stand. There was a raw sensuality to this scene. It was full of the passion that complements altruistic love.

The film starts out feeling sickeningly saccharine. Natalie Wood's character is extremely annoying. I guess they did this to establish what a happy family they are. It is overdone. The film gets serious and very good - especially for its time. Ann Dvorak is outstanding as usual.

Bustling upper-middle-class suburban family attempts to deal with the new tension which has descended into the household after one of the daughters discovers her older sister is adopted--and lets her know it for the first time after throwing herself at her sister's boyfriend. What begins as a light domestic drama takes a sharp left turn midway, nearly becoming a soapy stew. Thankfully, screenwriter F. Hugh Herbert keeps his story on track emotionally for much of the way, resulting in a fascinating saga about parental responsibility, petty behavior between siblings, secrets and lies between loved ones. Some of the situations are dramatically heady; credit director David Miller with carefully maneuvering the piece from one episode to the next--also the cast for nimbly keeping their balance. Perhaps in an attempt to smooth out the ruffled feathers, the finale at graduation is topped off with too many happy ribbons. Still, this is an absorbing, unusual, enjoyable film, with good work from Ann Blyth, Jane Wyatt, Donald Cook and Natalie Wood; excellent support from Ann Dvorak as Blyth's 'real' mother. **1/2 from ****

Ann Blyth is "Our Very Own" in this 1950 film also starring Joan Evans, Jane Wyatt, Donald Woods, Phyllis Kirk, Natalie Wood, Ann Dvorak, Farley Granger and Martin Milner. Blyth is Gail, the oldest of three girls in an idyllic '50s family. She's in love with Chuck (Farley Granger) whom her sister Joan is trying to take away from her. She's also preparing for her high school graduation; she will be speaking at the ceremony. On her 18th birthday, Gail gets into yet another heated argument with Joan, during which Joan blurts out something she just learned by accident - that Gail is adopted. Even with a perfect mother like Jane Wyatt and a loving father like Donald Woods, Gail doesn't take it well and demands to meet her "real mother," Mrs. Lynch (Ann Dvorak).

"Our Very Own" gives a good idea of what the '50s were like. You never told anyone anything for their own good was just one of the tenets - that includes Gail's parents not telling her she was adopted and Mrs. Lynch not telling Mr. Lynch she had a baby that she surrendered for adoption. Also, this was a private adoption, done through an attorney, which was very common in those days.

Ann Dvorak has the strongest role as the biological mother, and she's excellent, creating a vibrant character without the class of Gail's adopted mother and with a lout for a husband. Her intentions are good - they probably always were - but she's lived her life under someone's thumb and has never been able to pull it together. Blyth does a complete turnaround from Veda in "Mildred Pierce," the role for which she will always be identified, and plays a mature, responsible young woman. Natalie Wood plays her brat sister - by the end of the first scene, you want to slap her. Joan Evans and Phyllis Kirk are both very good, Joan with her slutty moments and beautiful Phyllis, a favorite of mine from the "Thin Man" television show is good as Gail's best friend. Was there ever a mother as ideal as Jane Wyatt? Like Margaret on Father Knows Best, she's practical, kind, wise and lovely. Donald Woods doesn't have much to do, but plays the loving father well. Handsome Farley Granger makes a great suitor, and Martin Milner as a goof - a role he played often in his early career - is cute.

My only objection is that Gail's mother is too good to be true, her boyfriend is too good to be true, and her best friend is too good to be true. But those sisters - whoa.

A good movie with a lot of heart.

This movie was made in 1949, just 4 years after the end of World War 2. It was a time when the average American family got to enjoy the post-war USA: Having Dad at home and not fighting a war , Mom at home instead of working in a factory making bombs , being able to buy gas anytime you wanted and having the thrill of seeing the what everyone wanted: a TV set in their home. It is with this backdrop, that one of the smaller studios, RKO, produced this wonderful and warm-hearted story of a young woman who discovers a secret kept from her since birth. It is not a typical story for it's time and that what makes it so different. It was written and directed with much care while dealing with a very sensitive subject. The major Hollywood Studios like MGM, Paramount, Warners, etc, still made all of the big-budget films, but RKO turned out some real good ones and Our Very Own is at the top of the list.