Our Very Own

It's 1949 and adoption is a stigma—at least in some people's eyes. Anyway, the Goldwyn studios continue their saga of America's middle class (e.g. The Best Years of Our Lives {1946}) by building a screenplay around this social theme. Of course, the Macaulay family are a highly idealized version of the real middle class. For example, note how unfailingly courteous and civilized family members are despite surging emotions. Sure, daughter Joan's hormones get the best of her and she behaves badly, but in a way that's still refined. And note Mom's unfailingly wise council and forbearance in Jane Wyatt's early version of Mother Knows Best.

Despite obvious sincerity, the film's Hollywood treatment guarantees a predictable ending from the very start. I just wish the screenplay had dealt with the more difficult aspect of adoption—namely, the factor of an unknown genetic inheritance among those contemplating marriage and who care about such things. And that could well apply to an upwardly mobile neighborhood such as the Macaulay's. But including a genetic factor would have resulted in a much more difficult and darker film.

Still, it's an entertaining movie despite the compromises. That opening sequence is a gem of youthful high-spirits and frustration thanks to Natalie Wood and Gus Schilling even if he is doing schtick (as one reviewer noted). The scene is not just a good one, but also aims to persuade us that the Macaulay's are a real family like anyone else's. Anyway, I agree with those reviewers who find Blythe and Granger a little long-in-the-tooth to be playing teenagers, though it's one of the movie's lesser compromises. Yes, Ann Dvorak is good as the self-conscious birth mother. But I really like Joan Evans' turn as the jealous sister. Catch her subtle facial expressions as she goes through any one of her many emotional conflicts— a fine, unheralded young actress. Also standout is young Martin Milner. His totally unaffected teenager seems light years from his high school peer, the maturely sophisticated Blythe.

And speaking of Milner's gawky teen, I can't help noticing the chuckles we get from his rather callous treatment of pudgy, plain-Jane Gwendolyn (Rita Hamilton). For a film otherwise sensitive within its limits, that same concern apparently doesn't extend to an unattractive girl made the butt of mood lightening gags in a seemingly guilt-free manner. I'm not sure what the moral is, but I don't think it's a good one. Anyway, the movie remains an interesting, if idealized, time capsule of a period when apparently every teenage boy owned a hotrod.

Director David Miller takes us into the lives of a homespun family where everything appears to be peachy until one of the teens find out that she is adopted. After such a shock she eventually wants to locate her birth mother and thats when "Our Very Own" gets interesting. The dependable cast includes Ann Blyth as the adoptee, Joan Evans and Natalie Wood her sisters, Jane Wyatt and Donald Woods their parents, Farley Granger and Martin Milner as the guys who console the gals. However its Ann Dvorak as the distraught birth mother who walks away with the picture with her usual expertise. Although this Samuel Goldwyn production didn't meet critical expectations it did make money for RKO Studios.

A suburban Los Angeles family is rocked by the revelation one of three daughters is adopted. The label is placed upon eldest Ann Blyth (as Gail Macaulay), a high school teenager about to graduate. She dates handsome TV installation man Farley Granger (as Chuck), who says "mother knows best." As it often happens, middle daughter Joan Evans (as Joan) arrived right after the adoption. Jealous of older sis, Ms. Evans would like some kissing time with Mr. Granger. Otherwise perfect mother Jane Wyatt (as Lois) could never find the right moment to tell Ms. Blyth she was adopted...

Real mother Ann Dvorak (as Gert) has a hard life. Father Donald Cook (as Fred) smacks his girls with an open palm. Mouthy littlest daughter Natalie Wood (as Penny) annoys the heck out of genuinely funny Gus Schilling (as Frank) when he installs the family's new TV set. Fresh-faced teenager Martin Milner has the best up-and-coming role and adoring family servant Jesse Grayson dons her maid uniform for the last time. "Our Very Own" is a slickly produced melodrama which suggests that Samuel Goldwyn, if he were born 50 years later, would have been very successful in 1950s television.

****** Our Very Own (7/27/50) David Miller ~ Ann Blyth, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Jane Wyatt

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.

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.