An American newspaperman and his wife, end up in London after several retreats in the opening days of WWII. After a shrapnel wound and loss of her baby she returns to America. War weary, he is forced to do a story about war orphans, where he meets Margaret.
Päivä on koittava, Refugiados, Hacia la luz, Det kommer en dag, Margaret aus London, Sublime Alvorada
USA
Mexico
Sweden
Portugal
Finland
Japan
Austria
Austria
Finland
Japan
Mexico
Portugal
Sweden
USA
Like with Joe Smith, American (1942), Robert Young is put in a film which is more a educational story. This time dealing with something as special as child trauma in wartime. We basically get introduced to various states and ways a child reacts to the horrors she's experienced. The children are amazing, and it's through them you understand how terrible war is. Perhaps not the most fulfilling movie about the war, but still very valuable.
no no it's fine i've just got a bit of movie about traumatized kids during the london blitz finding a good home where they're loved and treated like actual people in my eye
(going to tear margaret's and peter's previous foster parents a new one for abusing kids who've gone through hell)
“What are you mad at?
“I’m mad at 1940."
[wearing a gas mask] “The next generation will probably grow to look like this.”
“Do you want to cry Margaret? Do you want to cry dear? Because if you do, why don’t you?
“You won't smack me if I beller?”
"Margaret weighs 39 pounds, bomb included!"
"This war isn't being fought for us any longer. It's being fought for these children."
"Look at all the stars in America!"
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas!"
"Those are the lights of New York City. Just like Lon- Haven't you children ever seen a city with its lights on?"
"Why's it got lights on?"
God she was something else from the start. I wasn't sure how…
"It's what we're always looking for. Links for these little chains."
As a whole this is very much a war picture, like every other war picture of the 1940's. The propaganda is very evident. I think the thing that set this one apart for me was that it actually showed the horror that the war was creating in London. A scene that absolutely floored me was the woman carrying her dead child around, making herself believe her child was just sleeping. It was devastating to watch.
Not only did this touch on the horror of the war in London, but the misplacement and trauma it caused for the children at the time. The children orphaned by WWII are the hearts…
The times finally catching up to MGM and one of its trusted directors of cheery product, W.S. Van Dyke. "What are you mad at?," asks American journalist Robert Young early on. "I'm mad at 1940," replies his wife Laraine Day. They've become embrangled in the London Blitz, and the pregnant Day loses their nascent baby to a shrapnel wound. All is wrong in the world, until they're introduced, as are Hollywood audiences, to orphan Margaret O'Brien. It was O'Brien's first major role, and she lights up the screen. Don't get me wrong, the script is heavy and grim, unflinchingly reflecting on the traumatic impact of war on children. But through it all O'Brien radiates a spirit of uplift, and that makes this a warm picture for all that. It also helps that Laraine Day's luscious hair and impassioned speeches have me wishing she was the mother of my children.
i lost my shit when little Margaret O'Brien wants to cry but can't then finally does.
“surely little children who have to change worlds must be allowed to cry for all the things they’ve lost ”🥲
a sweet comedy turned tearjearker melodrama during wartimes for the young and old back home to understand the weight of the war newly affecting them. im a sucker for sappy stories about lone kids finding new families
