WE ARE NOT ALONE is one of James Hilton's lesser works, perhaps because it is a somber drama with a downbeat ending--and somewhere there's a message trying to get out. Whatever it is, it remains ambiguous as the ending itself.
The performances are expert, the tale is told with sensitivity--but somewhere along the way the plot goes off on a different tangent and we're left with an unsatisfying conclusion.
Paul Muni as a gentle doctor faces his imminent death with more noblesse oblige than Sidney Carton ('A Tale of Two Cities')--in fact, he makes Carton look like a coward. Jane Bryan as the German girl who becomes a nanny for his son, and Flora Robson as his shrewish wife (the kind who deserves their fate) is excellent.
Little Raymond Severn gives an appealing performance as Muni's child and his scenes with his father have genuine warmth.
But that ending...what were they thinking???
The performances are expert, the tale is told with sensitivity--but somewhere along the way the plot goes off on a different tangent and we're left with an unsatisfying conclusion.
Paul Muni as a gentle doctor faces his imminent death with more noblesse oblige than Sidney Carton ('A Tale of Two Cities')--in fact, he makes Carton look like a coward. Jane Bryan as the German girl who becomes a nanny for his son, and Flora Robson as his shrewish wife (the kind who deserves their fate) is excellent.
Little Raymond Severn gives an appealing performance as Muni's child and his scenes with his father have genuine warmth.
But that ending...what were they thinking???