I have long admired Olivia de Havilland, partly because she was one of the stars of my favorite film -- "Gone With The Wind". Somehow I had never seen "To Each His Own", so I was rather glad to finally catch it on TCM. Considering the hype around the film -- mostly due to de Havilland having received the Academy Award for her performance -- I was a tad bit disappointed. Yes, her performance is excellent, but the film itself is only (only?) very good.
The story begins in London in World War II London, where Olivia is a fire warden. There she meets Lord Desham (Roland Culver), and at first they really grate on each other. Through an odd occurrence, however, they appear to possibly be headed for a long-term companionship. There's something about this part of the film that I found very boring.
In flash backs we then learn Olivia's history. A young lady in an American small town, she awkwardly falls in love with a WWI pilot (John Lund) on a barnstorming trip selling war bonds. Jody is the belle of her small American hometown of Piersen Falls. They only have one night together, shortly after which he dies in the war...but not before that one night together ends in pregnancy. Again, this part of the film seems awkward to me, but it is surprising that the unwed pregnancy is handled rather so-whatish for 1946. Not wanting the town to know of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, she devises a plot to be able to claim her own baby as a war orphan. The plan goes terribly wrong, and the baby ends up the adopted son of an ex-boyfriend and his wife, crushing Olivia. She plots to win the boy back...and almost succeeds with her newfound fortune through another ex-suitor, but the child loves his adopted mother more than Olivia, so she gives the boy up.
Heartbroken, Olivia goes to England to continue working in her new profession (cosmetics). During World War II, her son (also played by John Lund; quite the fatherly resemblance!!!!) becomes a pilot. On leave in London, he is met at the train station by Olivia who tries to pamper him with affection, but is flummoxed when he wants to get married to a WAC-type young lady. Lord Desham arranges a wedding by breaking England's typical wedding laws, and while Lund's helpful friend (Olivia) is dancing with Lund, he finally realizes she is his real mother.
It's a good story, handled fairly well, but a bit unevenly.
In terms of the acting, Olivia de Havilland is fine as the real mother; I'm not sure it was of Academy Award status, but may have been due to the famous lawsuit that freed her from her Warner Brothers contract.
I was not so impressed with Mary Anderson as the adoptive mother; a bit too childishly vindictive, in my view, although that may have been the fault of director Mitchell Leisen. Roland Culver is fine as the British Lord Desham; very distinguished. Phillip Terry was a bit annoying as the other suitor, but much better once he became the husband of the adoptive mother; I wasn't very familiar with him, although he appeared in more than 80 movies. I always enjoy seeing Bill Goodwin, here as another suitor; he always seemed so comfortable on screen, but never made it beyond character acting. This was John Lund's first film, and a dual role at that. It seems to me that he never lived up to what was seen as his potential, but maybe that's just me since my introduction to him was in the Martin & Lewis debut film "My Friend Irma".
Don't get me wrong. This is a very good film. I just don't feel that it quite lives up to the hype around it.
The story begins in London in World War II London, where Olivia is a fire warden. There she meets Lord Desham (Roland Culver), and at first they really grate on each other. Through an odd occurrence, however, they appear to possibly be headed for a long-term companionship. There's something about this part of the film that I found very boring.
In flash backs we then learn Olivia's history. A young lady in an American small town, she awkwardly falls in love with a WWI pilot (John Lund) on a barnstorming trip selling war bonds. Jody is the belle of her small American hometown of Piersen Falls. They only have one night together, shortly after which he dies in the war...but not before that one night together ends in pregnancy. Again, this part of the film seems awkward to me, but it is surprising that the unwed pregnancy is handled rather so-whatish for 1946. Not wanting the town to know of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, she devises a plot to be able to claim her own baby as a war orphan. The plan goes terribly wrong, and the baby ends up the adopted son of an ex-boyfriend and his wife, crushing Olivia. She plots to win the boy back...and almost succeeds with her newfound fortune through another ex-suitor, but the child loves his adopted mother more than Olivia, so she gives the boy up.
Heartbroken, Olivia goes to England to continue working in her new profession (cosmetics). During World War II, her son (also played by John Lund; quite the fatherly resemblance!!!!) becomes a pilot. On leave in London, he is met at the train station by Olivia who tries to pamper him with affection, but is flummoxed when he wants to get married to a WAC-type young lady. Lord Desham arranges a wedding by breaking England's typical wedding laws, and while Lund's helpful friend (Olivia) is dancing with Lund, he finally realizes she is his real mother.
It's a good story, handled fairly well, but a bit unevenly.
In terms of the acting, Olivia de Havilland is fine as the real mother; I'm not sure it was of Academy Award status, but may have been due to the famous lawsuit that freed her from her Warner Brothers contract.
I was not so impressed with Mary Anderson as the adoptive mother; a bit too childishly vindictive, in my view, although that may have been the fault of director Mitchell Leisen. Roland Culver is fine as the British Lord Desham; very distinguished. Phillip Terry was a bit annoying as the other suitor, but much better once he became the husband of the adoptive mother; I wasn't very familiar with him, although he appeared in more than 80 movies. I always enjoy seeing Bill Goodwin, here as another suitor; he always seemed so comfortable on screen, but never made it beyond character acting. This was John Lund's first film, and a dual role at that. It seems to me that he never lived up to what was seen as his potential, but maybe that's just me since my introduction to him was in the Martin & Lewis debut film "My Friend Irma".
Don't get me wrong. This is a very good film. I just don't feel that it quite lives up to the hype around it.