When the Bough Breaks (1947) User Reviews

Great - Another Rosamund John film for my collection

[howardmorley · 7/10 · 20 May 2016]

Rosamund John has always been one of my film heroines.My collection of her films includes "Green for Danger" (1946), "The Way to the Stars" (1944), "The First of the Few" (1942), "The Upturned Glass" (1947) & "The Lamp Still Burns (1943).In each she plays stoic British heroines often with a background of WWII.In "When The Bough Breaks (1947) she plays a woman who works in a day care home for children while their mothers are at work.She cannot have children herself although she desperately yearns for one.

Along comes Pat Roc with her little Jimmy whose father is a bigamist and who we never see.Holding down a job in a departmental store and being a mother proves too much for Pat Roc and she agrees informally without legal documents that middle class Rosamund and her husband can adopt little Jimmy until such time as she can stand on her feet financially.She has a best friend (Brenda Bruce) who works at the same big store as her, who is married to Leslie Dwyer with four children. Going to a dance Pat meets Bill Owen when friendship gradually turns to affection and then love.

The nub of the film examines the emotional drama between the natural mother (Pat Roc) and the adoptive mother (Rosamund John) and how this affects Jimmy who after 8 years has to live with his natural mother despite loving his adoptive parents.I won't divulge the final scene, suffice it to say things turn out happily for all concerned.I've been waiting for this movie to be uploaded by someone for some time and am glad this is a new addition to the YouTube.com stable of vintage 1940s movies seen today 20/5/16

Not just for women.

[Neil-117 · 6/10 · 13 December 2001]

When this movie was made, the position of a young single working mother would have been just about too scandalous to contemplate. The movie provides a very sympathetic portrayal of the difficulties which at that time made adoption a common outcome. We also see how difficult it can be to live with the adoption decision over time, and how many implications there can be even years later. Some of the events may seem a little unlikely today due to changing attitudes and laws, but the calm and unsensational approach of this movie makes it more than a mere tear-jerker.

Patricia Roc proves she can act.

[kidboots · 6/10 · 26 December 2007]

Patricia Roc was one of Britain's most popular stars of the 40s. Extremely pretty, she was often cast opposite more vibrant actresses to emphasize her virginal prettiness.

Occasionally she was given a role to show she could really act if given the chance. "When the bough breaks" was on of those films. She stars with Rosamund John (a lovely restrained actress of some great British films - "The Way to the Stars" (1945), "Green for Danger" (1946), "Fame is the Spur" (1947)) in this film about mother love.

Patricia Roc stars as Lily Bates, a new mother who has just been told her "husband" has been arrested for bigamy. Finding things hard she puts her baby into a nursery while she looks for a job. Rosamund John plays Frances, a nursery helper who develops a strong bond with baby Jimmy (she had previously lost her own baby.)

When Lily gets the flu, Frances offers to look after Jimmy until she recovers. When Lily goes to pick Jimmy up, she sees how happy and healthy he is and suggest that they adopt him - they eagerly agree.

Years later with a change in her fortunes Lily wants her son back. After taking Frances and her husband to court for custody of Jimmy, (they hadn't bothered to fill out papers so it was an illegal adoption) Jimmy comes to stay with Lily and her husband . The usual story follows - Jimmy doesn't like it there and runs away.

It all works out in the end.

Patricia Roc proves she can handle a 3 dimensional dramatic part and Rosamund John is excellent as always.

Set-Up For Heart Break

[boblipton · 7/10 · 13 December 2018]

I thought the set-ups were a but too easily done -- the movie starts with Patricia Roc still in the maternity hospital bed being told that her husband has been arrested for bigamy, making her an instantaneous single mother; when she hands the baby over to Rosamund John and Patrick Holt, she refuses to sign any papers. Uh-oh!

That said, the performances are excellent. Bill Owen as Miss Roc's eventual husband gives a warm and wise performance, and Brenda Bruce adds a lot of needed humor with her brassy performance.

I must admit I don't have much sympathy for the situation, and consider the careful writing to make Miss Roc's moral situation irreproachable a bit strained, but overall, I find that the players overcome any qualms.

A nice tale...but not a lot of suspense or drama.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 25 January 2018]

"When the Bough Breaks" is a nice little film and because everything resolves itself so nicely and amicably, you are left wondering 'Is that all there is?' when the movie ends. But, it is handled nicely and enjoyably...and it's worth your time.

When the film begins, a lady is in the hospital, as she'd just given birth. Unfortunately, a policeman arrives to inform her that her husband is, in fact, a bigamist and is going to prison! With her marriage being in name only, Lily is left to try to struggle and raise a child on her own. She's obviously in over her head and it's fortunate that she's able to find daycare to help her as she's a working mother. But with the pressures of work and an illness, Lily agrees to let the woman taking care of Jimmy keep him for good. However, no formal agreement exists between them....and you know that in the future this will come to bite everyone on the butt!!

While the film is very competently made and acted, it has one big problem....when the inevitable occurs, things resolve themselves reasonably quickly, as none of the people in the film are bad. This makes for very pleasant but also somewhat forgettable viewing. Still, if you like happy endings, you'll enjoy this one.

From riches to rags.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 13 April 2021]

A classic melodrama ,mainly interesting in its last half ,some kind of "little lord Fauntleroy " in reverse: the hero of this famous story in his grandpa's luxury château was miserable and would have given all the gold in the world to join his mummy in the modest cottage where she is relegated.

Here ,the biological mum's (Patricia Roc) and the foster one 's(Rosamund John )backgrounds are worlds apart :the former lives with her simple husband in a modest shop ,with a yard where she hangs out her washing , where the boy is bewildered :his naive questions are revealing :"are you also the maid ?"He's used to his foster parents' desirable mansion ,with its garden (park,more like) , its numerous rooms .But most of all ,he is used to loving the people who adopted him and who gave him all their affection. Had the situation been inversed , (namely from rags to riches) ,the boy would have come back to Roc's house without a moment's hesitation. By putting him in the "from riches to rags " situation, this melodrama is not so derivative.

All You Need is Love?

[mikeolliffe · 9/10 · 3 March 2021]

Well, that's what some group called the Beatles sang sometime - but in this film little Jimmy gets all the love anyone could want and still isn't satisfied. Thing is, the nice couple who love the child are complete strangers. He much prefers the comfortable middle-class life of a couple he regards as his parents.

Both sets of adults are white and presumably Christians, but it is CLASS that apparently makes all the difference. This film could have explored this in more depth, but the makers opted for a more run-of-the-mill approach.

One minor criticism is that the new man who enters the leading lady's life is too good to be true. He should have some flaws other than a homely face!

But a BIG PLUS is that the working class folk in this screenplay are not treated stereotypically as in so many other films.

And anyone who likes a taste of post-war Britain should enjoy this ultimately uplifting look.

Maybe Just As Much About Society Attitudes

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 21 September 2014]

This film has a rather dubious premise.Namely that a young mother would just give her child away without any formal paper work,and then walk back into her child's life 8 years later.The main thing that comes through is a class issue.Jimmie is taken from his nice middle class home to a working class area.He clearly doesn't fit in.So one wonders what might have happened if the roles had been reversed and Jimmy went from working to middle class?So it has to be said that overall the story remains unconvincing and it was clearly what would be called a"woman's picture".Bill Owen is by far and away the best actor in then film.Patricia Roc is rather out of her depth in the role of the unmarried mother.

Adoption

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 7 January 2020]

Gainsborough Pictures took a break from historical bodice-rippers to make a very contemporary problem picture, scripted - I kid you not! - by future 'Carry On' producer Peter Rogers.

It's well-known that postwar digs often carried signs reading "No Irish. No Blacks", but we learn from this remarkable film that "No Kids" was a common refrain at the time too.

Missing from the usual literature (including Rogers' autobiography), 'When the Bough Breaks' manages to pack the doubtless pressing postwar issues of unwed motherhood (in this case dealt with by making the single parent the victim of a bigamist) and adoption into just 81 minutes before it's rather abrupt but nevertheless satisfying resolution.