Our Very Own (1950 film)
Encyclopedia
Our Very Own is a 1950 American drama film directed by David Miller
. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert focuses on a teenaged girl who learns she was adopted as an infant.
teenager Gail Macaulay is going steady with deliveryman Chuck, a relationship that sparks jeaolusy in her younger sister Joan. When Joan needs her birth certificate in order to obtain summer employment, her mother Lois tells her to look in a box in her dresser, where the girl discovers Gail's adoption papers.
That evening, at Gail's 18th birthday party, Joan flirts with Chuck, and when her angry sister confronts her, Joan reveals the truth about her background. The following morning, Lois tells Gail her biological father was killed in an accident before she was born, but her mother, Gert Lynch, is alive. Gail persuades Lois to have their lawyer arrange a meeting with her birth mother, but Lois decides to visit Gert in her Long Beach
home first. Gert is thrilled to see photographs of Gail but is loath to let her second husband Jim know she has a child, so Lois arranges a meeting the following evening, when Jim will be out.
After Gail and her friend Zaza depart for Gert's home, Lois receives a panicked phone call from the woman telling her Jim canceled his plans and is staying home to play cards with friends. Gert waits for the girls outside her house, but before they arrive Jim asks her to prepare refreshments. When Gail enters the house, Gert introduces her as the daughter of an old friend. Gert quietly explains the situation to Gail and apologizes for the mixup.
Gail returns to the car and tells Zaza the reunion went well, then asks if she can spend the night at her house. Chuck, who had arrived at the Macaulay home just before Gail left for the ill-fated reunion with Gert, has spent the worried night with Gail's parents after having the situation explained to him. When Gail fails to return home, Gail's parents begin to worry and Chuck goes to Zaza's house and reproaches Gail for hurting the people who raised her and loved her as their own. This idea of family as "the people who are there for you" is reinforced when Gail learns that Zaza's father will not be attending their high school graduation ceremony, having chosen to attend an out-of-town party instead.
At the graduation ceremony, Gail imbues her valedictory speech about citizenship with a loving message about the true meaning of family, to the delight of her parents, sisters, and Chuck.
wanted to return to the simple family values portrayed in the Andy Hardy
films MGM
had released a decade earlier. Farley Granger
thought the script was "pointless and meandering," but as a Goldwyn contract player he faced suspension if he refused to make the film. He thought director David Miller was "a perfectly nice man" but "no help to anybody." Granger later went to Paris and then London, where he rang up a substantial bill at the Savoy Hotel
. When Goldwyn implored him to return to the States to help promote the film, Granger agreed to give The Times
an interview and then fly to New York City
to appear at the premiere there if the studio settled his hotel bill, and Goldwyn reluctantly agreed.
Jane Wyatt
, on loan from 20th Century Fox
, was disappointed to find herself cast as an advice-dispensing mother after having played a succession of sophisticated roles opposite Gary Cooper
, Cary Grant
, and Gregory Peck
. She had little regard for the role until a few years later, when she was cast in the successful television series Father Knows Best
as a direct result of her performance in Our Very Own.
of the New York Times observed, "What is there so disturbing about the knowledge of being an adopted child? This picture doesn't tell you. All that it arbitrarily does is assume that the knowledge would be upsetting and then proceeds from there — proceeds to tug at the heartstrings with close-ups and weeping violins and Ann Dvorak sniffling profusely as a regretful woman who abandoned her infant child. And then, after this has been worked over for a sufficiently heartrending while, the picture hops back to teen-age clowning and a belief that all's right with the world. No, thank you, Mr. Goldwyn. There is more to the problem than this. Adoption deserves clarification with something better than farcical laughs and corny sobs."
.
David Miller (director)
David Miller was an American movie director who directed such varied films as Billy the Kid with Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy, Flying Tigers with John Wayne, and Love Happy with the Marx Brothers.-Filmography:* Bittersweet Love * Executive Action * Hail, Hero! * Hammerhead...
. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert focuses on a teenaged girl who learns she was adopted as an infant.
Plot
Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
teenager Gail Macaulay is going steady with deliveryman Chuck, a relationship that sparks jeaolusy in her younger sister Joan. When Joan needs her birth certificate in order to obtain summer employment, her mother Lois tells her to look in a box in her dresser, where the girl discovers Gail's adoption papers.
That evening, at Gail's 18th birthday party, Joan flirts with Chuck, and when her angry sister confronts her, Joan reveals the truth about her background. The following morning, Lois tells Gail her biological father was killed in an accident before she was born, but her mother, Gert Lynch, is alive. Gail persuades Lois to have their lawyer arrange a meeting with her birth mother, but Lois decides to visit Gert in her Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
home first. Gert is thrilled to see photographs of Gail but is loath to let her second husband Jim know she has a child, so Lois arranges a meeting the following evening, when Jim will be out.
After Gail and her friend Zaza depart for Gert's home, Lois receives a panicked phone call from the woman telling her Jim canceled his plans and is staying home to play cards with friends. Gert waits for the girls outside her house, but before they arrive Jim asks her to prepare refreshments. When Gail enters the house, Gert introduces her as the daughter of an old friend. Gert quietly explains the situation to Gail and apologizes for the mixup.
Gail returns to the car and tells Zaza the reunion went well, then asks if she can spend the night at her house. Chuck, who had arrived at the Macaulay home just before Gail left for the ill-fated reunion with Gert, has spent the worried night with Gail's parents after having the situation explained to him. When Gail fails to return home, Gail's parents begin to worry and Chuck goes to Zaza's house and reproaches Gail for hurting the people who raised her and loved her as their own. This idea of family as "the people who are there for you" is reinforced when Gail learns that Zaza's father will not be attending their high school graduation ceremony, having chosen to attend an out-of-town party instead.
At the graduation ceremony, Gail imbues her valedictory speech about citizenship with a loving message about the true meaning of family, to the delight of her parents, sisters, and Chuck.
Production
With this film, producer Samuel GoldwynSamuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
wanted to return to the simple family values portrayed in the Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy was a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an MGM film series from 1937 to 1958. Spanning over 20 years, the 16 movies were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol....
films MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
had released a decade earlier. Farley Granger
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
thought the script was "pointless and meandering," but as a Goldwyn contract player he faced suspension if he refused to make the film. He thought director David Miller was "a perfectly nice man" but "no help to anybody." Granger later went to Paris and then London, where he rang up a substantial bill at the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
. When Goldwyn implored him to return to the States to help promote the film, Granger agreed to give The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
an interview and then fly to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to appear at the premiere there if the studio settled his hotel bill, and Goldwyn reluctantly agreed.
Jane Wyatt
Jane Wyatt
Jane Waddington Wyatt was an American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television comedy Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television series Star Trek...
, on loan from 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, was disappointed to find herself cast as an advice-dispensing mother after having played a succession of sophisticated roles opposite Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, and Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
. She had little regard for the role until a few years later, when she was cast in the successful television series Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
as a direct result of her performance in Our Very Own.
Cast
- Ann BlythAnn BlythAnn Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
..... Gail Macaulay - Farley GrangerFarley GrangerFarley Earle Granger was an American actor. In a career spanning several decades, he was perhaps best known for his two collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Rope in 1948 and Strangers on a Train in 1951.-Early life:...
..... Chuck - Jane WyattJane WyattJane Waddington Wyatt was an American actress perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the television comedy Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television series Star Trek...
..... Lois Macaulay - Donald CookDonald Cook (actor)Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work...
..... Fred Macaulay - Ann DvorakAnn DvorakAnn Dvorak was an American film actress.Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, she told The Literary Digest: "My name is properly pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent...
..... Gert Lynch - Joan EvansJoan Evans (actress)Joan Evans is an American film actress who appeared in three movies with actor Farley Granger. Her first film with him was as the title role in Roseanna McCoy , based on the real-life romance between two members of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. She gained the role after producer Samuel Goldwyn...
..... Joan Macaulay - Natalie WoodNatalie WoodNatalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
..... Penny Macaulay - Phyllis KirkPhyllis Kirk-Early life and career:Born Phyllis Kirkegaard in Syracuse, New York , she contracted polio as a child which resulted in health problems for the rest of her life. As a teen, she moved to New York City to study acting and changed her last name to "Kirk"...
..... Zaza
Critical reception
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of the New York Times observed, "What is there so disturbing about the knowledge of being an adopted child? This picture doesn't tell you. All that it arbitrarily does is assume that the knowledge would be upsetting and then proceeds from there — proceeds to tug at the heartstrings with close-ups and weeping violins and Ann Dvorak sniffling profusely as a regretful woman who abandoned her infant child. And then, after this has been worked over for a sufficiently heartrending while, the picture hops back to teen-age clowning and a belief that all's right with the world. No, thank you, Mr. Goldwyn. There is more to the problem than this. Adoption deserves clarification with something better than farcical laughs and corny sobs."
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound (Gordon Sawyer) but lost to All About EveAll About Eve
All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve", by Mary Orr.The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star...
.