What a sweet and well-meaning movie this is. It’s about love and respect for family and background and wanting to make a lasting mark on the shifting sands of our world.
The movie is not perfect, of course, it could have been shorter and not suffered much for it. The points seem belabored during the last half hour. Fred MacMurray saying “baby” all the time to Olga, the female lead was a little off-putting. Not so much for the word itself, it just seemed un-natural to hear him say it.
All that said, I will reiterate that this is a sweet movie. There is a great Christmas scene that will forever make me think of this as a “Christmas Movie”. Philip Ahn as the Chinese retaurateur was a beam of light and gentleness in this movie. His role was a stand-out.
Frank Sinatra was to have better roles in later years and his acting technique would develop. He is slightly lost in the role here. But that is no big sleight in this movie.
Recommended. Religious but not preachy, sweet but not sickly sweet. A nice movie for cold Christmas eves.
