Die Liebe unseres Lebens

A little girl worships at a shrine to her dead mother, who she barely remembers. An absent-minded, but kindly seeming foreign scientific sort, lives a lonely life in a big mansion researching drugs, and brushing off the advances of women who want to share his life. When scientist goes off to a Chicago convention, he bumps into tipsy, embittered Merele Oberon, and begins to remember THIS LOVE OF OURS.

Soap operas and melodrama, except for those made by Douglas Sirk and his acolytes Fassbinder and Haynes, or starring Bettie or Joan, get little respect. This one, directed by the always unfashionable William Dieterle, and starring the beautiful but is she really acting Merele Oberon, languishes in obscurity. And that obscurity is unfair -- Oberon, who by virtue of her looks and style always seems a bit mysterious, is perfect for a role in which her character and virtuousness are, by the author and director's intent, in question.

Frankly, the structure of this movie is fascinating, but causes the movie to be a bit slow in its opening reels, and to concentrate on a character who is, as the English would put it, a bit thick. The opening dull patches, however, are rewarded when Claude Rains appears (in a role that is also initially ambiguous). Also, this movie has one of the sexier "cute meets" in 40s pictures, as our hero is called upon to bandage showgirl Oberon's sprained ankle, and can't stop paying attention to Oberon's very fine leg.

To tell much more about an obscure movie that relies on its surprises for its theme is just not fair. It is worth the time, if only to witness that the soap opera can offer as many plot twists as the thriller, and can make them an integral part of the theme.

Worth rediscovering. Maybe it will find its way to TCM.

I just watched this movie a few minutes ago and do not understand the picky reviews or the story description that doesn't really define the movie.

This is not a spoiler because you find this out at the beginning of the movie.

Because of a husbands jealousy, his misguided jealously, a family get torn apart. He throws her, his wife, out and takes the child and tells her to never return. A little girl believes her mother is dead and builds a shine to her as she idolizes her.

The husband the and wife run into each other later by ten years, where the wife now works. They had never divorced nor are seeing anyone else. He begs her to come back for just for the daughters sake. As I said the girl built a shine to her mother so you can imagine ..... I will not tell you more. Just seek out the movie and watch it yourself. Great movie!!

Gorgeous Merle Oberon stars with Charles Korvin and Claude Rains in "This Love of Ours" from 1945.

Oberon plays the exotic and beautiful Karin Touzac, who sprains her ankle while in a theater company; she winds up married to the doctor, Michel, who comes to tend to her. Together they have a daughter, Suzette, and are very happy.

It turns out that Michel isn't very secure. When he hears women in a bakery intimating that Karin fools around (and they say this because she's beautiful and unusual looking), Michel follows her, sees her greeting a man and going into a house. Without listening to what she has to say, he leaves her and takes Suzette with him. Suzette is told that her mother is dead. In her mind, she has deified her and even has a shrine to her.

One night while out with his fellow researchers, Michel sees the show of a caricaturist, Targel. Karin, now using the name Florence, is his assistant. She rejects him, but the pull to see her daughter again is very strong.

Soapy as all get-out; nevertheless, this is an entertaining film with a nice cast.

To think that Oberon had to go to such extremes to hide the fact that she was a half-caste - the pressure must have been unbelievable. She said she was from Tasmania, and when she actually went there, she had to pretend to be sick so she wouldn't have to answer questions. Then she had plastic surgery - she was one of the first actresses to be upfront about it - but she learned quickly that being over 40 and glamorous in Hollywood back then just meant they couldn't cast you in character roles, and leads were out.

Anyway, this is a lovely film. Korvin and Oberon made three films together. They made a good team.

This Love of Ours is a huge, old-fashioned melodrama, so you might as well pop some corn to blend in with the corniness of the movie. It stars Charles Korvin as a singer father and successful doctor. He's never dated anyone since his wife died, and he's completely devoted to his little girl, Sue England. When he randomly goes to a restaurant and recognizes a magician's assistant, the audience gets treated to a huge flashback of how he met his wife.

In case you've seen the Rock Hudson version Never Say Goodbye, you already know the story. They're both very soapy and attempt to make you reach for your Kleenex box, but there are far better melodramas out there (especially ones with mother issues at the core). The Merle Oberon character is written to be pretty unlikable and stupid, so how are we supposed to root for her? Charles's character is a bit wishy-washy, so even though they appear to deserve each other, is no one really thinking of the child? The big difference between the two versions is the sidekick character of Claude Rains (played by George Sanders in the remake). In the original, Claude is just a flamboyant artist who delivers quips and draws cartoons; but George is in love with the heroine in the remake, making for a more interesting story.

Personally, I'd recommend Stella Dallas or The Old Maid instead, but if you really love Merle, you can give this one a shot. She's made bigger tearjerkers in her day, though, like Wuthering Heights or 'Til We Meet Again.