Paula

Loretta Young stars as the wife of University professor Kent Smith. Life seems wonderful; however Ms. Young is told, after a second miscarriage, she can never have children. Later, she is speeding home, after some event, and hits a child with her car. A truck driver (also on the road) takes the boy, and leaves the desperate woman wondering what injuries she's caused.

"Paula" begins as a seemingly routine Loretta Young drama, but keep your eye on the picture for a grabber. The story becomes very interesting as circumstances make Young a dramatic hit-and-run driver. The story builds suspense in several ways -- beginning as Young searches for the boy she hit, while the police search for Young.

Although it's a great story, the script becomes more and more sentimental -- by the end, it's so maudlin you'll want to scream (if you're not crying). Tommy Rettig is notable as the boy; in fact, he is Young's co-star. Mr. Rettig also played one of Lassie's famous owners (Jeff). Young and Rettig do well, but they would be even better after a realistic script re-write. The film has some unexpected depth, and raises some interesting crime/punishment questions; perhaps, its flaws could be addressed in a modern re-make.

***** Paula (1952) Rudolph Maté ~ Loretta Young, Tommy Rettig, Kent Smith

Loretta Young loses her baby and is told in the hospital that she will never be able to have children. Dr. Alexander Knox, who was so brilliant in "Wilson" tells her this. She is married to college dean Kent Smith. The latter never had much sex appeal or appeal of a leading man in any of his pictures.

While driving to join Smith at a pre-promotional party for him, Young accidentally hits 7 year old Tommy Rettig of "Lassie" fame. Rettig, with those sad eyes of his, evoked a lot of emotion here as he is unable to recover from the accident.

Not admitting to the police that she did this, Young instead volunteers at the hospital and takes in the boy and suddenly becomes a speech pathologist. She is guided by Knox who suddenly is an expert in this field anyway.

Young and Rettig pull out emotional stops in this film. You may want to question the criminal justice system in the nonetheless happy ending.

From 1952, Paula stars Loretta Young as a happily married woman who, after a second miscarriage, is told she can never give birth. She tries to put up a front for her husband (Kent Smith), but her doctor (Alexander Knox) encourages her not to. Her husband wants to adopt, but she isn't ready to discuss it.

One night, rushing to a reception for her husband, a large truck is going in the wrong direction. She doesn't see a little boy (Tommy Rettig) run into the street and hits him.

She races to the boy; a passerby accuses her of being drunk snd picks the child up, not answering her when she asks what hospital he is going to. Calling several hospitals, she learns the boy has been brought in as a "drunk hit and run."

Fearing for her husband's reputation, she says nothing. Using her doctor's connections, she learns the boy, David, is an orphan. As a result of the accident, he has developed aphasia and can't speak.

She agrees to take David into their home and help him learn to speak again. The couple come to love David and vice versa. But as she is saying goodnight to him before an event, he recognizes her necklace and realizes she hit him.

Good movie, directed by Rudolph Mate, with Young as beautiful as ever and giving an emotional performance. The speech lessons were very interesting.

Tommy Rettig was Lassie's original owner on TV. He was a long-time advocate of the legalization of marijuana. After leaving his acting career, he became absolute computer genius and legendary programmer.

"Paula" is NOT a film for the cynical. After all, unless you are willing to see a schmaltzy film that will tug at your heart, the film probably won't be your sort of thing. However, if you do see it, be prepared--having a box of Kleenex handy wouldn't be a bad idea!

Loretta Young plays a woman who is struggling with her own infertility. While her life is otherwise great, she clearly misses not having a child of her own. How she gets one is the very strange twist in this story!

One night as she's driving, a child darts out and she accidentally hits him. In a panic, she drives away after she sees that the child is going to get medical help. Her conscience, however, cannot handle this-- she feels very guilty about the accident. So, she decides to volunteer at the hospital to see what she can learn about the boy. It turns out that he will survive but the injury left him brain damaged. While he looks pretty normal, he cannot speak and must re-learn this. But he's an orphan and it costs a lot of money to have a full-time teacher--and Young's character volunteers to take the boy into her home and teach him. But what if the boy or anyone figure out who she is and why she's doing all this?

This is a terrific family film. I loved the very original story as well as the performances by Young and Tommy Rettig (as the boy, David). A heart-warming yet exciting and well made movie--one of Young's best.

Paula (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting but too overly dramatic film about a wife (Loretta Young) who suffers her second miscarriage and is about to give up on life when another tragedy strikes. While speeding to a meeting, she runs over a seven year old boy who becomes deaf to the wreck. Another man takes the boy to the hospital so the police don't know who hit him but the woman feels so guilty that she adopts the boy so that she can try and teach him to speak again. However, the police are still on the hunt for who hit the boy and the boy eventually remembers who it was. This film could have been a lot better had they toned down the crying moments. By crying moments I mean that this is one of those films that tries to make you cry every five minutes, which becomes quite annoying after a while. The scene where Young learns she lost her second baby is heartbreaking but other moments don't come off as good. Young is very good in her role, which requires her to be a snob, a heartbroken mother and a woman trying to do what's right with both the child and the law. Kent Smith is also very good as her husband who at first doesn't want to take in a mute child. The film loses some steam in the final act as things turn very stupid during one scene where the man who drove the kid to the hospital shows up at Young's house and starts a fight. The ending is predictable but touching.