I Remember Mama

I finally sat down and watched this movie completely this morning and was completely astounded by the greatness of it.

I knew it was a good movie, but it was one of those movies I always thought was too good to be true, too sweet, too goody-goody.

Boy, was I wrong. It was a little bit of history, it was every family rolled into one movie.

I could identify with almost every scene in the movie and not because of the era but because of the feelings it provoked. There was so much warmth, so much hope and yet it wasn't the "perfect" family, it was just people living life on life's terms.

I'm so glad I finally took the time to watch "I Remember Mama"

This is a classic. The title alone always caused me to not look it up - afraid that it was full of overdone accents and bathos. So, it was laziness, rather than anticipation that caused me not to turn to a different channel when it just came on television.

This is a profound movie - and not because every character is so good or lovable (as I expected). They aren't. However, it has so many truthful moments about families, so much warmth - and so much is going on at any given time that your interest is held very strongly. I was amazed to find tears coming down my face - that just doesn't happen when I watch movies. You're bound to be thinking of your own family growing up.

I can see why the book was celebrated, the play ran forever and this movie was nominated for so many awards. There's no question the play would run forever today - it contains too many moments of truth about family relations for people not to be telling their friends "It's really good - really".

Do see it - it's WAY better than you think - you'll be very moved.

Funny, warm movie about Norwegian family in San Francisco before WW I. How Irene Dunne lost the Oscar to Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda) is a mystery. Dunne is so totally wonderful in this film--and what a film. Beautifully directed by George Stevens, he captures all the humor and life of this family. Stevens also uses techniques like fore- and background action--there's always several things going on in every scene. He also uses overlapping dialog 20 years before Robert Altman made it fashionable. And what a perfect cast. Irene Dunne (maybe her best performance ever) stars with Barbara Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka, and Ellen Corby (heartbreaking yet funny as Trina)--all Oscar nominated. Then there is Philip Dorn, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, Hope Landin, Edith Evanson, Barbara O'Neil, Florence Bates, Cedric Hardwicke, and Steve Brown. The novel by Kathryn Forbes spawned this movie, a play, a TV series, and finally a Broadway musical. At one point Greta Garbo was considered as Mama, and even Marlene Dietrich sought the role. Thank goodness they gave it to Irene Dunne! The aunts as played by Corby, Landin, and Evanson are wonderful. And oh BTW, Homolka lost to Walter Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, while Corby and Bel Geddes lost to Claire Trevor for Key Largo.

Often amusing, often contemplative, and always enjoyable, "I Remember Mama" is about as good as any movie ever made about family life. The writing, the cast, and the characters make relatively commonplace events seem significant and interesting, the episodic style works very well, and the story-telling is well done. Without anything that seems forced or unnatural, the movie covers just about every aspect of family life, and always has something worthwhile to say.

Irene Dunne heads up a fine cast, and she gives one of her many quality performances as "Mama". The supporting cast are all good as well, and they complement each other nicely. Oskar Homolka is especially worthy of note as Uncle Chris, the kind of character who seems to be found in so many families. The portrayals of the characters and the selection of situations in their lives are both so good that you feel very much a part of things, almost from the beginning.

Everything is nicely conceived and carefully crafted, and it is also a good example of the ideal way to adapt written material for the screen. Without adhering strictly to the original, it captures the feel and the themes of the original stories, showing with talking pictures what Kathryn Forbes had said so well with words.

Both the material itself and the style of the adaptation are delightful, and this is the kind of movie that takes much more skill to produce than may seem to be the case. While this kind of thoughtful, deliberately-paced film has unfortunately gone out of style at the present time, "I Remember Mama" is enduring, enjoyable, and worthwhile.

This film is absolutely one of the most heart-warming and wholesome classics of all time. Irene Dunne ("Mama") is STUNNING as is her comically gruff character opposite ("Uncle Chris")portrayed brilliantly by Oscar Homolka. Both of their performances here were nominated for Academy awards in 1945.To boot, this film had one of the most amazing directors ever George Stevens(the director of PENNY SERENADE-also in desperate need of a higher quality DVD release-, Talk of The Town, Shane & Giant just to name a few) The story of I REMEMBER MAMA is rich, dramatic, and yet manages to be highly comical at moments-has the same feel-good qualities that other 40's films like "It's A Wonderful Life" brought to the screen in only a manner that the 1940's has been capable of creating since then. I can not understand why this has not yet been released on DVD along with two other equally amazing/classic pictures from the mid-1940s, Kazan's "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN" (1945) & The PITCURE OF DORIAN GRAY from the same year. PLEASE RELEASE, I REMEMBER MAMA, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, THE PITCURE OF DORIAN GRAY and a higher quality DVD restoration of PENNY SERENADE!!! Thank you.