Coeur secret

I won't rehash the plot as many viewers before me have already done that for us. I will say that I enjoyed the film, as I have always liked the work of June Allyson and Claudette Colbert.

It was a nice change to see June in a different kind of a role for her. I also liked her in The Shrike. In that one, she also turned in a very different type of role expected of her. The problem for some viewers is that they don't want to see June in anything else except Little Miss Sunshine. Now June may not have been Meryl Streep, but she was a good actress.

I think the whole cast was fine, and Robert Sterling as Claudette's adult son was very good. He and Claudette as stepson and stepmother exhibited a loving and believable relationship. It was also fun to see Elizabeth Patterson (Mrs. Trumble from I Love Lucy) as the housekeeper/cook.

As for Miss Colbert, I had the privilege of seeing her in two Broadway shows (The Kingfisher and A Talent for Murder). She gave me an autograph and we enjoyed a brief chat at the stage door. She was gracious, sweet, and still beautiful. As for the film, she was very strong and believable as the determined mother to take on all she needed to in order to provide for her children and to clean up her husband's mistakes.

The Secret Heart maybe a bit melodramatic at times, but as a product of the 1940's, it is an interesting film and well made.

This was obviously a Claudette Colbert vehicle. "The Secret Heart" is not shown often these days, and it's a good melodrama, typical of the era. Robert Z. Leonard directs with panache this story about a woman's sacrifice and decency.

If you haven't seen the film, perhaps you should not read further.

We first meet Leola (Lee) aboard a luxury liner with Chris Matthews, who is obviously in love with her. Lee has been asked to marry Chris' best friend Larry, and Lee feels her duty to go ahead with her plans to marry this troubled man, a widower with two small children. What Lee gets from that union is much more than what she bargained for. Larry turns out to be an embezzler at the bank he works for. His guilt will make him commit suicide.

Lee decides the right thing to do is to repay Larry's debts and hide from the young children the fact about their father's suicide. Chase, the boy, is a grounded person and he goes on with his life. Young and fragile Penny, who adored her father and the music he played, never recovers and retreats into a cocoon; she becomes a troubled girl that only finds comfort in playing the piano just to imitate her father.

Claudette Colbert does wonders playing the courageous Lee. She caters to the children and becomes a successful real estate agent. Of course, as the stereotypical step-mother of all dramas, she is not appreciated by Penny, the girl that carries a grudge toward Lee. Walter Pigeon is the man who has loved Lee forever, but he is too decent to even come close to her. June Allyson is perfect as Penny, the neurotic girl who will find the truth about her father's fate at the end. In minor roles we see Robert Sterling, Patricia Medina, Richard Derr and Lionel Barrymore.

This film is well crafted and acted under Mr. Leonard's ti

I was very young when I first viewed this film in 1946 and never dreamed that this film would still be viewed and commented about in this 21st Century. All the stars in this film were great actors and gave fantastic performances and it is great to see films like this being shown and enjoyed by future generations in America and around the world. Claudette Colbert,(Leola 'Lee' Addams),"So Proudly We Hail," '43, played a very strong mother who lost her husband suddenly and found herself very much in debt and having a daughter, June Allyson,(Penny Addams),"The Glenn Miller Story",'53, who seemed to have mental problems dealing with past experiences of her father. Lionel Barrymore,(Dr. Rossiger),"Duel In The Sun",'46, was the doctor treating Penny Addams and also her mother Leola. Walter Pigeon,(Chris Matthews),"Funny Girl",'68, was a very good friend of the family and stood in the background and gave the family all his support to bring happiness to the family. This is a great Classic drama with a very haunting piano selection which is played through out the picture and adds to the deep secrets hidden in Penny Addams mind and soul. Enjoy. "

I jumped into this movie with both feet because of the stars. I like all of them for different reasons. Walter Pigeon, Claudette Colbert, June Allyson, Lyle Barrymore. Heck, they even have Mrs. Trumble (Lucky and Ricky Ricardo's upstairs neighbor)as the housekeeper on the farm.

What I wasn't ready for was June Allyson as a teenager when she was just on the sunny side of thirty. That certainly did NOT work for me. If she had been Colbert's step SISTER, instead of stepdaughter that would have worked for me just dandy. But, having said that, I want to point out it was the best performance June has turned in so far and I thought I had seen them all. She was wonderful. She did her best while being cast totally against type and age range. And, she pulled it off with aplomb.

The sets, the costumes, the choice of the other characters all worked and so I am sure you will have a nice rainy afternoon if you choose to watch this on AMC or TCM. But, I would NOT suggest buying or renting this movie. It is simply not worth the expense when there are so many much better movies out there.

Greer Garson must have been on holiday or working on another film at MGM when The Secret Heart was being cast. Claudette Colbert stepped into her shoes to play the female lead in another film that by all rights should be on the list of Walter Pidgeon/Greer Garson films.

The Secret Heart concerns stepmother Claudette Colbert concerned for the welfare of her two stepchildren, Robert Sterling and June Allyson, particularly Allyson. June is a talented pianist but she's increasingly withdrawing from the world citing a heart condition that cardiologists can't find a reason for. When Claudette sees psychologist Lionel Barrymore, she tells Barrymore about her marriage with their late father, Richard Derr and the tragic circumstances and gossip that surrounded his death.

The cure prescribes Dr. Barrymore is to be found at their New England coastal farm where Derr died and this might unlock Allyson's psychosis. Of course a whole lot of the family's dirty linen gets an airing before the film concludes.

Walter Pidgeon has not all that much to do, but be the tower of strength as the best friend of Derr and the man Colbert was really secretly in love with. The film is carried by the leading women of the cast, Colbert and Allyson. The two play well off each other, especially Allyson. This was quite a change from the usual goody-goody girl next door types she was always cast.

I should also single out Richard Derr who in the few scenes he has suggested a brooding melancholy that you will remember throughout the film. His performance has to be good in order to understand why Allyson is the way she is.

The Secret Heart is a nice psychological soap opera with Claudette Colbert standing in nicely for Greer Garson.