Coeur secret

An oddity that comes closest, I think, to a noirish family drama. Troubled Penny (Allyson) is obsessed with her dead father, causing problems with her stepmom (Colbert) especially when they become rivals over affections of family friend Chris (Pidgeon). It's a June Allyson seldom seen and a long way from her usual bubbly roles. Still, she handles the disturbed daughter's antics in effective fashion. Those scenes at cliff's edge bordering an eternal sea are eerily enchanting and a tribute to the production crew. This was a period following the war when movies with strong Freudian themes were popular, including Bewitched (1945) and The Snake Pit (1948). .

The acting is first-rate, and I especially like Sterling as the upbeat Chase who furnishes a counterpoint of normality to the moody family atmosphere. Pidgeon too is suavely effective, though his Chris seems a little dense about Penny's obvious designs on him. The version I saw (TMC) didn't include the narration by Hume Cronyn listed in the credits. Perhaps it's just as well since the movie works well enough without a voice-over. The ending is about what you'd expect from this Code enforced period and is way too pat for what's gone before. Nonetheless, it's an effective little exercise that manages a shade of difference from other programmers of the period.

This is not a review; it's a personal experience only.

I saw this film on TV in the late 1950's (at around age ten) and, for years, have been wanting to see it again and regretting the fact that it's not available on home video. I was thrilled to learn it was going to be shown on Turner Movie Classics the other night.

I had correctly remembered the story, including some dialog (Dr. Rossiger: "Your daughter is in love with a ghost, which means she's on the brink of disaster!"), and the central role of the music. The composer, Bronislau Kaper, skillfully used the Liszt Piano Concerto #1 throughout the film, including during the climax scenes. I had actually studied and performed this piece with a symphony orchestra at the age of 19; how stunning to hear the orchestra's opening chords under the MGM lion, followed by the piano's imposing solo entrance as the film's title appears. The Chopin Nocturne in Db, my personal favorite, is the romantic piece played in the film by both Penny and her father; Kaper also used its theme creatively in his underscoring. (I'm unable to identify the other, more mournful piece that runs through the film.)

I remember being smitten with June Allyson when seeing this film as a child. The other night, it was interesting to realize that, 45 years ago, I hadn't noticed the stunning Claudette Colbert!

Thanks for sharing my reminiscences. Here's hoping that MGM might see fit to release "The Secret Heart" on DVD.

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.

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.

JUNE ALLYSON is really irritating in this one. She's got the petulance down pat, pouting throughout what is supposed to be her great dramatic role (musicals being her forte). MGM obviously hoped that this would prove to be a turning point in the way of future dramatics for the usually sunny June.

Seems she's supposed to be despondent over losing her dead father at an early age, unable to accept his death and unwilling to depart from his memory (like him, she plays piano constantly), unable to accept her step-mother, CLAUDETTE COLBERT, who is concerned about Allyson's psychosis--especially when Allyson starts imagining that Claudette's love interest (WALTER PIDGEON) is in love with her.

To give it class, MGM made sure they used some classical music for Allyson to play, gave it elegant sets and an overall polished look that might have worked well on a better film. But this is so obviously supposed to be a psychological tear-jerker to give Colbert and Allyson strong dramatic roles. Unfortunately, the contrivances are so pat and the overall effect so absurdly superficial that all you can do is hope JUNE ALLYSON will get over her dramatic ambitions and do the things she does best.

Nice cast, including ROBERT STERLING (as Allyson's more sensible brother), PATRICIA MEDINA, MARSHALL THOMPSON and LIONEL BARRYMORE (as a crusty old doctor), helps somewhat, but nothing can disguise the fact that they're all wasting their time in a phoney melodrama adrift in the usual Hollywood psycho-babble meant to be taken seriously.