PodBill Just what I expected

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

evanston_dad Absolutely beautiful film with an absolutely beautiful performance by Irene Dunne, the best she ever gave.The movie is a series of vignettes told from the point of view of the eldest daughter, played by Barbara Bel Geddes, as she looks back on life with her family in turn-of-the-20th-century San Francisco. It's a film filled with nostalgia and warm, authentic sentiment, not the sickly, treacly kind you might expect in a film like this. This is not a film about big moments or emotions, but rather about how many small moments and details come together to complete the picture of someone close to you that you can't ever see at the time because you're too close to it. What emerges is the portrait of a mother who constantly put her children and husband first and made many sacrifices along the way but who did it so subtly that no one ever knew she was doing it.Dunne was rightfully nominated for her fifth and final Oscar for her performance. She never won, but darn it if she didn't deserve it for this. Additional nominations went to Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby in the supporting actress category, and to Oscar Homolka as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a cranky uncle, one he originated in the stage version upon which this film is based. A final nomination went to cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, for lighting the streets and interiors of early 1900s San Francisco.Directed with a sure hand by George Stevens.Grade: A+

jacobs-greenwood Based on a true story about a family of immigrants from Norway who settled in San Francisco at the turn-of-the-20th century, this heartwarming comedy-drama features an unforgettable Academy Award nominated performance from (five-time Best Actress nominee) Irene Dunne as the titled Mama, the center of this extended family, and the film.It's narrated by the biography's author, Barbara Bel Geddes (who would become known to TV audiences as Miss Ellie on the series Dallas) as the eldest daughter Kathryn Forbes, whose character lovingly recalls growing up with her parents (Philip Dorn plays her father) and siblings.Oscar Homolka plays Mama's older brother Uncle Chris, an outwardly tough character with a soft underbelly, who visits occasionally; he was the first to travel to the "New World" of America, where he became successful enough to do what he pleases (like live "scandalously" with another woman who's not his wife!). Told through a series of vignettes, the film's story covers various hardships encountered by the family – financial struggles to afford schooling for the oldest son, the loss of a pet, an accident that puts one of the children in the hospital, the "coming of age" of a daughter – and how their love and teamwork help them to deal with these events. All the while, optimistic Mama and Papa impart some timeless values of unconditional love, hope and perseverance which contribute to making this movie an essential family classic, one that's very much worth the 134 minute time investment it takes to view it.In addition to Dunne, Homolka received a lead actor nomination (his only) and Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby, who plays Mama's sister Aunt Trina, received their only acting nominations, competing against each other in the Supporting Actress category and losing to Claire Trevor and her performance in Key Largo (1948). Nicholas Musuraca also received his only Academy recognition when his black-and-white Cinematography was Oscar nominated. Cedric Hardwicke, Edgar Bergen, and Rudy Vallee (among others) appear in supporting roles. It was directed by George Stevens, based on Forbes's novel and the play by John Van Druten; DeWitt Bodeen wrote the screenplay.

richard-1787 This is a very remarkable movie in a very quiet way. (I would give it a 10, except that there is nothing innovative about it in terms of movie art.) It deals with an extended family of Norwegian immigrants in early 20th century San Francisco. They have problems and joys, but they are the problems and joys of a family, not of a society or the world.What makes this a remarkable movie to me? Two things: 1. The acting is all first-rate. Irene Dunne, who had played glamorous and sometimes flighty women in the 1930s, astounds with her quiet and sometimes too serious Mama here. She was a great actress. The distance between "Theodora Goes Wild" and "I Remember Mama" shows it very clearly. But everyone else gives a good performance as well. It's all understated, yes, and glances count for a great deal. But this is first-rate acting.2. The values it conveys are, for the most part, very moving. Yes, the aunts show a European fixation on imaginary class distinctions that is wrongheaded - and condemned in this movie. But the central values of work, self-reliance, a respect for learning, frugality, a complete lack of materialism, and humility, have never been better portrayed. This movie could tip over into sentimentalism, but it doesn't. It presents these human values in a quiet, understated way that makes them all the more powerful.This is one movie that every American should see.

jacklmauro I won't rehash the marvelous moments already documented here (though that scene of the boy smoking, the window shutting, the girls going in and out of rooms, the rejection letter, etc., is utterly brilliant). I'll just say here that this film also serves to remind us of how amazing Irene Dunne was. In many ways she was a female Cary Grant - capable of brilliance in all sorts of genres and never fully appreciated. Her name should rank with Davis, and certainly above Hepburn. And, yes, the movie is sentimental. But it is never for a moment mawkish or insincere. Nor does it gloss over the dullness and disasters of ordinary family life. SEE THIS FILM.