To Each His Own

Olivia plays Jo Norris a young girl who falls in love with a young flyer in World War One and has his baby only by a cruel twist of fate to be deprived of the joy of raising him herself. She goes through the little boy's childhood being seen as his "aunt" as he is being raised by her former beau played by Phillip Terry. If ever there was a heartfelt performance given it was this one by Olivia and later in time as she becomes a successful business woman and tries to get her son back she realises that she has possibly lost him forever. By a strange coincidence she again meets him as an adult during the war in London and with the help of Lord Dasham (wonderfully played by character actor Roland Culver), her fire watching companion, she is finally reunited with her boy Grigsy" and is able to let him know the truth about his parentage while seeing him marry his girlfriend.

The whole story is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes and I know it never fails to move me. The beautiful scene at the conclusion when Olivia's son finally realises who Miss Norris actually is, is the emotional climax of the film and is one of the finest pieces of acting from a 40's melodrama I have experienced.

John Lund in his film debut plays both Olivia's flyer beau in the first world war and also her son in the later part of the story. He carries off this quite difficult challenge admirably and he makes the two characters just that little bit different while retaining some similiarities so that his two roles both have a realism about them. His is a wonderful performance overraul and his presence really aids the film in general.

Without a doubt though it is Olivia de Havilland's film all the way and never have I liked her more than in this role. It is said it is her own favourite performance and considering some of her other sterling work in films such as "The Snake Pit' "The Heiress" and of course "Gone With The Wind" that is a tall order to fill indeed.

The film is also another truimph for talented director Mitchell Leisen who has produced some of my favourite films. His guiding hand of such a sensitive story can be clearly seen and I feel he is never given the true recognition as the great director that he was.

Enjoy "To Each His Own" as I always do and make sure you have plenty of hankerchiefs at the ready, this film classic is a guaranteed weepie of the first order. Enjoy


Heartbreaking Tale Of A Mother Who Gives Up Her Son   February 18, 2001
Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA)
31 out of 31 found this review helpful

Olivia deHavilland turns in the performance of her career as Jody Norris, the young girl who falls in love with a WWI fighter pilot and learns she is pregnant on the day he is killed in battle. Unable to raise her out-of-wedlock son as her own in her small town, she selflessly watches him grow up the home of her best friends. Tragic circumstances (get out the hankies here) force her to move to New York City and lose contact with her son for more than 20 years. When they are finally reunited, will he embrace her or condemn and blame her? This movie contains the best last line of any movie, as well as terrific acting all around. This is a movie that tears at your heart and has you cheering for the mother who gives up everything for the chance to embrace her son. John Lund is excellent in the dual role of father and grown son, but it is Ms. deHavilland's movie from opening to closing.


Mopther's Day ....Finally!   January 14, 2000
THAHN (Montreal)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Any mother who has lost a child, not mortally in this case,can tell you that a part of themselves dies. There is a void so deep that the pain is too difficult to even speak about, but with time, the pain heals but is not forgotten. The woman will fill her life to keep on going. Ms. de Havilland has found a place within herself to captivate with a performance so full of spirit than one can hardly believe that this character did not exist in real life. Also, a bit of trivia... she was actually younger in real life than the actor, John Lund, who played her son. Truly one of the 5 best performances of all times. And those of you who love it,let me reccomend RANDOM HARVEST with Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman. Another film to remind us all of our humanity and the spirit that makes us great even when things are the worst.


Oscar winning performance by Olivia de Havilland   August 30, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

One of the best performances by Olivia de Havilland, along with her roles in Gone with the Wind, the Snake Pit, My Cousin Rachel, and the Heiress. She was also wonderful playing opposite Errol Flynn, especially in her role as Maid Marion in the Adventures of Robin Hood.

This film is an excellent one about mother love. For most of her life, Josephine, nicknamed Jody wants to be reunited with her son who she gave up, in a cruel twist of fate. She falls in love in one day with a World War I pilot played by John Lund and spends the night with him, resulting in a pregnancy. The writers are careful to make sure the audience does not think it only a one night stand, especially on the part of the pilot. The love letter that Jody reads confirms that he is also in love with her and is anxious to be reunited with her after his tour of duty.

He is killed and Jody resolves to keep the baby. But a twist of fate prevents this and Jody is separated from the baby (Gregory) for many years. She does spend some time with the baby, until jealousy of Corinne over Jody and her husband prevents her from seeing the baby. The movie goes through various plot twists until the tearjerker ending, when Jody and her now adult son are reunited (the son is also played by Lund).

The acting of the supporting cast is uniformly good. I would have wished for a more subtle Corinne: Mary Anderson gave a somewhat over the top performance playing this unsympathetic character--in two scenes she shrieks "never, never, never." She has been better in other movies. Ronald Culver is great as Lord Desham and I found myself hoping that Jody and Desham would get married after the reunion between Jody and her son. I kept thinking if only she had met Desham before she met that pilot.

One quibble: Olivia de Havilland's makeup as the older Jody. The younger Jody was quite attractive and the older Jody was supposedly only in her forties. She was made up to look in her late fifties. If this movie were remade, Jody would look more youthful in her "middle age."

This is a wonderful film, especially for fans of Olivia de Havilland.


Olivia was wonderful in this movie!   December 9, 1998
Kendra Richmond (joker26@BELLSOUTH.net (Cordova, TN)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I loved this movie. Olivia was transformed from a teenage girl to an lonely aged woman. Her acting abilities were breath taking! I loved the ending and how the son walk over to her and asked "may I have this dance"? "mother"! I cried for 10 minutes just thinking about how much she loved him and never thought that he would ever accept her as his mother. Corrine(whatever her name was, the one who lost her baby and raised him, made me sick, because she knew the truth and would not let that woman have her son! I have a journel full of Classic movies that I watched as a child and this has a big star next to it. One of my favorites, but there are sooo many of these movies that I love, I could go on for days.