User reviews

It was a funny old post-war industry. I Remember Mama came out of RKO when that studio was in its darkest phase, and most of its output was creepy little horrors and thrillers, under the guidance of Dore Schary, who a few years after this would add a streak of gritty realism to MGM's dream world. And although this was one of RKO's comparatively small number of A-pictures released around this time, much of its crew were veterans of the B-unit – writer DeWitt Bodeen, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca and composer Roy Webb had all worked on Cat People amongst other Val Lewton horrors. And director George Stevens, even though his pre-war output was mostly romantic comedies, was emotionally troubled by his wartime experiences and his work subsequently took an a far more sombre tone. But in spite of all this, I Remember Mama is one of the most sweetly uplifting pictures of its era.

This is perhaps not so surprising when we look a bit more closely at the people involved here. It's true, Bodeen's scripts for the Val Lewton horrors were deeply disturbing and filled with uncomfortable psychological insights, but they were also very humane and sympathetic towards villains and victims alike – something you don't often get in the genre. They were also very carefully balanced, with a real understanding of structure. You can see that understanding in I Remember Mama, particularly in the way it uses comedy. Funny moments dovetail into sad ones and vice versa, which gives more weight to the poignant scenes and stops them becoming mawkish.

The cinematography of Musuraca once gave those RKO B-horrors their distinctive look – much of the screen shrouded in mysterious darkness, with key elements picked out in stark white. With I Remember Mama (for which he received his only Oscar nomination) he actually does something quite similar, albeit for very different effect. In interior shots he makes the backgrounds rather indistinct, while the actors are sharp and clear. This encourages us not to focus on the humbleness of the location, but on the people within it. However there are points of brightness on the home set where most of the story takes place, from windows or plates, which gives depth and character to the place when it is needed. In fact, this whole set is a lovely design – each room is very small, but there seem to be numerous doors and stairways coming off room, giving a feeling of cosiness without confinement.

At first glance, I Remember Mama is an anomaly in the post-war career of director George Stevens. With a few exceptions, all his pictures before he did war service in Europe were comedies, and all his pictures after the war are not… except this one. However, while there is a lot of humour in I Remember Mama, and Stevens no doubt realised the importance of it, it all comes from Bodeen's screenplay (and John van Druten's stage play). It is not the style of rigorously timed physical comedy that Stevens used to personally build into his pictures, such as the breakfast routine in Woman of the Year.

But there are other ways in which Stevens has changed. He has become a little more subtle and relaxed. His earlier pictures contain a lot of camera movement and very intense close-ups. Now he often calmly keeps the camera back, showing the characters moving around their environment. He is very much concerned with movement within the frame, such as a swinging pendulum that gives a soothing quality to the image. Perhaps the best example is in the hospital when Irene Dunne visits Dagmar in the night. Rather than closing in and making the moment just about mother and daughter, Stevens expresses it through the entire room, with a billowing curtain in one corner keeping a tiny bit of movement going, and here and there children sitting up to listen, really capturing the tenderness and intimacy.

Of course much of the charm of this picture comes not from how it is written or shot, but from who is in it. At the centre of things is a typically understanding and believable performance from Irene Dunne, perhaps the greatest actress never to win an Academy Award. She is supported by steady turns from Philip Dorn and Barbara Bel Geddes. However, the most truly excellent contributions are those of Edgar Bergen, Ellen Corby and, of course, Oskar Homolka. It is the impeccable timing and rapport between these three that make that all-important comedy element work.

I have mostly looked at this picture from the point of its being at odds to the careers of its creators, and some might say this is missing the point. After all, it simply goes to show that truly creative people are versatile. Still, it fascinates me that all that darkness and pessimism of RKO in the 1940s could still give us something as stirring and beautiful as 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"

Astounding. Enrichment of the heart. George Stevens directs this sentimental drama about a strong woman(Irene Dunne)guiding and holding together her Norwegian family in San Francisco in the early 1900s. Outstanding cast and well acted. The other players include:Barbara Bel Geddes, Oskar Homolka, Philip Dorn and Ellen Corby. You may also recognize Rudy Vallee and Edgar Bergen. A black and white classic that hits home.

When I was a child I was taken to see this film and throughout my life my mother would often say "its good we do not have to go to the bank"and we always laughed about it. One Saturday afternoon in 1984 I saw the film was to be shown on T.V.I was going to go to my mothers house to tell her but couldn't be bothered as I had other things to do.Later that day I received a phone call to say she had a heart attack and a few hours afterwards died.I am now 61 years old and 8 weeks ago joined a writing course.Everyone was asked what inspired them to write.The others came up with lots of things but all I told them was this tale and most of all "I remember Mama" and I was in tears. It is the most beautiful film I have ever seen.It was funny, sad and the acting was absolutely brilliant.I wish they made films like that today.

Still another Irene Dunne memorable vehicle, this time, it's 1948's "I Remember Mama." Miss Dunne was nominated for best actress once more and once more she would lose, this time to Jane Wyman, as a deaf mute, in "Johnny Belinda."

What makes this movie so good is that it is the story of wonderful relations existing in a Norwegian family that has migrated to San Francisco circa the turn of the 20th century. We saw such warmness in the memorable "How Green Was My Valley," in 1941.

Mama (Dunne) wants only the best for her family. It shows poverty, but it shows the warmth and love as well as devotion that saw the family through. Remember Miss Dunne washing the floors in the hospital so that she could stay with her ill daughter? Poignantly done and so well remembered.

Besides Dunne, we have Philip Dorn as the father. We also have wonderful Oscar nominated supporting performances by Barbara Bel Geddes, as a loving daughter, and a memorable, but small part by Ellen Corby as spinster Aunt Trina.

Oscar Homolka earned a best supporting Oscar nomination for his role of the loud uncle who really had a heart of gold.

Wonderful family values are depicted. A delight that will bring a tear to your eye.

From the first time I saw this film I loved it. I researched and found the original story that started it all. Altho apparently there was a TV series of the same name and ideas, I somehow managed to miss it growing up and would love to see this. It was made into a Broadway Play, then this movie, then the TV series and then back to Broadway as a musical. Frankly, it did not last long on Broadway as a musical but I have to wonder why. I manage to have a soundtrack of the music and I think it is totally delightful, singable and wonderful. Does anyone know why it was canned on Broadway? I work as a substitute teacher and encourage the kids to see some of the wonderful movies like "Going My Way." Today when I go to the classroom-- I will tell them to see I Remember Mama. It should be required watching by both children and adults on Mother's Day. Perhaps children would learn what it is like to have little, but to have everything and mothers can learn more what it is like to be mothers.

Seven reasons why this has always been one of my all-time favorite films:

1) A movie filled with nice, ordinary people you can relate to.

2) The sweetness of Barbara Bel Geddes and her character. She narrates throughout and this story is as much hers as it is "Mama's."

3) The great facial closeups and general cinematography, directed by one of the all-time best, George Stevens.

4) Oscar Homolka's performance as the gruff-but-kindhearted "Uncle Chris"

5) An amazing supporting cast which help make this film so memorable: Ellen Corby, Philip Dorn, Edgar Bergen, Cedric Hardwicke, Hope Landin, Peggy McIntyre, Florence Bates, Steve Brown, Rudy Valley, Tommy Ivo, etc.

6) Some important life lessons in here for all viewers.

7) Nice touches of sentimentality, with the hard-working devoted mother (played stoically-yet-warmly by Irene Dunne) getting her due in the end.

The "Hansen' family arrive in San Francisco from Norway at the start of the twentieth century. Under the guidance of their matriarch "Mama" (Irene Dunne) the family set down roots and begin to live their lives in their new home - and for the next 2¼ hours we are immersed in a chronicle of their trials and tribulations. It is recounted largely from the perspective of the daughter "Katrin" (Barbara Bel Geddes) who regales us in a gentle and charming fashion as she, her father (Philip Dorn); Uncle "Chris" (Oscar Homolka) and an extended collection of "family" navigate their new surroundings. This film goes nowhere fast, like life itself it is not a pace fest, but the characterisations are richly presented with George Stevens taking his time to let them all breathe, to develop and explain their idiosyncrasies, loves and aspirations. It's a very personal character study this with Dunne, Homolka, Bel Geddes on top form and also featuring a delightfully nuanced contribution from Ellen Corby (whom I only ever really recall seeing as "Grandma" in "The Waltons") resulting in Oscar nominations for all four. It's a story to just let wash over you with dialogue that can be both intense and quite witty. It may trigger reminiscences of your own childhood or experiences and though I'd be fibbing if I didn't admit that it does drag at times, that oddly enough adds authenticity to what it's trying to do - and that is to be a plausible real life story where nothing much actually happens!

I Remember Mama (1948) -

The family depicted in this film could have seemed very twee and a little bit hard to believe as it started out, because there was a lot of love and pulling together like a team, which hasn't always been something that I've seen. Most families nowadays wouldn't recognise these behaviours of supporting each other and working for the benefit of all and not just the smaller family unit, as it used to be.

I personally found this story to be strangely interesting and fun though, with its various goings on and actually it was all very well put together too.

A lot of the acting might easily be considered over the top, especially from the Aunts and Uncles, but generally the rest of the family were very good and they spoke clearly despite their accents. I really appreciated that they all had the appropriate accents actually, because a lot of films just don't bother, which can take me out of the situation a bit and it really shouldn't be that hard to achieve.

Something about the overall production had a charm about it and a bittersweetness too, so I could see why it was nominated for so many Oscar's, which made it odd that it didn't appear on any of the top film lists that I'm watching my way through.

I did almost lose it when Martha (Irene Dunne) read out Uncle Chris' (Oscar Homolka) account book and I found that there were a few emotional scenes like that dotted throughout.

I was certainly quite emotional by the end and I did really enjoy it. I would definitely recommend it and come back to it again myself.

714.32/1000.

The timeless story of the sacrifices a mother makes to assure her family (especially her children) always have everything they need is a best selling novel, a charming Broadway Musical, and best-known as the star-studded 1948 movie classic.

Irene Dunne plays "Mama", the matriarch of a Norwegian immigrant family in early 1900's San Francisco. She and "Papa" are poor, but proud, raising several "American born" children. A repeated statement that they "won't have to go to the bank" eventually is revealed as a "white lie" told by Mama so the children wouldn't worry about the family's financial state. There really was no "bank".

The narrator is a teenage girl (wonderfully played by Barbara Bel Geddes), giving the viewer an insight into her extended family, often sharing funny moments, but also showing very touching scenes. A young Ellen Corby ("Grandma Walton") is wonderful as Aunt Trina, who is not taken seriously by her relatives, but gains respect when she is courted and wed by a man who loves and treats her well.

The film introduces each family member individually, then describes the person, until the viewer seems "at home", knowing everyone well. The film climaxes with the lead character (Bel Geddes) reading the introduction to her first published book ("I Remember Mama"). -- This film is a delight to watch from beginning to end. Be sure to keep a box of Kleenex within reach! This film has my highest recommendation!

I can perhaps understand why this film has such high ratings, but in my opinion it is a miserable experience to watch. This was perhaps due to George Steven's claustrophobic direction stretching the semi-poor Norwegian family's life in San Francisco in such a long drawn out way. Barbara Bel Geddes as one of the daughters, and a writer looking back is not given much scope to develop, and Irene Dunne gives a too tight a performance, accentuated by the heavy clothes she has to wear. Oscar Homolka tries to add humour as an uncle and his big scene looking after one of the family's daughters in hospital and teaching her swear words to combat physical pain was probably meant to be funny but falls flat, Sentimentality hovers over the whole film like a sickening cloud, and depresses more than cheers you up. I give it a 3 because it obviously touched some audiences in 1948 and to be generous it attempts to depict deprivation and a struggle for survival. I rarely respond to George Steven's films, and Irene Dunne is an actor I respond to even less so this did not help, and woefully the young actor who played the son of the family was given little chance to develop and again in my opinion he had more life in him than the rest of the actors put together.

Irene Dunne was magnificent in George Stevens brilliant film I Remember Mama. Ms. Dunne nominated for an Oscar but lost to Jane Wyman's Johnny Belinda was never awarded an Oscar and shame on the Academy for never awarding Ms. Dunne an Honorary Oscar for both a great body of work but also impeccable personal behavior.

The great star of Love Affair, Show Boat, Roberta, A Guy Named Joe, Anna And the King, I Remember Mama, et al. A great career that saw Ms. Dunne work with the best of Hollywood: Cary Grant, and Spencer Tracy, et al. And directors such as Leo McCarey, and George Stevens. Did Ms. Dunne ever give a bad performance, I cannot think of one. A great array of films from the western Cimmarron to a comedy Theodora Goes Wild, an array of great portrayals. And what a lovely singing voice!

George Stevens beautifully directs this wonderful movie and kudos to the magical black and white photography. Producers such as Ross Hunter and William Frye did all they could to have Irene Dunne return to films but the star turned down every offer.

This movie is a great way to spend an evening. Irenne Dunne will have you believing that she is from Norway. A wonderful supporting cast of characters that will have you laughing and crying at the same time. The story also shows the importance and the strength everyone gathers from a family working hard and sticking together.

"I Remember Mama" is probably a very good picture of immigrant life for many American families in the early 20th century. Among the movies made in the mid-century about immigrants and their struggles, most were of the hardships of travel and settling down. A few films were made about the difficulties in tenement living, especially in New York and other eastern cities. This one is different in its setting and plot. It centers around the Hanson family that have immigrated from Norway and settled in San Francisco where they live in a rented rowhouse.

Irene Dunne plays Marta Hanson, "Mama," and Philip Dorn plays her husband, Lars "Papa." They were born and married in Norway and in the late 19th century followed a brother and three sisters to San Francisco. Their four children were all born in the U.S. They rent and live in a row house, and are a very tight-knit family. The plot is of a story within a story, centering around Mama, as the key person who is the glue for the family.

It's a good story that shows family closeness, frugality and respect. The film is adapted from a stage play that was based on a 1943 novel by Kathryn Forbes, "Mama's Bank Account." I was surprised to learn that RKO actually lost about $1.1 million on this movie. While it got very good reviews and high praise from the critics, it had a very high production cost for that time of nearly $9 million. It's box office of $7.6 million was among the top 30 films for the year, but not enough to cover its high cost.. The film had a considerable cast for the day. Besides Irene Dunne in the lead, among its supporting cast are Oskar Homolka, Cedric Hardwicke, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, Florence Bates, and Ellen Corby. And it received five Academy Award nominations.

While 1948 wasn't among the most competitive years for great Hollywood films, it was a tough year at the Oscars in the categories for which "I Remember Mama" received nominations. The five nominations this film got but didn't win put four of the cast in great company. Irene Dunne's Mama was up against Ingrid Bergman's "Joan of Arc," Olivia de Havilland's Virginia Cunningham in "The Snake Pit," Barbara Stanwyck's Leona Stevenson in "Sorry, Wrong Number," and Jane Wyman's Belinda in "Johnny Belinda." Wyman won the best actress Oscar in a year that arguably had the best lineup of great actresses in the history of the Oscars.

Then, two of this film's cast were nominated for best supporting actress - Barbara Bel Geddes as Katrin and Ellen Corby as Aunt Trina. They too, were up against tremendous competition of Agnes Moorhead in "Johnny Belinda" and Jean Simmons in "Hamlet." But none of those performances could match that of the 1948 best supporting actress, Claire Trevor, for her phenomenal performance as Gaye Dawn in "Key Largo."

The fourth cast nomination was Oskar Homolka as Uncle Chris. His competition was as tough, and I think he was as good or better than Charles Bickford in "Johnny Belinda" and Cecil Kellaway in "The Luck of the Irish." And, I think Homolka's performance was more deserving of the Oscar than was Walter Huston as Howard in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

Of all of the nominations that "Mama" received, I think Homolka should have won best supporting actor that year. Huston probably had some sentimental support. It was the best role of many I've seen Homolka play in film. And, while she couldn't match Trevor's winning role, Ellen Corby gave arguably the best performance of her career in this film. She did have some consolation when the Hollywood foreign press picked her as the best supporting actress that year for her role in this film.

This is a very good family movie and one that people in the 21st century should watch and share with their children. It has some good historical value in depicting the life of immigrant families in America at the turn of the 20th century. Here's my favorite line from this film.

Katrin, "But, Mama, wouldn't you like to be rich?" Mama, "I would like to be rich the day I would like to be 10-feet high. It's good for some things, bad for others."

The day before Mother's Day, May 11, I had checked this out of my local library to see either the next day or a few after that. It's now a couple of weeks after as well as after Memorial Day that I've just watched one of the most touching depictions of a mom and the way she sacrifices for her family done as well on film as this one as helmed by George Stevens and performed ably as well by Irene Dunne as the matriarch. Also fine was Barbara Bel Geddes as Katrin, Martha's (Dunne's character) oldest daughter and second born child who is seen typing the story and is the narrator throughout. Special mention should also go to Ellen Corby, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, and especially, Oscar Homolka as Uncle Chris who provides some of the funniest scenes that this mostly dramatic movie encounters as well as the most touching fate of his character. Maybe Tommy Ivo with his reaction to his ailment was a bit much but that's just a minor quibble. Also touching was Martha's visit to her youngest daughter, Dagmar, in the hospital especially when the mother sings and her dealings with that same daughter's cat, Uncle Elizabeth, whose fate turns out much differently than one expects! All in all, this was a very worthy film for all involved and deserved all the Oscar nominations it got.

Barbara Del Geddes looks back on her life as one of the children in an immigrant Norwegian family, as she recalls several instances of good times and bad within her extended family, but with her beloved mother, played by Irene Dunne as the titular matriarch at the centre, holding everything together.

Whilst this may from time to time be a little sentimental for today's audiences, it never becomes so cloying that it spoils the story. The performances are universally good and indeed a scattering of them received Oscar nominations. Dunne is excellent in the lead and Del Geddes and Ellen Corby also shine. Practically stealing the whole film though is grumpy, drunken uncle Oscar Homolka who is at the centre of the film's humour. Very sweet and charming and liable to bring lumps to throats.

I Remember Mama was released 68 years ago and although Mrs. Shullivan and my own mother have been deceased for quite some time, we could not help but draw comparisons between our own mothers and the role of Irene Dunne who plays the family matriarch Mama Hansen. The story follows Mama and Papa Hansens' immigration from Norway to San Francisco and where they struggle week by week, pay day to pay day, to raise their four children who range in age from 8 to 18.

Every Saturday morning Mama's ritual would be to corral her family around the kitchen table and distribute Papa's weekly pay amongst the most critical bills that they had to pay such as their rent to their landlord, groceries, the children's clothing needs and education for books and writing material. Every week Mama would comment "Good we have enough money this week so there is no need to have to touch our bank account". Mama and Papa also retained what they called their "little bank" which held a few coins in a metal tin which periodically they would need to resort to in an effort to make ends meet each week.

Anyone who lived through the baby boomer years of the 1940's – through the 1960's would understand that "getting by through compromise and doing without" was a way of life whereas children of today call it "get it, buy it, and pay for it later". Mrs. Shullivan and I thoroughly enjoyed this films story which was narrated by the Hansen's eldest daughter Katrin, played by Barbara Bel Geddes. Of course this was a simpler time in the early 1900's and one of the great Directors of all time George Stevens, stuck to the script and allowed his audience to enjoy a simpler time in American history and the daily living rituals of an immigrant Norwegian family that extended to three Aunts (Jenny, Sigrid and spinster Trina played by Ellen Corby) and one gruff Uncle Kris (played superbly by Oskar Homolka) who was both feared and respected.

The four children loved their parents immensely and although they suffered financially through hard times their strength was in the extended family unit comprised of the Hansen's three Aunts, one young cousin, and one gruff Uncle Kris who owned his own car and who had a female companion who was a mystery woman which was reflected by the family always wondering if she was Uncle Kris's housemaid or his wife? Of course the Hansen's needed to take on a boarder (my own family had two boarders in the 1950's) who always committed to paying his board the following week. In lieu of payment the boarder Mr. Hyde (played by Cedric Hardwicke) would read classic novels out loud to the family each night with so much passion and emotion that it inspired the eldest daughter Katrin (played by Barbara Bel Geddes) to want to become an author herself.

Throughout the film we see the families reliance on Mama Hansen to provide strength, a positive attitude and most especially hope to the Hansen clan. Near the end we come to realize that Mama was telling a white lie to her children, and if you have not shed a tear or two by this point in the film then I can only assume you were born after year 2000 when hardship is an unknown term to many. Mrs. Shullivan and I truly loved this film and directors such as George Stevens who directed I remember Mama rank right up there with the very best directors such as Frank Capra, John Ford, and George Cukor.

If you want to see a film that allows you to reminisce about your own childhood and relationship with your extended family then this film will be sure to bring back some of your old memories to the forefront with the narration by then 26 year old actress Barbara Bel Geddes who explains her upbringing and the loving relationship she shared with her siblings, her father, and most importantly her Mama played with such love and thoughtfulness as only actress Irene Dunne could have accomplished. Be prepared to shed a few tears. I rated it a strong 8 out of 10 for director George Steven's unique ability to take the simplest of story lines, that being an early 1900's immigrant families daily struggles that are conquered through the family bond.

An American drama; A story about a Norwegian family struggling to build a new life in early 20th-century San Francisco. This film is warmhearted, poignant, and humorous. Although melodramatic, it strikes to the heart of the family ideal and has an emotional realism about its characters. George Stevens' direction dramatises the intimacy of mother-daughter relations exquisitely. Irene Dunne is remarkably convincing in her accent and skilful in facility, and utterly charming, and there are emotive performances from the rest of the cast too, many of whom also nominated for Academy Awards. The cinematography is impressive and it is beautifully staged. It has a leisurely pace and the story is too long, but it is an admirable production.