The Sun Comes Up

Yes, I know.

I'd never seen it - it was MacDonald's last film - what better way for MGM to say you are a has- been than to make her a "mother" in a Lassie movie. Drek! I prepared to "endure it" for Jeannette's sake.

I was utterly captivated. What a lovely movie - classed up there with Friendly Persuasion in terms of truly loving, and truly honest human emotion. I keep trying to convince myself to pass this along, but I cry too much, it's too real, too human, too GOOD for that. For the lovers of what President Wilson tried to do for the US and what Obama in his footsteps is still unable to do for us, this is what the ideal of the US is as it lives on in ideals, honesty, and right thinking and feeling.

Jeannette has four classical aria/song moments - a French song, a repetition of Puccini's Un Bel Di (Broadway Serenade), Songs My Mother Taught Me, and Romance. Not much to go on, but it doesn't matter. She is fine dramatically, as a war widow , whose son dies and is left alone, but is brought to life by her encounter with an orphan {exceptional performance by young actor, Claude Jarman, Jr.] Her son exits at 10 minutes into the film, young Jarman arrives at 20 minutes.

Lewis Stone is seen briefly as an adviser. Percy Kilbridge is brilliant in a Charles Butterworth role as the local sage. Margaret Hamilton is unforgettable as a fashion-conscious spinster. Poor Lloyd Nolan doesn't arrive until an hour and 3 minutes in, but we know he will anchor the film, as he always did {most successfully in Peyton Place).

Oh, do see it - that dog will melt you as will the story and the deft acting, direction and over-all good intentions of it.