THE GIFT OF LOVE has got to be one of the most cringe-inducing movies I've seen from the '50s when sentimental tear-jerkers were still the rage, especially if they were dressed up in handsome Technicolor photography and settings...and preferably, with stars like ROBERT STACK and LAUREN BACALL for box-office appeal.
This one is a sad remake of an even weepier B&W original called SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY that starred Maureen O'Hara and John Payne (with Connie Marshall as the little girl), a Fox film so banal that you wonder why they bothered to toy with the script again. It's still banal, all the way, with a ludicrous script and inept performances you've got to see to believe how bad the acting is.
LAUREN BACALL is the noble wife who knows she has a terminal illness, so she prepares the little girl and hubby for her demise, wanting them to go on loving each other and helping each other when she's gone. That's the plot, in a nutshell, and naturally--when she dies--hubby goes off his rocker and makes thing difficult for the girl, ending up sending her back to the orphanage where they adopted her. What happens after this will try your patience to the utmost as the girl leaves her snug bed at the orphanage to run out into a rainstorm with her toy horse along the seashore. You know whatever happens next will reunite her with her father, who seems to be getting a message from his dead wife that the girl needs emergency help.
It's as sticky and mushy as these things can possibly be with ROBERT STACK at his absolute worst feigning mournfulness over his wife's sudden departure--the scene of him at her gravesite is almost laughable. And the little girl (EVELYN RUDIE) makes you appreciate what a marvelous actress Shirley Temple was as a child star.
Surprisingly, it's all directed by the wonderful Jean Negulesco, who must have been forced into fulfilling contract demands to even come near this maudlin script.
I see from the other comments that this sort of nonsense appealed strongly to teen-age girls when first viewed. I hope they have a chance to reconsider calling it "wonderful" if they see it again as adults.
This one is a sad remake of an even weepier B&W original called SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY that starred Maureen O'Hara and John Payne (with Connie Marshall as the little girl), a Fox film so banal that you wonder why they bothered to toy with the script again. It's still banal, all the way, with a ludicrous script and inept performances you've got to see to believe how bad the acting is.
LAUREN BACALL is the noble wife who knows she has a terminal illness, so she prepares the little girl and hubby for her demise, wanting them to go on loving each other and helping each other when she's gone. That's the plot, in a nutshell, and naturally--when she dies--hubby goes off his rocker and makes thing difficult for the girl, ending up sending her back to the orphanage where they adopted her. What happens after this will try your patience to the utmost as the girl leaves her snug bed at the orphanage to run out into a rainstorm with her toy horse along the seashore. You know whatever happens next will reunite her with her father, who seems to be getting a message from his dead wife that the girl needs emergency help.
It's as sticky and mushy as these things can possibly be with ROBERT STACK at his absolute worst feigning mournfulness over his wife's sudden departure--the scene of him at her gravesite is almost laughable. And the little girl (EVELYN RUDIE) makes you appreciate what a marvelous actress Shirley Temple was as a child star.
Surprisingly, it's all directed by the wonderful Jean Negulesco, who must have been forced into fulfilling contract demands to even come near this maudlin script.
I see from the other comments that this sort of nonsense appealed strongly to teen-age girls when first viewed. I hope they have a chance to reconsider calling it "wonderful" if they see it again as adults.