CAMERON MITCHELL and GLYNIS JOHNS are young newlyweds trying to find their place on arrival in Wisconsin as Scottish immigrants. They're soon pioneering with him finding work as a logger (thanks to bossman ALAN HALE, JR.) and gradually start raising a family of six children.
Some charming moments as the kids grow and interact with parents and neighbors, but then the soap suds angle gets the upper hand in the script. First the youngest son gets diphtheria but recovers. Then the father becomes ill but fails to survive the illness. And finally, the brood of children are left orphaned when their mother dies of typhoid fever.
The last third of the film has the youngest son promising his dying mother that he'll find good parents for the kids instead of sending them off to an orphanage and the Christmas theme works nicely here in time for a happy ending.
It's a bit schmaltzy at times--a sort of poverty story a la A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN with a different setting--but at times it has the ability to hook you into the story and really care about those kids. Among them, blonde PATTY McCORMACK stands out although given little to do. REX THOMPSON does a nice job as the "man of the family" who fulfills his mother's wish in finding families to take the kids.
Summing up: Nice, but could have been a lot better with a finer cast and director. Too predictable right up until the end.
Some charming moments as the kids grow and interact with parents and neighbors, but then the soap suds angle gets the upper hand in the script. First the youngest son gets diphtheria but recovers. Then the father becomes ill but fails to survive the illness. And finally, the brood of children are left orphaned when their mother dies of typhoid fever.
The last third of the film has the youngest son promising his dying mother that he'll find good parents for the kids instead of sending them off to an orphanage and the Christmas theme works nicely here in time for a happy ending.
It's a bit schmaltzy at times--a sort of poverty story a la A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN with a different setting--but at times it has the ability to hook you into the story and really care about those kids. Among them, blonde PATTY McCORMACK stands out although given little to do. REX THOMPSON does a nice job as the "man of the family" who fulfills his mother's wish in finding families to take the kids.
Summing up: Nice, but could have been a lot better with a finer cast and director. Too predictable right up until the end.