Her boy Bill is as strong and as tough as a tree, and he is the heart and soul of this very troubled family. Widowed Kay Francis is struggling financially, and her three older children (Anita Louise, Bobby Jordan and Bonita Granville) have no idea of the suffering she has gone through for them. Only the youngest (the adorable Dickie Moore) seems to get his mother, while the three others definitely deserved a good old fashioned spanking or tongue lashing from their much too loving mother. Along comes nasty aunt Elisabeth Risdon who turns the family upside down with her dominance, having no interest in youngest nephew Moore for reasons which come out later in the film.
I am conflicted by Francis's performance here. At first, she is playing the role of the mother like the heroine in a screwball comedy, and I found that rather jarring since her three oldest children were basically tearing her down every chance they get, some of the most self-centered and rotten kids to appear on screen. On the contrast, Moore is sweet and loyal, and when he accidentally breaks the window of the house across the street, he goes to retrieve his ball and apologize to the owner, a crusty old spinster (Helena Phillips Evans) who immediately threatens to call the police. But in utilizing the memory of his mother's words that no human being is completely bad and must have reasons for being the way they are, Moore goes out of his way to try to understand this woman and a beautiful friendship ends up being created. Evans, a bit player who got her one big break in this B film, gets to show many varying emotions to the point after initially hating her you just want to reach through the screen and hug her.
As for Risdon, I've always liked this versatile character actress, once a silent leading lady who went onto play various types of roles, most memorably the humorless Aunt Della in the "Mexican Spitfire" series. That character is a sweetheart in comparison to the aunt here who coldly proclaims with each child, "You may kiss me", before taking over their lives. She is written to be a one dimensional hag so it is easy to just want to see her taken down in the coldest of ways once everything is wrapped up. John Litel, as a local banker who has always loved Francis, seems a rather odd choice to be the romantic male lead even though his is a supporting part.
At just an hour's running time, this is a variation of the "Mother Carey's Chickens"/"Mrs. Whiggs of the Cabbage Patch" theme is unique in that makes the mother much more glamorous than normal, although it is obvious that Francis here was simply just eager to wrap up her Warner Brothers contract which had taken her down from queen of the lot to starring in "B's" while Bette Davis turned down what she considered crap like this so she could take over as the studio's leading lady. Between this and "Comet Over Broadway", I find it hard to dislike any of Kay's Warner Brothers films, because she was always so charming on screen that I can't bring myself to pan any of them. But being realistic, I also have to say that as much as I enjoyed it, I found it quite flawed too in a way that makes the general plot overall seem a bit cartoonish.
I am conflicted by Francis's performance here. At first, she is playing the role of the mother like the heroine in a screwball comedy, and I found that rather jarring since her three oldest children were basically tearing her down every chance they get, some of the most self-centered and rotten kids to appear on screen. On the contrast, Moore is sweet and loyal, and when he accidentally breaks the window of the house across the street, he goes to retrieve his ball and apologize to the owner, a crusty old spinster (Helena Phillips Evans) who immediately threatens to call the police. But in utilizing the memory of his mother's words that no human being is completely bad and must have reasons for being the way they are, Moore goes out of his way to try to understand this woman and a beautiful friendship ends up being created. Evans, a bit player who got her one big break in this B film, gets to show many varying emotions to the point after initially hating her you just want to reach through the screen and hug her.
As for Risdon, I've always liked this versatile character actress, once a silent leading lady who went onto play various types of roles, most memorably the humorless Aunt Della in the "Mexican Spitfire" series. That character is a sweetheart in comparison to the aunt here who coldly proclaims with each child, "You may kiss me", before taking over their lives. She is written to be a one dimensional hag so it is easy to just want to see her taken down in the coldest of ways once everything is wrapped up. John Litel, as a local banker who has always loved Francis, seems a rather odd choice to be the romantic male lead even though his is a supporting part.
At just an hour's running time, this is a variation of the "Mother Carey's Chickens"/"Mrs. Whiggs of the Cabbage Patch" theme is unique in that makes the mother much more glamorous than normal, although it is obvious that Francis here was simply just eager to wrap up her Warner Brothers contract which had taken her down from queen of the lot to starring in "B's" while Bette Davis turned down what she considered crap like this so she could take over as the studio's leading lady. Between this and "Comet Over Broadway", I find it hard to dislike any of Kay's Warner Brothers films, because she was always so charming on screen that I can't bring myself to pan any of them. But being realistic, I also have to say that as much as I enjoyed it, I found it quite flawed too in a way that makes the general plot overall seem a bit cartoonish.