Fans of "All My Children" will get a kick out of seeing a young Eileen Herlie looking a far cry from her role of Myrtle Fairgate, the former Carny turned fashion maven. Just two years before this "Cavalcade" like British drama, she played Gertrude in the Oscar winner "Hamlet", and in between stage assignments made an occasional film. In retrospect, Ms. Herlie at this point in her life highly resembled her "AMC" co-star Ruth Warrick who ironically was her understudy in the Broadway musical "Take Me Along".
It took me a while to get emotionally involved in this drama of a Jewish woman (Herlie) who marries into a prominent Austrian family close to the Hapsburgs. The film initially follows her struggles with fitting in, and it seems to drag, never fully keeping my attention. Where it does get interesting is with the family drama that evolves after the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand and the change in the family structure as her children grow older as Hitler rises in power. This comes about after she is betrayed by an ungrateful son (Oskar Werner) who emotionally blackmails her.
Basil Sydney is touching as her quiet husband who goes from vibrant and young to old and decrepit, pretty much leaving her to face the family's struggles alone. The final scenes are very disturbing as she faces the arrival of the S.S. Herlie ages from young woman to old lady very slowly and to watch this character's heart be tossed around both through her own family and the fate of history is absolutely heart-wrenching. Herlie is up to the task of making this heroine interesting even if most of the film slips by with a quiet thud.
It took me a while to get emotionally involved in this drama of a Jewish woman (Herlie) who marries into a prominent Austrian family close to the Hapsburgs. The film initially follows her struggles with fitting in, and it seems to drag, never fully keeping my attention. Where it does get interesting is with the family drama that evolves after the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand and the change in the family structure as her children grow older as Hitler rises in power. This comes about after she is betrayed by an ungrateful son (Oskar Werner) who emotionally blackmails her.
Basil Sydney is touching as her quiet husband who goes from vibrant and young to old and decrepit, pretty much leaving her to face the family's struggles alone. The final scenes are very disturbing as she faces the arrival of the S.S. Herlie ages from young woman to old lady very slowly and to watch this character's heart be tossed around both through her own family and the fate of history is absolutely heart-wrenching. Herlie is up to the task of making this heroine interesting even if most of the film slips by with a quiet thud.