Most of the previous 39 reviews on here are glowing - though they don't all agree on everything. Reviewers praise the presentation of a simpler life in days gone by. It is, for them, an antidote to everything they don't like in the modern world, including modern movies.
I watched this movie - all the way to the end, through it wasn't easy - because I grew up in Wisconsin in days gone by. And because *I Remember Mama* is one of my favorite movies, which I can watch over and over again with the greatest pleasure, I thought I would particularly enjoy a movie about Scandinavians in Wisconsin, as opposed to San Francisco.
But this movie was not even close to being in the same league. To me, it was very flat, very contrived, and never held me. Yes, the acting by Robinson and Moreland is fine. But the script, and the pacing of the script, just did not interest me. The movie just did not make me care about these people, whereas *I Remember Mama* made me care, very deeply, about its characters.
What made for the difference? Perhaps the choice of scenes to establish the characters. In both films, we are to see these people as hard-working and self-sacrificing. In *I Remember Mama*, there is the deeply moving scene where Mama scrubs the floors in the hospital where one of her children is sick because she wants to be near her, and the way she can think of to appear to be part of the hospital staff is to work, and work hard: scrubbing floors. There is no equivalent scene in *Our Vines* to demonstrate the self-sacrificing work ethic of these farmers.
I have never liked Margaret O'Brien, in anything. I find her cloying, endlessly trying to milk the audience for tears. And very, very artificial. The complete opposite of Shirley Temple. Her presence in this movie only made it worse for me.
As most of the previous 39 reviews show, this movie appeals to some viewers. For me, it was slower than molasses in a cold Wisconsin winter, and much less tasty.
I watched this movie - all the way to the end, through it wasn't easy - because I grew up in Wisconsin in days gone by. And because *I Remember Mama* is one of my favorite movies, which I can watch over and over again with the greatest pleasure, I thought I would particularly enjoy a movie about Scandinavians in Wisconsin, as opposed to San Francisco.
But this movie was not even close to being in the same league. To me, it was very flat, very contrived, and never held me. Yes, the acting by Robinson and Moreland is fine. But the script, and the pacing of the script, just did not interest me. The movie just did not make me care about these people, whereas *I Remember Mama* made me care, very deeply, about its characters.
What made for the difference? Perhaps the choice of scenes to establish the characters. In both films, we are to see these people as hard-working and self-sacrificing. In *I Remember Mama*, there is the deeply moving scene where Mama scrubs the floors in the hospital where one of her children is sick because she wants to be near her, and the way she can think of to appear to be part of the hospital staff is to work, and work hard: scrubbing floors. There is no equivalent scene in *Our Vines* to demonstrate the self-sacrificing work ethic of these farmers.
I have never liked Margaret O'Brien, in anything. I find her cloying, endlessly trying to milk the audience for tears. And very, very artificial. The complete opposite of Shirley Temple. Her presence in this movie only made it worse for me.
As most of the previous 39 reviews show, this movie appeals to some viewers. For me, it was slower than molasses in a cold Wisconsin winter, and much less tasty.