NR | 2h 14m | Drama | 1948
A virtuous early 20th century Norwegian family, living on Larkin Street, San Francisco, struggles to make ends meet: Marta “Mama” Hanson (Dunne), husband Lars “Papa” Hanson (Philip Dorn) and children Katrin (Barbara Bel Geddes), Nels (Steve Brown), Christine (Peggy McIntyre), and little Dagmar (June Hedin). Papa’s income is never enough, but Mama and the children don’t complain even when their erudite and seemingly well-off tenant Jonathan Hyde (Cedric Hardwicke) is unable to pay his rent. At least, he cherishes their “house of happiness” enough to impart moral values to them through his nightly readings from the works of great writers.
As the family confronts suffering, loss, and death, Mama teaches her children that the joy they pour into and receive from relationships matters far more than money, status, or possessions.
Dunne Delights
The unfailingly classy Dunne transformed so much for this role, she’s almost unrecognizable. Fifty years old during filming, she was still so youthful that make-up artists had to age her significantly. In worn-out clothes, padded to seem overweight, she looks every bit the matronly matriarch. A dialogue coach helped her acquire something of a Norwegian accent, and she stayed in character, accent intact, right through filming.
Dunne once wanted to be a soprano and had taken singing lessons early in her career. Unsurprisingly, here she isn’t dubbed when singing the traditional Norwegian lullaby, “Sovnen” (meaning, slumber or sleep) to a sickly Dagmar. In interviews, Dunne said of her character, Mama, “I thought she was a wonderful woman. It was probably the only time I played a real character part. It will always be very special to me.”
Sure, Mama is overbearing, but also so generous that even her ill-advised actions turn out for the best. Once, believing that Dagmar’s cat is injured beyond help and must be put down, she orders chloroform. Watch how Stevens uses that comical episode to show how even something otherwise lethal becomes salvific in Mama’s hands.
Mama doesn’t mind the children dreaming big, but they must resist avarice, sloth, and snobbishness. That shows in little things. Katrin can’t remember a time when Mama was unoccupied, “Her work was never done.” She’s so immersed in caring that she hasn’t time to talk about herself, wallow in self-pity, idly reminisce about “the old country,” or daydream about wealth. Of course, she says, “I would like to be rich. I would like to be 10 feet high. Is good for some things, bad for others.”
Mama’s a heroine to her children, standing up to bullies even if they’re her sisters, defending the bullied whether it’s Trina or “the woman,” and putting others first. Katrin poignantly recalls, Mama had always dreamed of buying a warm coat from her savings, as she says, “when there was enough. Only, there never was.” Still, in halting English, Mama would cheerfully welcome something that’s turned out well: “Is good, is good.”
