Review of I Remember Mama (1948) by Ken T — 04 Nov 2010

Every once in a while I see an older film regarded as a classic or semi-classic and I just seem to disagree with the masses and not like the film. Such is the case with I Remember Mama. The story is about a Norwegian family in San Francisco in the early 20th century as told in reflection by one daughter concentrating her story on her mother.

The family struggles financially through the years to make ends meet. There is never any seemingly major issues - just things like a refined old lodger who does not like to pay rent; a daughter needing surgery and the mother needing to live up to her word to see her after the operation; a broach with intrinsic traded for something else.

This family has such self-sacrificing niceness that it gives off that golly-geewillikers kind of sickening vibe. There is a cat scene that is dragged out to maximum melodrama; Oscar Homolka yelled just about every line (and still scores an Oscar nomination no less) so of course he will turn out to be a loud saint; the nerdy sister falling in love with an equally nerdy, but completely dedicated man.

And the hospital scene just really annoyed me - I wouldn't want some woman who likely hadn't bathed and potentially had lice or other bugs on her coming into my post surgery room! What was with Bel Geddes' characters excessive blinking issue? 4 acting nominations at the Academy Awards - a little much, especially considering most performances were a little too much over-the-top.

Dunne is perhaps the finest in her role as matriarch, but the accent sometimes slips from Scandanavian to Irish sounding every once in a while (I can never stop staring at how perfect her teeth are in every film I see her in!) Melodrama to the extreme and pure cheese, I really can't understand such high ratings.