It's difficult if not impossible to disagree with those reviews I've read - first page only - which could be seen as a consensus that this is a film celebrating 'old' 'decent' values, the kind that now seem as dead as the Stone Age. Life, of course, is unfair and the fine Viennese actress Mady Christians created two roles in memorable Broadway plays, Watch On The Rhine and I Remember Mama, played them to great acclaim on Broadway and then lost out when they were adapted for the screen and had to watch Bette Davis and Irene Dunne don the mantle that had been stripped from her. Both films turned out fine and both Ms Davis and Ms Dunne did the respective roles proud, nevertheless ... It is not to hard to find comparisons, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, narrated by a loving daughter, features a cash-strapped family growing up in Brooklyn circa 1911, with a prominent aunt-figure. Meet Me In St Louis set circa 1903 centres on a more affluent family no less warm and human for all their wealth, and for good measure, it boasts both technicolor and a memorable score. I Remember Mama belongs firmly in the same sentence with both and plants Barbara Bel Geddes firmly in San Francisco a good quarter century before she would find herself there again in Vertigo. If pulling wings off flies lights your fire then this will bore you beyond tears but if you value fine writing, directing, acting, and good old fashioned story telling you will revel, nay, wallow in this.

Saw this years ago and had forgotten what a charming little film it was.Irene Dunn is wonderful as the rock holding together a struggling family, well worth viewing.While not an overtly political flick it obliquely reminds us that the melting pot concept is what made America what it is and is the greatest source of our nations strength.I think it also effectively challenges Tolstoys over quoted line that all happy families are alike.I wonder if a film such as this could even be made today as none of the characters had internal flaws and were able to triumph over life's random and inevitable adversity on their own inner strength and love for each other.I often find it interesting that art such as this was produced by the generation that had survived the deppression won world war two and quietly built what was perhaps the most successful society the world has ever known.

I won't rehash the marvelous moments already documented here (though that scene of the boy smoking, the window shutting, the girls going in and out of rooms, the rejection letter, etc., is utterly brilliant). I'll just say here that this film also serves to remind us of how amazing Irene Dunne was. In many ways she was a female Cary Grant - capable of brilliance in all sorts of genres and never fully appreciated. Her name should rank with Davis, and certainly above Hepburn. And, yes, the movie is sentimental. But it is never for a moment mawkish or insincere. Nor does it gloss over the dullness and disasters of ordinary family life. SEE THIS FILM.

The day before Mother's Day, May 11, I had checked this out of my local library to see either the next day or a few after that. It's now a couple of weeks after as well as after Memorial Day that I've just watched one of the most touching depictions of a mom and the way she sacrifices for her family done as well on film as this one as helmed by George Stevens and performed ably as well by Irene Dunne as the matriarch. Also fine was Barbara Bel Geddes as Katrin, Martha's (Dunne's character) oldest daughter and second born child who is seen typing the story and is the narrator throughout. Special mention should also go to Ellen Corby, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, and especially, Oscar Homolka as Uncle Chris who provides some of the funniest scenes that this mostly dramatic movie encounters as well as the most touching fate of his character. Maybe Tommy Ivo with his reaction to his ailment was a bit much but that's just a minor quibble. Also touching was Martha's visit to her youngest daughter, Dagmar, in the hospital especially when the mother sings and her dealings with that same daughter's cat, Uncle Elizabeth, whose fate turns out much differently than one expects! All in all, this was a very worthy film for all involved and deserved all the Oscar nominations it got.