I love this movie! This is my second time and I cried like a baby like I have never seen the movie before and I didn't know the ending! I love the story. You see it is real that folks will ask someone to look after a loved one when they are gone! A neighbor of ours asked my mother to look after his wife. My mother never told the wife this but she does look after her. We are humans and we know some folks can handle death better then others. Cope better. Sometimes love is not instant either. It grows slowly. It almost sneaks up on us. I think this movie shows those two things! I think this movie is worth much more then a 6.3 stars. Grief is a process. This movie teaches sometimes folks are there to help us through grief but are we willing to accept the help!

In this film, we have 70 minutes to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the lead character (Lauren Bacall) is going to die. If we've already seen the original version of this Fox melodrama, we know just how much of an eternity that hour and ten minutes may seem. For most of this time, however, our interest is sustained by Lauren Bacall's credible performance as a terminal woman who wants to adopt a little girl (Evelyn Rudie) and leave it behind to keep her husband (Robert Stack) company. The Freudian implications of such thoughtful generosity are not fully disclosed, but we are expected to accept this contrivance just the same. Beginning with the 71st minute of this motion picture, we are subjected to a series of painful scenes where Stack deals with death and the unlikelihood of raising Rudie without Bacall. There are countless moments where the characters mention talking to Bacall's spirit, presumably out of camera-range. This begs the question: why not just have Bacall hover over them, superimposed, to suggest some sort of present supernatural form? But the real reason the last thirty minutes without Miss Bacall are terribly difficult to watch is because the narrative at this point must rely strictly on Mr. Stack and Miss Rudie, who are just not able to hold our attention. Quite frankly, the young actress is not good enough to handle such a huge part; some of Rudie's line deliveries are so monotone and emotionless that all the hard work Bacall had done earlier in the picture is compromised. And when it becomes apparent that Rudie lacks the ability to bring some depth to the role, we feel sorry for Stack having to go through the paces with her, and we envy Bacall who took the last exit and got off at Heaven.

I just saw this movie for the first time on TCM and I'm an older adult. Why anyone would think this movie would appeal only to teenagers or younger is a little pessimistic to say the least. I love the movie - Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and adorable little Evelyn Rudie are wonderfully talented. Of course, no one will ever compare with Shirley Temple - that's a given. Even tho there have been many talented young actresses, they threw away the pattern with Shirley. The storyline is - as it's supposed to be - rather melancholy - and for the period of time it was made it's rather marvelous I feel. The outcome of the story - which most of us could have guessed of course - is quite a lesson that teaches just how grief can make someone go off the deep end, dealing with just their own pain, and not considering the feelings and welfare of someone else, especially a child. Who knows, maybe Julie's spirit did come and encourage more searching for Hitty - it's possible.

I was quite young (around 14) when I saw this movie on TV. While I could not remember the cast very much at that time, the story and the way the actors/actresses had carried the story through made a lasting impression on me - what it means when any child can be your child - it takes only to show love and how it can fill the gaps in our lives. This story of this film helped me to help many of my friends who did not have their own children and that they can enjoy the gift if they open their minds and hearts to them - as the leading lady impresses upon the husband. The beginning of romance between the two and the moments they draw together and next when we see them as a couple are all well portrayed.