TO EACH HIS OWN Review – Olivia de Havilland, John Lund d: Mitchell Leisen

TO EACH HIS OWN (1946)

Direction: Mitchell Leisen

Cast: Olivia de Havilland, John Lund, Mary Anderson, Roland Culver, Phillip Terry, Bill Goodwin

Screenplay: Charles Brackett and Jacques Théry; from a story by Brackett

Oscar Movies

Recommended

Olivia de Havilland, John Lund, To Each His Own

Olivia de Havilland, who had starred in the 1941 melodrama Hold Back the Dawn, returns to the wartime milieu in To Each His Own (1946), once again under the direction of Mitchell Leisen, who guides the proceedings with his characteristic sincerity while cleverly skirting the Production Code's restrictive guidelines. 

In To Each His Own, de Havilland plays Jody Norris, a small-town woman who falls quickly in love — much like her character in Hold Back the Dawn — but this time during World War I, when Jody's brief liaison with daredevil flying ace Captain Cosgrove (John Lund) results in an out-of-wedlock child.

When Cosgrove is killed in battle, the young mother anonymously gives up her baby to a childless couple in her hometown, remaining a caregiver to the boy until her secret is revealed. Afterward, she relocates to New York City, where she establishes a flourishing cosmetics empire. The child passes in and out of her life over several decades leading to World War II and London, where Jody has reestablished herself.

For To Each His Own, screenwriter Charles Brackett — working with Jacques Théry, instead of frequent partner Billy Wilder — updated the unwed-mother films of the early 1930s, as the melodramatic progression of the story unmistakably recalls pre-Production Code potboilers such as The Secret of Madame Blanche (Charles Brabin, 1933) and The Sin of Madelon Claudet (Edgar Selwyn, 1931).

Leisen, for his part, characteristically eschews strong moralizing; thus, To Each His Own is surprisingly direct in its handling of an unwed mother, paralleling Jody's increasing coldness with the detached — but honest — flashbacks that comprise the bulk of the film. Perhaps because the illegitimate child's father is a fallen hero and the United States was emerging from the Second World War, the censors were more forgiving of the subject matter.

As a plus, de Havilland is given the opportunity to portray young and old, impassioned and embittered, and mostly succeeds; hers is a mature, shrewd characterization that only falters in authenticity in the opening bookend segment. On the downside, John Lund is both flat and unappealing in the dual role of Captain Cosgrove and his grown son. True to the form of “women’s pictures,” the film's leading male is bland, especially against an outstanding female star.

Olivia de Havilland won her first Academy Award for her work in To Each His Own. Three years later, she became a two-time winner with William Wyler's drama The Heiress.

© Doug Johnson

Note: This review was initially posted in November 2009.