Journey For Margaret (1942)

Set during the war in Europe in 1940, an American war correspondent (Robert Young) sends his wife (Laraine Day) home after an operation that prevents her from ever having children. While writing a story on war orphans, he encounters two children (Margaret O'Brien, William Severn) that will change his life. Based on the novel by William Lindsay White and directed by W.S. Van Dyke (THE THIN MAN) in his final film. One of many of the propaganda war movies churned out by Hollywood during the war years, this one takes an unusual bent. It concentrates on children and the effect war has on them. While nowhere near the power or artistry of Rene Clement's FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952) which dealt with the same theme, it does its job admirably as long as it stays focused on the children and not the adults. Robert Young isn't strong enough for his more difficult scenes and he and Laraine Day have a drunk scene that's the pits! In her first major role, Margaret O'Brien turns on the tears (it's said O'Brien and June Allyson were MGM's top criers, both could cry at the drop of a hat) and she has a mixture of stubbornness and vulnerability that gives her character appeal. With Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce, Elisabeth Risdon and Doris Lloyd.