kijii This is de Havilland's personal favorite of her own movies. She won her first of two Best Actress Oscars for this movie. The movie starts in London during the Nazi bombings of WW II and then flashes back to Jody's memories as the teen-aged daughter of a small town druggist during WW I. There is something about this movie that I just don't like. Is it that most of the characters were not likable? Or is it that I personally thought Jody was always selfish to everyone, everywhere? One keeps wondering why she never "got on" with her personal life after giving her son up for adoption. Is this noble or right? It comes down to this: having a life full of love and memories or having one full of regrets and disappointments. For me, she chose the wrong path. Nothing was ever forced on HER the way she forced herself on her friends. For me, there was only one truly noble character in this movie, Lord Desham. Only he was not a mercenary. Only he knew what it was like to have lost everything and know that he had wasted so much of his life in its lonely misery.

blanche-2 "To Each His Own" is a 1946 film starring Olivia de Havilland, John Lund, Mary Anderson, and Roland Culver. The story is told in flashback, with Jody Norris (de Havilland), now in London during World War II, remembering her past while waiting for a train.Jody is a young, pretty girl in World War I when Captain Bart Cosgrove, a pilot, flies into town for a bond rally. The two fall in love; he returns to service, intending to be with her after the war. However, he dies in action. Then Jody learns that she is pregnant. She comes from a small town, so she goes to New York to have her baby. She and a nurse arrange for the nurse to keep her baby and then, once Jody has been back in town, the nurse will come to town and leave the baby on the doorstep of a family that already has a bunch of children. Jody will then offer to take the child, and she doesn't see a problem with them agreeing. The best laid plans. What happens alters the course of Jody's life and the life of her child.A very sweet film with an absolutely brilliant performance by Olivia de Havilland, who ages from a young, vibrant woman to a hard, lonely workaholic. de Havilland's quiet beauty and pleasant speaking voice made her perfect for Melanie, but she was capable of so much more, as evidenced here.Mary Anderson plays Corinne Piersen, and she gives the other standout performance. Everyone is good. Roland Culver, as Lord Desham, is especially charming.This warm, satisfying story is a wonderful watch. Imagine hiding that you're pregnant and unmarried today.

robert-temple-1 Olivia de Havilland well deserved the Oscar she got for the lead role in this melodrama. In an astonishing display of virtuosity, she plays the character over the course of 20 years, being utterly convincing both as a sweet young thing with an innocent smile and a hard-bitten middle-aged business woman whose lips are hardened into a permanent grimace of determined refusal to feel anything. Rarely has an actress shown such a range of both age and mood in the same film. As always, Miss de Havilland's eyes positively glow like hot coals with the intelligence and high character which are so much her own personal nature. Having known Miss de Havilland somewhat during the 1990s in Paris, I can testify that even in her eighties she was mesmerising and perfectly spell-binding as a woman, and one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. She has such a fine, generous and loving nature, and such a sound character that she is simply a paragon of human goodness. All of these qualities shine forth in her movies, and were responsible for her turning Hollywood upside down with the famous 'de Havilland Decision' of the courts, which restricted the power of the Hollywod studios over their actors. She has always been as courageous as, presumably, her ancestor must have been who accompanied William the Conqueror when he invaded England. And yes, Miss de Havilland is connected with the once-famous de Havilland aircraft: that was the same family. She is British, which explains why she was able to speak like that in this film during the London scenes (one reviewer wondered how she did it). Another sterling performance in this film was by the wonderful Roland Culver, one of Britain's best-loved character actors. In this film, he showed such finesse and such an impeccably delicate touch that he acted circles round everyone but Miss de Havilland herself. John Lund made his film debut here, in a double-role, which called upon him to play two very different types of personality, which he did very well indeed. Mary Anderson was especially fine in her portrayal of a sweet girl who goes mad with jealousy and becomes a virago when her back is against the wall. But the main importance of this film was its social message, valid for the times although irrelevant now, of intolerance for the unmarried mother. Now they are everywhere, and we pay for them in their hundreds of thousands with our taxes. But in those days, it took rare courage to dare to have a baby and attempt to keep it if you had no husband. Social ostracism and vilification were so strong then, when humans were still acting with their 'herd mentality' of exclusion of anyone challenging the norms. This film helped to change the social picture, and it is well for us to remember that such films as this did not only have a message, they often delivered it too. But without Miss de Havilland in the lead, this film might well have fallen into a sentimental slop bucket. It was she who raised its tone to that of art.

cjohnso8 The title of the movie was misleading,but as a huge fan of Ms. de Havilland, I watched this movie. It was a very tender story of the enduring and endearing love a mother had for her child.It brought to mind the contrast of today's societal views of unwed mothers(as it were).The story made me even more grateful to have 3 wonderful sons.I would love watch this movie with my mom and my five sister,on the day before mothers' day. What a good way to have your 'tears jerked'! What a celebration of motherhood!I will be happy when it is released on DVD. Hopefully very soon.