I love old '40's and '50's movies. Some I could watch over and over. But not this one. The acting in Sentimental Journey is well done and once that Sentimental Journey tune gets in your head, it's hard to get rid of it. However the story line of the movie illustrates too much emotional dysfunction for my taste. Rather than allow her husband to mature into a fully functioning adult, Julie Beck caters to him and enables his self-centered immaturity. Then, during her dying moments she lays the burden of carrying on this habit upon the innocent shoulders of her adopted daughter.
There is plenty of emotional manipulation in this movie. So much so, that I threw the box of tissues into a corner and fumed the rest of the way through the movie. I wanted to do a Cher slap to Bill Weatherly and tell him to get a grip and grow up. To lay the burden of adult grief upon a child rather than helping her through her own grief is emotional abuse. I was irritated at both characters, Julie Beck and Bill weatherly as they treat the child as their emotional crutch, not as a child worthy of love and loved for just being herself. They appear to use her to fulfill selfish purposes for her adoptive parents. Uncle Don shows redeeming qualities and helps save the movie and the child with his bumbling but effective interventions. Connie Marshall as Hitty Weatherby also helps save this movie by her superb acting. Watch if you want to wallow in an emotional wading pool. If wallowing in a pool of sentimentalism is not your thing then save your time and watch something else.
Review of Sentimental Journey
