User Reviews

Blind Mrs. Lind (Jane Darwell) comes to American to visit her three children whom she thinks are successful. SPOILERS: The film starts in Austria/Germany with three hungry young kids playing their musical instruments on the street for pennies, if they can get them. A man who feels sorry for them invites them to a going away party for a sweet blind lady who is finally going to America to see her children who moved there years earlier and have been paying her medical bills ever since. She proudly tells all her friends about her son owning his own car factory (he's actually a cab driver.) Her one daughter is a Broadway star, played by barely employed chorus girl Claire Trevor. And lovely Evelyn Venable plays another daughter who is not a concert pianist as she told her mother but sells sheet music in the five and dime store. It turns out the kids love their mother so much they have been sending her all the money they can for her medical expenses and they did not want to make her feel guilty about the sacrifices they have been making. Well mom wants to surprise the kids and she shows up the same day as her telegram announcing her arrival is delivered! This story sounds sentimental but it's so charming, funny and touching it works like It's A Wonderful Life! More spoilers: The children try to keep up the facade with the help of a friend's apartment and the loan of some nicer clothes, but Mom is still blind so she does not catch on yet. However, a doctor shows up at the request of the specialist from back home she had been seeing. Turns out this new doctor might be able to restore mom's eyesight if she gets an operation. Then the doctor falls for one of the daughters and offers to perform the operation for free! The kids think mom will be let down to see they are not as successful as they pretend to be... after the operation is successful mom sneaks back to the address where she used to send letters to her kids only to discover how they really had to live on a small budget. What does she do? She cooks them all dinner and waits for them to arrive to say thank you for all they have done and to accept whatever success they do have, without lying. Oh, by the way the chorus girl does accidently fill in for the star and get offered the lead. The taxi driver earns enough to buy his own cab and the sheet music salesgirl marries the doctor! If you've ever had a family or a mother, I think you too might love this film.