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I am far from being in a tear-jerking mood, girls, but, when it comes to such scenes, few can match the scene of Peggy Ann Garner in the schoolroom, with the flowers, in the 1945 film "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn."
It has been so long since I have seen this gem--which, because of this scene I find so hard to watch--that I had to research where in the film it comes in. About three quarters into the picture, I would say, and one does not forget it. Ever. Peggy Ann Garner won a Special Juvenile Oscar for delineating Betty Smith's immortal literary creation, Francie Nolan, and if the rest of her performance were not so exemplary, which it is, this scene alone would have won her the statue.
This moment was directed by a man making his film directing debut--Elia Kazan!!!!!!!!!! What a start!
But here is what leads up to it.
Francie's parents, Katie and Johnny Nolan, are mismatched. But they are Irish Catholic, so forget a separation. Besides, they love each other. Katie (Dorothy McGuire, in another outstanding performance) is the hard-scrabble wife with the force of Scarlett O'Hara, who, like that heroine, keeps food on the table and in the children's mouths, and a roof over their heads. Johnny Nolan (James Dunn, in an Oscar winning performance) is a charming, ne'er do well dreamer, who has a gorgeous tenor voice--but it can't support his family.
Joan Blondell also turns in an Oscar worthy performance--but wasn't even nominated; can you believe it????--as Aunt Sissy, Katie's morally liberal sister. Both she and Francie are the iconoclasts of the family, which draws them together. As does Francie's unswerving love for her father.
Familial tensions erupt, but are resolved. Katie becomes pregnant, with a third child, and Johnny, desperate to provide for his family, ventures out into a snow storm, only to vanish for days. He is found, dead, frozen to death from pneumonia, while in Manhattan, vainly trying to seek employment. Francie is grief stricken, but cannot reconcile herself. They took some liberty with the book, and I think there Johnny dies of alcoholism. Things were softened, but penumonia in 1912 New York certainly made sense. Now, pay attention, here it comes.
Johnny, without question, loved his family. He was inept, but he had heart. One thing he did for Francie was to enable her to enroll into a better school, where she could get the education she would need, to go beyond what she
was born into. Now, I don't know if Johnny had a premonition of what was to happen, but, months before Francie's graduation from the school, and eighth grade, he had given Sissy some money, and a note written from him, instructing her to give them to Francie on the day of her graduation.
As it turns out, Francie and her brother Neely (Ted Donaldson) are both graduating from school the same day. Katie goes to Neely's ceremony; both she and her son are more pragmatic. Sissy goes with Francie; after all, she and her niece are iconoclasts. She walks into the school, leaves the items there, and watches Francie graduate.
After, the children go to their classroom, to say their goodbyes, and receive whatever gifts have been left for them on the desk. Sissy goes with Francie--I am starting to cry myself, as I write this!!!!-- and the note and flowers are on the desk. Francie reads the note, hugs the flowers--and unleashes her pent-up grief in a scene that has caused many to break down over the years. I dare say, if I went to see this in a revival at the Film Forum, I would have to be escorted out, at this point, because I would be heaving great, gulping sobs.
You can see it on this tribute to Joan Blondell's performance on here. It is the last moment, and it is devastating to watch. Though it lacks the impact if you have not seen what comes before.
If you have never seen this film, I urge you to.
As for me, I will sit it out, till revival time, when I know I will be escorted out!!!!!!!!!
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