Edna Kahly and her adopted sister Charlotte are both about to get married. When Charlotte's future mother-in-law learns that she was a foundling, the wedding is called off, and Charlotte takes her own life out of shame. Soon afterward, Edna meets Sam Gladney, a brash bank cashier, marries him and moves to Texas, his home state. The couple's early life in Sherman, where Sam runs a flour mill, is idyllic, but a difficult childbirth leaves Edna unable to have more children. Over the following years, her devotion to abandoned children takes shape and runs up against the attitudes of the community around her. It is a story of vocation, loss and perseverance, centred on the real Edna Gladney.

How it was made

Mervyn LeRoy directed and Irving Asher produced the film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ralph Wheelwright wrote the story and Anita Loos the screenplay, and Mildred Cram, Dorothy Yost and Hugo Butler are reported to have contributed uncredited material. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon lead a cast that includes Felix Bressart, Marsha Hunt and Fay Holden. Herbert Stothart composed the score, and the colour photography was by Karl Freund and W. Howard Greene, with editing by George Boemler. The story fictionalises parts of Gladney's real life, including her own illegitimate birth and the amount of time she spent with her husband.

Reception and legacy

The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall and was one of the biggest hits of 1941 for MGM, helping to establish Greer Garson as one of the decade's major stars. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised its sincerity but found it overly sentimental, while Variety judged it well made yet not especially impressive. It won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in colour and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Garson and Best Cinematography in colour. It placed tenth in Film Daily's year-end critics' poll of the best films of 1941.