I Remember Mama |  | Director: George Stevens
Actors: Irene Dunne, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oskar Homolka, Philip Dorn, Cedric Hardwicke
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $5.79
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Rating:  68 reviews
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, Dolby, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Norwegian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 134 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: T6837
ISBN: 0780648722
UPC: 053939683721
EAN: 9780780648722
Theatrical Release Date: 1948
Release Date: December 7, 2004
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| Features:
| • | Irene Dunne stars as the mother anyone would love in this nostalgic picture directed by George Stevens. Chronicled by her aspiring-writer daughter (Barbara Bel Geddes), Mama is the matriarch of an immigrant Norwegian family in 1910 San Francisco. She and her husband bring up their four children with great humor and hope, amid genteel poverty in a new land. Meddling relatives, illnesses and near-de |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
This high point in the 1940s vogue for movies about family life at the turn of the century was directed by George Stevens (Shane), and stars Irene Dunne as the matriarch of a Norwegian family that faces hard knocks with grace in 1910 (or so) San Francisco. Based on John Van Druten's hit play (derived from Kathryn Forbes's autobiographical memoir), the film is gorgeously rendered and quite moving as an act of memory. The sterling cast of character actors--Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee, Oscar Homolka, Barbara Bel Geddes, Ellen Corby, Cedric Hardwicke--add great texture and a depth of experience that make the film feel quite lived-in. Hardwicke's turn as a penniless boarder who "pays" his rent by reciting from classic literature is a special highlight. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
Irene Dunne stars as the mother anyone would love in this nostalgic picture directed by George Stevens. Chronicled by her aspiring-writer daughter (Barbara Bel Geddes) Mama is the matriarch of an immigrant Norwegian family in 1910 San Francisco. She and her husband bring up their four children with great humor and hope amid genteel poverty in a new land. Meddling relatives illnesses and near-death draw the family together and all are close to Mama the one person who can make things right. Nominated for five Academy Awards this endearing and heartwarming classic brings together a flawless supporting cast including Philip Dorn Sir Cedric Hardwicke Edgar Bergen Rudy Vallee and Ellen Corby. Year:1948Running Time: 134 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939683721
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
 San Francisco in 1910 with street cars and horses October 11, 2009
R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
Uncle Chris is a terror to the children? The old world
temper of the aunts makes them laugh at the marriage
of one to an undertaker. But the picture is of a family of three
girls and one boy
surviving in a new country with a mother figure
to guide them. I liked the movie which is to me overly sentimental.
The reading of books by the boarder is a very good touch.
 I Remember Mama June 20, 2009
Patricia A. Vanwey
Wonderful movie. Everyone should own this and watch it over and over again. The character building bonds of love and family through difficult times is a lesson for all of us. You will share tears of laughter and sadness throughout the movie.
I Remember Mama June 11, 2009
Joyce E. Hatcher
This has always been one of my favorite movies. Irene Dunne and Oscar Homolka's performances are outstanding. Everyone, especially Barbara Bel Geddes, made this a very memorable story. It is a timeless movie about family values that everyone should see.
Mama June 6, 2009
Carrol Greenwood
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not yet viewed, rated on memory of movie seen over 55 years ago. VERY impressed then, want to see again as time permits.
Dunne and Stevens Soar in a Vintage Remembrance of the Early 20th-Century Immigrant Experience March 22, 2009
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
There are two key reasons to watch this sentimental yet emotionally involving 1948 immigrant family saga today. The first is George Stevens' assured direction, his first post-WWII film and a palpable sign of his wartime experiences that portends his deepening sense of character in dramas like A Place in the Sun and Shane after his years of breezy comedies and musicals. The second is star Irene Dunne, who caps her impressively versatile screen career with a performance of unforced warmth and uncommon depth. With no make-up and sporting a convincing Norwegian accent, she provides the film's heart and emotional anchor as Mama.
The framing device for the story is the recently completed manuscript by Katrin Hanson which she reads out loud while reminiscing about her Norwegian family in San Francisco circa 1910. A family of six living on hilly Larkin Street, the Hansons maintain their core family unit despite a lot of hardships and eccentric relatives. While father Lars toils as a carpenter to support his family, Katrin's memories inevitably revolve around her stoic mother Martha, who consistently shows the courage of her convictions. When spinsterish Aunt Trina decides to marry a milquetoast pharmacist, it is Martha who must get consensus from her intolerant sisters Jenny and Sigrid as well as Uncle Chris, a black-sheep blowhard who acts as the family patriarch. When Katrin's baby sister Dagmar goes to the hospital overnight, it is Martha who disguises herself as a charwoman to be able to stay with her. And when Katrin becomes discouraged enough to give up her writing aspirations, it is again Martha who finagles her way to meeting a famous author and convincing her to read one of Katrin's short stories.
Beyond Dunne's exemplary work, there is a sturdy supporting cast to consider - Oscar Homolka bringing the requisite bluster to Uncle Chris, Ellen Corby in her only first-rate screen role as timid Aunt Trina, and at 25, Barbara Bel Geddes conveying convincing adolescent innocence as Katrin. DeWitt Bodeen's screenplay captures the episodic nature of the real Katrin Forbes' remembrance and one can assume of John Van Druten's Broadway play. It should be noted that without Stevens and Dunne, the film would surely feel far more interminable at its 134-minute running length. The 2004 DVD is sparse on extras offering only a three-minute introduction from George Stevens Jr. and the original theatrical trailer.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
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