Sunday 25 December 2016

All Mine to Give

All Mine to Give (1957) is based on the novel The Day They Gave The Babies Away which first appeared in Cosmopolitan in December of 1946.  Inspired by a true story, All Mine to Give follows a Scottish couple, Robert and Mamie Eunson who immigrates to America in 1856.  They plan to settle in a Midwest logging village where the wife's aunt and uncle live.  However, upon arrival, the couple discovers that the aunt and uncle have died in a house fire.

Locals help Robert, played by Cameron Mitchell, rebuild the house while Mamie (Glynis Johns) waits expectantly for their first child to arrive.  She gives birth to boy, Robbie, and the family prospers.  Robbie is followed by five more children.  Tragedy strikes when one of the children, Kirk, develops diptheria.  While he recovers under quarantine, Robert succumbs to the disease which he contracted from Kirk due to a goodbye kiss.

Stability returns to the Eunson family for a brief time after Mamie finds a job as a seamstress and Robbie takes on the role of "man of the house".  However, an exhausted Mamie contracts typhoid and charges Robbie to look after the children.  After she passes away, Robbie must find homes for all of his siblings on Christmas day.  He remains stoic, even after he gives away the last child, baby Jane. However, he breaks down when he spots the tree outside the family homestead into which his dad had carved the names of all of the children.



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