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Bookmark this pageChild of Divorce (1946)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Fleischer's modest first feature, about a child's reaction to divorce, is a beauty. Lillie Hayward's script, based on a play (Wednesday's Child by Leopold L Atlas), avoids all the pitfalls of special pleading. Both parents (Toomey and Meredith) want what is best for the child; their new partners are genuine in their desire to become friends; but the child herself, partly because of innocent teasing at school, mainly because she just can't understand, remains obstinately unaccommodating. The only solution, therefore, is boarding school: not some Dickensian horror, but a gracious, spacious place in the country boasting every amenity a child could desire. And there, in a nakedly moving final sequence, the child learns, under the sympathetic tutelage of a new friend who has been through the mill, what to expect: a time when presents come thick and fast; a time when visits grow fewer and fewer; and then, just the long, long wait to grow up. Fleischer puts scarcely a foot wrong, and the kids (Sharyn Moffett as the unhappy child, Ann Carter as her friend) are astonishing.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Richard Fleischer
Producer: Lillie Hayward
Cast: Sharyn Moffett, Regis Toomey, Madge Meredith, Walter Reed, Doris Merrick, Ann Carter, Una O'Connor full cast
Duration: 62 mins
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