Careful, He Might Hear You

Schultz presents a knee-high view of the world in this tug-of-love drama, set in the depression, between two sisters fighting for custody of their orphan nephew. Vanessa (Hughes) wants him in order to relive her fantasies about his father; she is rich, snobbish and beautiful, while Lila (Nevin) - poor, kind and asthmatic - is so prim she speaks of his mother being with 'God's angels'. The law settles for Vanessa's wealth, but the film's sympathies lie all too obviously with honest Lila. Sumner Locke Elliott's novel is ill-served by this adaptation: beautiful to look at, it's still a superficial, Gothic costume drama with a romantic score which pounds out the significance of every gesture.