The Divided Heart

A change of tack for comedy specialist Crichton in Ealing's true-life tug-of-love saga (written by Jack Whittingham and Richard Hughes) about a Bavarian couple, Borchers and Dahlen, who raise war orphan Ray as their own, then have to face the difficult consequences when the boy's real mother, a survivor of Auschwitz, is traced back in Yugoslavia. Mitchell is impressive as the distraught genuine mum trying to win back her child's affection through the language barrier that's grown up between them, and producer Michael Balcon rated this stolid, earnest drama one of the best films made at Ealing.