Good concept, poorly executed.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Charles Brackett and Jacques Thery wrote a wonderful screenplay for a heart-wrenching story about a life that happened more than once, especially around the two world wars of the 20th century. It's a story that needed to be told, and that people should understand. A woman in love with a man in the military becomes pregnant out of wedlock, and the man is killed in the war. To have a baby in those times, without a husband, brought deep shame on a woman, and her family. It meant social ostracizing. That was the culture of many centuries that existed past the middle of the 20th century. Yet these women were mothers, and most wanted their babies. They were the offspring of the men they loved. But to bear the child in one's hometown or neighborhood would be unthinkable. So, some of the young such mothers married other men to have a father for their child. Most others went off to relatives or close family friends elsewhere to have their babies. Some were put up for adoption. Others were raised by relatives. The orphanages of the day were frequent places where such babies were left on doorsteps to be found and cared for. Some mothers kept track of their children, others didn't. Adoption policies then were much more restrictive than those of today. "To Each His Own" tells one such story, and Paramount couldn't have found a better actress to play the lead than Olivia de Havilland. She is one of the best performers of all time. Her Jody Norris portrays so perfectly what so many young women of her age and time must have felt and gone through. Her angst and fear, her love and devotion, her sadness and resolve – we feel something of all the emotions of a loving mother frustrated at her inability to have and to raise her child. De Havilland is one of the few actresses who could play this role so realistically and convincingly. The Motion Picture Academy agreed when it awarded her the 1946 Oscar as best actress. She won over a field of great performances in great films that reached far beyond those of the handful of nominees. De Havilland is joined here by a superb cast, all of whom give wonderful performances. Mary Anderson, who never reached much acclaim in her long career, gives one of her best performances. Her Corinne Piersen might have gained her an Academy Award nomination in another year without so many great films and performances. Phillip Terry is very good as Alex Piersen who is faithful to wife Corrine, but still pined for Jody. John Lund is very good in his dual roles. Roland Culver is just right for the character of Lord Desham, a man who helps bring some happiness into the life of Jody in mid-life. All others of a sizable cast are excellent. "To Each His Own" is an excellent film in all its technical areas. Mitchell Leisen did a tremendous job in directing, and all the film, camera, sound and editing work shine. The costuming and makeup excel, as Jody looks the perfect part of a woman in scenes 25 years apart. The flashback technique is this film works very well. It wasn't necessary but probably made the ending more dramatic where we see Jody's character change from grouchy to soft. This is a wonderful film that all should enjoy. It's a nice slice of sociology study for the period from before World War I to World War II. Yet, I can't help wonder, considering the dislike between them, how the film might have turned out had Joan Fontaine played Corinne. She probably wouldn't have taken the role – to play second fiddle to her older sister by one year. What tremendous talent these two sisters had. Olivia and Joan were born of English parents and seemed to have inherited their talent and love of acting from their mother, Lillian Fontaine. Joan Fontaine won the best actress Oscar in 1942 for "Suspicion." She beat out Olivia who was nominated for her role in "Hold Back the Dawn." Joan was nominated two more times for Oscars, and later was nominated for a daytime Emmy award. Olivia won two Oscars – the other being for "The Heiress" in 1949. She was nominated three more times. She also won two Golden Globes, with one more nomination and a prime time Emmy nomination in her later career.Two other English families had multiple stars who loved acting. The most prominent was probably the Redgraves. Father Michael, son Corin, and daughters Lynn and Vanessa were prominent stars of stage and screen in the 20th century – the children into the 21st century. Another English family of film and theater would be that of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell. Their daughters Hayley and Juliet became stage and screen actors.Perhaps the most famous talented family of actors of all time have been the Barrymores of America. Brothers Lionel and John and sister Ethel commanded top billing for the first half of the 20th century. They had later theater progeny, the most recent being Drew Barrymore. She is the granddaughter of John.

An unwed mother, forced to give up her child to avoid scandal, follows her son's life from afar even as she prospers in business.Sometimes Oscar-winning performances make you scratch your head, especially many years after the fact. This, however, is not one of them. Very few films of the era had an actress carry a film from beginning to end, especially for a story that spans twenty years (or more).Unfortunately, it may be that a decent home release does not currently (2017) exist in the United States. The copy I watched was dark, and the voices were occasionally out of sync. It must have been a third-generation copy, if not more so. A real shame.

A successful cosmetics tycoon (Olivia de Havilland) goes on a flashback of her life story as she mans her assigned post during a bombing raid in 1944 London. This trip takes us to her youthful days as the beautiful daughter working in her father's pharmacy in small-town New York state where she's the prize for a couple of suitors, but falls for a barnstorming WWI pilot (John Lund) and ends up having a son out of wedlock. The prevailing morals make keeping the child out of the question, but her love for her son is at the center of the film, as is her emerging success as a businesswoman which allows her financial independence which opens more doors for her character. This role won de Havilland the Oscar for best actress and it is a great part which shows a woman taking on her times and succeeding in doing so.

Olivia De Havilland's first Oscar came for "To Each His Own."After a one night stand with a pilot, De Havilland, a small town girl with intelligence and moral fortitude, finds herself in trouble.Giving the child up is the most heart rendering thing imaginable to view.Years later as the world enters World War 11, in a chance meeting, De Havilland meets the child, now a grown man and in the army as well.Through the years, when they did meet, he could never imagine why she would cling to him.With his wedding approaching, De Havilland attends it in London, where she now resides. When the son realizes who she is, he brought many a tear to the eye when he says, "May I have this dance, mother?"Well done tear-jerker. A bold step in tackling the concept of illegitimacy; although, we saw this concept as early as 1932 in "The Sin of Madelon Claudet." Heroine Helen Hayes got an Oscar for that one as well. What does that tell you about Hollywood and socially controversial topics?