To me, this movie is perfection.

Fresh and Exciting

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Horrible screenplay hardly worthy of a great talent like Walter Huston, who plays a man apparently wrongly imprisoned for years. His wife, mediocre actress, Kay Francis, divorces him and tells the children their father died. Years later, when they're in their teens, Huston is inexplicably pardoned and hitchhikes to California to see his son and daughter. Could have been an interesting drama, but completely misses every opportunity for thoughtful character development.The better part of the movie is nothing more than musical "filler" with the caterwauling daughter played by ingenue, Gloria Warren, either endlessly practicing her scales or launching into some totally forgettable song. Also, much screen time is devoted to the bratty antics of what must be the most annoying child star in the history of movies, Patty Hale.

I hadn't seen this film for years, and then I only remembered parts of it. The parts I did remember were the dialogue scenes between Kay Francis and estranged hubby Walter Huston, and between Huston and the children who do not know him. This part of the film is very good and made me want to see it again.When I saw it again the other night for the first time in years on TCM I was horrified. Worse, I was somewhat bored. Either I never saw or my memory blocked out the musical portions. Obviously, Warner Bros. was trying to turn Gloria Warren into their own Deanna Durbin, but she just lacked the "star quality" Durbin had and was a completely uninteresting actress, at least in this film.The film could have been a great one if the music had been eliminated and the focus kept on the melodrama - a man (Walter Huston) getting out of prison and giving up a woman who loves him and his children so they can all have some security with a rather bland fellow who wants to marry the woman (Kay Francis). Instead, Huston paces from the "good" side of town where we are tormented by Warren's operatic screeching, to the bad side of town where a novelty harmonica band act torments us some more. Just goes to proves bad music has a home in both the low-brow and high-brow varieties.What gets five stars from me is the warm family story and the title song, "Always In My Heart" which is really quite beautiful and a bit of a theme song for the entire situation portrayed in the film. If you want to see what Kay Francis and Walter Huston can do for a film without all of this distraction thrown in, try to track down a copy of "Gentlemen of the Press". There they really sizzle.

Walter Huston, Kay Francis and Gloria Warren star in "Always in My Heart," a 1942 film featuring Sidney Blackmer, Frankie Thomas and Una O'Connor. Francis plays "Mudge," a woman whose ex-husband (Huston) is in prison. She is getting ready to marry again, this time to a wealthy man, Philip (Blackmer). Her daughter Vicky (Warren) doesn't care for him, but her son (Marty (Thomas) likes his money. Mudge goes to see her former husband, a talented musician, in prison to tell him that if there's any chance of a pardon, she'll wait for him; he lies and says there's no chance, although he already has one (he was innocently involved in a shady business deal; a fight broke out, and a man died). He wants her to remarry and the kids to be taken care of. The children have been told he's dead. When he's released, he goes into their home town to get a look at the kids and ends up staying in "Fish Town," an Italian community, where he works and plays his music. It's through music that he bonds with Vicky, who wants to be a singer. Meanwhile, he watches his son, who is dating a street smart woman who's a little older than he is and becomes concerned.This is a very sweet film with some enjoyable music and operatic singing by Warren. With the success of Deanna Durbin, the studios apparently all scrambled for their own version. Warren had a well-trained, small coloratura voice that had a very high sound to it (everything she sang sounded as if it started about an octave higher than anyone else's music), the kind of voice very popular back in the days of the French soprano, Lily Pons. She was dark and pretty with a certain appeal, but the voice didn't have the versatility of Durbin's, nor was she as charismatic. Huston, of course, does a beautiful job as her father. Francis looks fantastic and gives a lovely performance. Warner Brothers was just about to dump her. Una O'Connor is very funny as the housekeeper, and while some may have found her annoying, I thought Patti Hale, who played O'Connor's granddaughter, was adorable.If you're a Kay Francis fan, a Walter Huston fan, or an opera fan, you should enjoy "Always in my Heart."

This must have been a play at one time. What an interesting romantic story about a family torn apart, because of bad/unlucky circumstances. I like all of Kay Francis' movies. I am learning more about Walter Houston. What a good looking and great actor. The story ends the way it should. It is a good romance without all the "love making"....A very talented singer is Gloria Warren. I am sorry I didn't know about her sooner. Frankie Thomas is so good looking and an impressive actor. I will have to find out more about him. As expected, Sidney Blackmer has always been good and I look forward to his movies. Thank you for listening. Florence Forrester-Stockton , Reno, Nevada