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I Remember Mama



I Remember Mama (1948)

Director: George Stevens
Writers: DeWitt Bodeen (screenplay)
Cast: Irene Dunne, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oskar Homolka
Genre: Drama, Family

"The ups and downs of a Norwegian immigrant family, circa 1910."

I Remember Mama
is a simple yet effective story, that keeps it all grounded so that you feel like you're actually transported back to the 1900s San Francisco. It does 'world building' perfectly, even the music score and cinematography fits the style of the film... and that's key to believing what you're seeing.

The entire cast and crew, a total of 178 people took a train to shoot on location in San Francisco. That was basically unheard of in Hollywood at the time, and the cost was very expensive. The effect is we just don't see a few seconds of stock footage from San Francisco, we see the cast on Telegraph hill and on the actually streets of the city. San Francisco becomes part of the movie.



I thought the cast was stand out, especially Irene Dunn (Mama), Ellen Corby (Trinia), Barbara Bel Gedded (Katrin) and Oskar Homolka (Uncle Chris)...all who were nominated for an Academy Awards. I really like Irene Dunn in this as she embodies the frugal, hard working, family dedicated Norwegian woman who's moved to America and has made it her home.

At first I thought Uncle Chris was going to be a silly caricature and too over the top. But I grew to like him and understand him too. And even though he was loud he was believable in his actions.

If you can't find a time machine, you scan still step back in time to San Francisco 1910s with I Remember Mama.