''The Divided Heart'' is a 1954 British

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Charles Crichton Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and film editor, editor. Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-ye ...

and starring Cornell Borchers,

Yvonne Mitchell Yvonne Mitchell (born Yvonne Frances Joseph; 7 July 1915 – 24 March 1979) was an English actress and author. After beginning her acting career in theatre, Mitchell progressed to films in the late 1940s. Her roles include Julia in the 1954 BBC ...

and

Armin Dahlen Armin Dahlen (14 October 1919 – 26 July 2013) was an Austrian actor. He also directed for television. He starred in the 1954 Ealing Studios drama '' The Divided Heart''. He died in July 2013 at the age of 93. Selected filmography * '' White ...

. The film is based on a true story of a child, whose father was a member of Slovenian Partisans executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, while little Ivan was, like other 300 babies and young children from Slovenia, whose parents were declared Banditen by Nazis, sent to Germany in a Nazi program known as

Lebensborn Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "hea ...

. It was made at

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...

with sets designed by the art director

Edward Carrick Edward Carrick (born Edward Anthony Craig; 3 January 1905 – 21 January 1998) was an English art designer for film, an author and illustrator. Carrick was born in London. His father was Edward Gordon Craig, the theatre practitioner and stage d ...

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...

took place around St. Johann in Tirol in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The script was written by Jack Whittingham and Richard Hughes. It was produced by

Michael Truman Michael Truman (25 February 1916, in Bristol, England – 11 July 1972, in Newbury, Berkshire) was a British film producer, director and editor. Educated at University of London, London University,Brian McFarlane (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of ...

and edited by

Peter Bezencenet Peter Bezencenet (1914–2003) was a British film editor and film director. He co-scripted the 1936 film ''Conquest of the Air''.Morley p.84 He was employed by the Rank Organisation on a number of films during the 1950s, including several for Eal ...

, with cinematography by

Otto Heller Otto Heller, B.S.C. (8 March 1896 – 19 February 1970) was a Czech cinematographer long resident in the United Kingdom. He worked on more than 250 films, including '' Richard III'' (1955), '' The Ladykillers'' (1955) and ''Peeping Tom'' (1960 ...

and music by

Georges Auric Georges Auric (; 15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, France. He was considered one of ''Les Six'', a group of artists informally associated with Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. Before he turned 20 he ...

. ''The Divided Heart'' was widely admired, and won three British Academy Film Awards.

Plot

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, a three-year-old boy is found wandering alone in Germany. No family can be traced, and it is presumed that his parents and siblings have been casualties of war. The child is placed in an orphanage, from where he is subsequently adopted by a childless couple, whom he grows to love and accept as his parents. When the boy is 10 years old, his natural mother is found alive in Yugoslavia where she has survived the war as a refugee. She travels to Germany to claim her child, having lost her husband and two other children in the war. The film focuses on the moral dilemma of the situation: should the child remain with the adoptive parents who have given him a loving and happy home, or be returned to his natural mother who has lost everything else, and to what extent should the child's own wishes be taken into account? The case is finally referred to a three-man court, who will decide the child's future. As in the true story on which the film is based, he is returned to his biological mother.

Cast

* Cornell Borchers as Inga *

as Sonja *

as Franz *

Alexander Knox Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor on stage, screen, and occasionally television. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as Woodrow Wilson in the film '' Wilson'' (1944). ...

as Chief Justice *

Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the ''James Bond'' films. Biography Early lif ...

as Marks *

Liam Redmond Liam Redmond (27 July 1913 – 28 October 1989) was an Irish character actor known for his stage, film and television roles. Early life Redmond was one of four children born to cabinet-maker Thomas and Eileen Redmond. Educated at the Christ ...

as First Justice * Eddie Byrne as Second Justice *

Theodore Bikel Theodore Meir Bikel ( ; May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including '' The African Queen'' (1951), ''Moulin Rouge'' (1952), ' ...

as Josip * Pamela Stirling as Mlle. Poncet * Michel Ray as Toni (aged 10) * Martin Stephens as Hans *

André Mikhelson André Mikhelson was a Russian actor, in mostly British films. He was born in Moscow, in 1903. Selected filmography * '' The Gambler and the Lady'' (1952) - El Greco (uncredited) * '' Desperate Moment'' (1953) - Polizei Inspector * '' Star of My ...

as Professor Miran *

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

as the Ticket Collector *

Richard Molinas Richard Molinas (17 November 1911 – 1975) was a British stage and film actor. A character actor, he appeared in a number of supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storylin ...

as Herr Pieter * Krystyna Rumistrzewicz as Mitzi * Mark Gübhard as Max * John Welsh as Chief Marshall *

Alec McCowen Alexander Duncan McCowen, (26 May 1925 – 6 February 2017) was an English actor. He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. Early life McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Mary (née Walkden), a dance ...

as Reporter * Marianne Walla as Matron *

Guy Deghy Guy Deghy (born Gedeon Aladar Istvan Deghy; 11 October 1912 – 25 February 1992), was a Hungarian-born actor who appeared largely in British films and television, as in the 5th episode of the first season of '' The Saint'' depicting Inspector ...

as Schoolteacher * Philo Hauser as Schoolteacher *

Carl Duering Gerald Percy Fox (29 May 1923 – 1 September 2018), better known as Carl Duering, was a German-born British actor whose best-known role is as Dr. Brodsky in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange''. He died in London in September 2018 at the age ...

as Postman

Reception and awards

''The Divided Heart'' was a popular and critical success, being highly praised for its sensitivity, emotional impact and the even-handedness with which it dealt with its subject matter. While noting that the film's ending reportedly left many viewers feeling disappointed and let down, critics conceded that it would have been impossible for a storyline of this nature to reach a conclusion which pleased everyone. In a contemporary review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', noted critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

wrote: "This is a bleak, heart-rending problem, as it is finely presented in this film with exceptionally sensitive understanding and scrupulous integrity. And the fact that it cannot be unraveled to the satisfaction of all...is simply an indication that a happy solution is beyond the power of a man as wise as Solomon—or even the author of the script—to hit upon." ''The Divided Heart'' was nominated in six categories at the 1955 British Academy Film Awards and won three, with Mitchell being named '' Best British Actress'' and Borchers picking up the '' Best Foreign Actress'' award. Separate awards for British and foreign actresses were given between 1952 and 1967 (after which they were combined into one ''Best Actress'' award), and this was the only year in which both awards were won by actresses from the same film. The film also won the ''UN Award''. It also received nominations in the ''Best Film'' and ''Best British Film'' categories, and Whittingham was nominated for ''Best British Screenplay''. In the U.S., ''The Divided Heart'' was named among the top 5 foreign films at the 1955 National Board of Review Awards.National Board of Review - awards for 1955
Retrieved 22 July 2010

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Divided Heart, The 1954 films 1954 drama films British drama films British legal films Ealing Studios films British black-and-white films British courtroom films Films about adoption Films directed by Charles Crichton Films set in Germany Films shot in Austria Films scored by Georges Auric Films with screenplays by Jack Whittingham 1950s English-language films 1950s British films