Performance Review: Olivia De Havilland in To Each His Own

Olivia De Havilland received her third Oscar nomination and won the Oscar for playing Jody Norris a woman who is forced to let her son live a life without knowing she is his mother in To Each His Own.

Given the legal victories that De Havilland won for herself and the industry against Warner Brothers and her pedigree as an actress it”s easy to believe that De Havilland was the favorite this year especially considering the fact that she had never won an Oscar before. I”d have to check some resources but I”m pretty sure now that it would have been an upset if she was overlooked in favor of someone else.

To Each His Own is a very typical soapy melodramatic movie from the 40s- none of the plot lines are really that credible and the movie isn”t really noteworthy even if it is entertaining and well crafted. The only real reason to watch it is for Olivia De Havilland who commands the screen while carrying the film completely without letting it”s implausible  plot drag her down.

Jody is a very interesting character- she appears to be a strong willed, independent, and dominating woman  who hides a great degree of loneliness and emotion underneath. De Havilland captures all of this extremely well in addition to technically playing the older Jody flawlessly- it”s amazing to think that this woman also was a southern belle in Gone With The Wine and a rich heiress in Tbe Heiress. As the movie enters into its flashback phase, Jody is shown as a very young woman. Practical and strong but also vulnerable, inexperienced, and romantic. We see her faith in finding the right happiness in her life as well as her passion for adventure. There is a great sense of spirit, of confidence and maturity that De Havilland brings to Jody that makes her wonderful to watch. As the film goes on we see Jody get pregnant with her dead lover”s child, her excitement and determination towards having the baby as her own, and her heartbreak over the loss of the child to an old friend of hers who will now always be known as his mother. Granted, Jody is a little bit selfish and overzealous in her attempts to become the baby”s mother(so much to the point that she bribes her friend into letting her have her son who becomes so lonely he gets sent back to her) but De Havilland wonderfully displays how Jody”s powerful love for her son motivates her to create a better life for herself and for him. Despite the ridiculous almost uncomfortable nature of the way the film portrays this woman De Havilland makes it believable and effective  every step of the way even with the clunky script and  sometimes unsympathetic nature of Jody.

It”s a terrific performance that rises above her film when another actress could have made it a complete disaster. Luckily, Olivia De Havilland had the right instincts and the technical as well as the emotional skills of a quality actress to pull it off making it something memorable. A deserving winner.