The Divided Heart (1954) DVD Cornell Borchers, Yvonne Mitchell, Armin Dahlen, Alexander Knox, Geoffrey Keen, Liam Redmond, Eddie Byrne, Theodore Bikel, Pamela Stirling and Michel Ray – What would you do?

The Divided Heart (1954) DVD B&W Shown in original aspect ratio Approx. 86 min. Playable in North America (the US, Canada, Mexico, etc.) In English with optional English subtitles. Starring: Cornell Borchers, Yvonne Mitchell, Armin Dahlen, Alexander Knox, Geoffrey Keen, Liam Redmond, Eddie Byrne, Theodore Bikel, Pamela Stirling and Michel Ray. Written by Jack Whittingham and Richard Hughes. Directed by Charles Crichton. A knock at their door one evening throws the lives of Inga (Cornell Borchers) and husband Franz (Armin Dahlen) into turmoil. It's a man and woman from the post war child repatriation division there to try and establish where they got their son Toni (Michel Ray) from. They assure them that Toni was adopted legally and his parents had died in the war. A court must decide what happens next, and for the remainder of the film we watch as both the adopted mother and the birth mother must metaphorically fight it out. It's delicately portrayed, making it quite distressing to watch at times. The three judges - Alexander Knox, Liam Redmond and Eddie Byrne listen carefully and compassionately and as the case unfolds we, like them, realize that there can be no clear winners here - unless it's the ten year old boy who knows little of his wartime life in Slovakia but only of his current life with his new German parents. Perhaps he could decide? He's very young, though - is he competent to make such a choice? Charles Crichton directs with empathy, and he uses Geoffrey Keen quite effectively as a character trying to broker the best from a bad scenario - even if the process is about securing the best for Toni.