Miss Dove is a strict disciplinary, plus a well respected teacher, who has inspired her students to individual greatness. One day during class, Miss Dove experiences great pain in her back, but continues with the class. After class she asks one of her students who is staying after class to get a doctor. Thomas, a doctor, and a former student of her's takes her to the hospital and hospitalizes her. While in the hospital her former students rally around her causing Miss Dove to reflect on her past.
Review:
-I can't understand why this movie was never put on DVD or at least video. I haven't even seen it on the TV for years, but I have seen it a couple of times years ago. It is a touching story about a dedicated schoolteacher with a passion for teaching. Miss Dove is played by Jennifer Jones. A young Robert Stack is in the movie and there are some very touching moments.
Too bad it wasn't on DVD. If you see it listed on TV. jump at the chance to watch it if you like classics, because this is one good classic. Keep a hanky handy.
-This wonderful film contains a warm, nostalgic look back at the life of an ailing school teacher. As time and her illness progresses, Miss Dove, best known to the small town as a rigid and stiff disciplinarian, realizes the positive effects she has had on the people around her, and their love for her. Never married, childless Miss Dove finds purpose and contentment in her duty -- to repay her father's debt and thereby avoid a scandal, by working as a teacher, instead of marrying the man she loved.
The film has especially fine direction, performances, and an intelligent, multi-layered script. While Miss Dove appears a one-dimensional, humorless snob at the beginning of the film, the many layers of her story and personality are revealed throughout the course of the film. By the end, you realize why everyone is so fond of her.
Thinking back over this film, I was struck by the image in my mind of an America that seems to no longer exist. Healthy, proud, and affluent small towns, the belief in following one's duty in life instead of whims, and the sense of personal responsibility among these characters are so unusual to see in a modern film -- or modern life. There was a scene in which Miss Dove helped a bank avoid closing, a selfless, altruistic act that seemed so different than anything that could have occurred in the recent banking crisis.
Growing up in the 1980s, I think I was seeing the last of this generation fade away. Perhaps I still am. I remember writing a fan letter to Jennifer Jones years ago. I loved her then as I still do. I never considered it odd that she did not reply. She was a symbol of the grace and dignity of a long gone era. Noticing that she just passed away, I can't help but feel she passed away with the unfortunate changing of our culture, to the violent, seedy, and irresponsible. But what an enduring, magical film legacy she left behind.
- it is sentimental and very simple in its construction. That is not to say it is not emotionally effective. I am an ex-teacher who always had a good relationship with the kids I taught (though not as authoritarian as the Miss Dove of the title. Each time I see it I find myself more affected than the last time, to the extent of blubbing like a baby at every emotional scene!! It is a very dated movie and the performances, though honest and direct, are not Oscar-winning. I was surprised to see Chuck Connors do justice to his part as a hardworking cop who dragged himself up from poverty-stricken childhood to upstanding adulthood. Jennifer Jones, as the star of this film acquits herself well as Miss Dove, a fearsome and legendary primary school teacher. She is respected and loved by the people of the town (as she has taught most of them or their children). She is taken ill and through flashbacks we learn about her life, career and relationships. Movie-making as it used to be- not a blockbuster but a solid story well told.
Directed by
Henry Koster
Writing credits
Eleanore Griffin
Frances Gray Patton (novel)
Cast (in credits order)
Jennifer Jones .... Miss Dove
Robert Stack .... Tom Baker
Kipp Hamilton .... Jincey Baker
Robert Douglas .... Mr. Porter
Peggy Knudsen .... Billie Jean
Marshall Thompson .... Wilfred Banning Pendleton III
Chuck Connors .... Bill Holloway
Biff Elliot .... Alex Burnham
Jerry Paris .... Maurice
Mary Wickes .... Miss Ellwood
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Linda Bennett .... Peggy
Leslie Bradley .... Alonso Dove
Tim Cagney .... Bobsie
Cheryl Callaway .... Annabell
Richard Deacon .... Mr. Spivey
Mark Engel .... Marky
Paul Engle .... Alex Burnham at age 9
Tiger Fafara .... Fred Makepeace as a Child
Eddie Firestone .... Fred Makepeace
John Hensley
Robert Lynn .... Doctor Hurley
Ted Marc .... David Burnham
Vivian Marshall .... Mrs. Meggs
Ken Osborne .... Brother
Ken Osmond .... Tommy Baker at age 9
Gary Pagett
Robert Quarry .... (scenes deleted)
Dick Stewart .... Doctor Temple
Bill Walker .... Henry
Than Wyenn .... Mr. Levine
Runtime: 107 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (DeLuxe)
Sound Mix: 4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) / Mono (optical prints)
Certification: Finland:S / UK:U / Sweden:Btl
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