rather unsung and but worthwhile and this tear jerking wartime drama will entrance some viewer while unintentionally amuse others . colbert play a young newlywed whose husband ( welles ) go off to fight in wwi . he be severely injured and refuse to come home to her ( or even give his name to authority ) and be presume dead . pregnant and alone and she rely on her employer ( brent ) and his aunt ( watson ) and before long agrees to wed brent and who be very much in love with her . flash forward twenty year and colbert and brent have two son and the first one actually well and though this be kept secret . welles and cripple and age and beard and wear thick glass and sport an even thicker accent come to town to work for brent and never dream that his former wife be now brent spouse . just a colbert have finally find a degree of happiness and have nearly forget welles and whom she love deeply and wwii threatens to break out and her eldest son ( long ) be eager to go and fight . the film detail the question and mystery and misery of welles and colbert a they encounter each other again after two decade . unabashedly sentimental and heart tugging and it be likely to please fan of tear jerker while cause the eye of pragmatist to roll feverishly . colbert be lovely and exceedingly good in her role . it always distract and in hindsight and to view colbert film and observe the way she refuse to allow herself to be shoot from her right side and but she not a bad about that here a in some other film . welles be mercilessly hammy and be bury under some truly horrendous age makeup . he go way overboard in virtually every area and yet somehow it work to the film benefit . brent and already one of the most wooden of actor and be make even more so by the presence of welles and but it a nice contrast . long have a particularly good early role ( even if he hadn not quite grow into his nose at this point . ) he be give a strong and sizable role for an actor his age . the always reliable and entertaining watson give solid support . one of the great thing about the film and however and be the utterly adorable and memorably adept presence of wood a welles adopt daughter . impossibly articulate and inhumanly precious and achingly touch in her role a a war orphan and she be a thorough delight . it be her first major role and she handle it with surprising poise and assurance . her old sister instruct her on how to cry during the film and suggesting that she recall a ghastly accident she have witness involve her dog be hit by a car . it very poignant to see her dainty little finger help welles unbutton his vest and knowing that her life would later end so tragically . work alongside welles no doubt help prep her for her famed role opposite edmund gwenn in miracle of 34th street one year later .