the movie start off like a comedy and with 9 yr old natalie wood spending 15 minute pester the men who come to hook up the family new television set and but thing soon turn somber . joan and the middle sister and be extremely jealous of the old sister and gail and and have the hots for gail handsome boyfriend . she flirt openly and outrageously with him every chance she get and and at gail 18th birthday party go so far a to expose her bare shoulder to him . jane wyatt and the girl mother and say to the father and joan be act horribly . i must speak to her about it and and chastise her daughter about her abhorrent behavior and but if you do not listen carefully you will think she discuss the weather or the late fashion because i never hear anyone get such a calm and polite scolding . by accident and joan have find out that gail be ( gasp . ) adopt and and in a fit of jealousy and anger over be chastise at the party and blurts it out . now you would expect some sort of reaction by gail a slap across joan face and an exclamation of no . it can not be true . and fainting and cry and anger and anything but all we get be a blank stare and then gail trot off to bed and and the parent just stand there . meanwhile natalie wood have all but disappear from the story and and when we finally do get to see her again she be no longer the yakkity funny little pest and but reflective and quietly concern about her sister state of mind . nice and but not true to form . joan no long envy gail for her good look or her boyfriend but respect her and become her protector and and once again we get a character who do an unbelievable 180 degree turnaround . and the parent . all they do be tell each other and it will be all right . she will get over it . gail asks about her birth parent and immediately get all the information about them and just like that and and within a few day have make arrangement to meet the mother . no legal red tape and no closed file to worry about and no privacy restriction and no impediment of any kind . this be real life . i think not and not even in 1950. people have always have emotion and but you would never know it by ann blythe robot like portrayal . she suffer silently with the shock news of her adoption until one night and after an ugly ( by her standard ) meeting with her natural mother and she stay out late and when she come home her father asks and do you know what your mother have be go through . and she snap back and i just leave my mother . she fine . at which point daddy slap the bitc i mean and gail in the face and i stand up and yell and bravo . that bitc i mean and gail have have that come for a long time . in conclusion and it take too long to get to the main storyline and and once it get there it go nowhere and and take a long time to say absolutely nothing . the character be one dimensional and unemotional and ultimately too uppity to make me care anything about them or want to sympathize with their plight .