this film be excellently cast while the actor play their role very convincingly . everything about it be go great represent the setting and mood while great act . the play itself be a real downer while a man ( edmund obrien ) be still live with his mother and sister although he in his mid twenty . his mother be domineer while she succeed in drive away her husband and who join the merchant marine and leave her and their two little kid . her grown son be now moody and weak while the result of be raise by a bossy and delusional woman . his sister ( jane wyman ) suffers from a condition that cause her to limp noticeably . she be obviously shelter by her mother and now she introvert and lack self esteem and and life in a lonely fantasy world . kirk douglas play the gentleman caller who ultimately reject the daughter during their blind date and make up a story about be engage to blow her off as gently a possible . after the date doesn not work out and the mother take it out on her son and who leave then forever and and like his dad and join the merchant marine . this be a very sad play on many level . it deal with a woman who lose her mind after her husband desert her . she and her kid live in a cramped apartment in the midst of a squalid slum . her daughter have to deal with the unfortunate fact that people like her and who limp and face rejection and ridicule in life . her mother coddle her and she have regress into a shy and pathetic young woman . her son and who no doubt bore the brunt of his mother frustration have grow into an aimless and bitter young man . when he try to set his sister up with a popular guy he work with and it blow up in his face . the way this movie end change the meaning . the play do not offer conclusive hope for the daughter . there wasn not another gentleman caller . one could only hope that she would soon come out of her shell and that she gain some self esteem from be lecture on her good attribute by kirk douglas character . maybe now that the son be out of the picture and the family dynamic will change for the good . or maybe thing will get much bad . it make you think and and there be possible positive and negative outcome while it up to you .