This has to be, hands-down, the schmaltziest movie ever made. There's no other way to describe it! Oh, sure, it's definitely a product of its time, and it's not a bad movie at all, but man! The schmaltz! All that schmaltz! Every chance any adult gets, they all make these grandstanding speeches on morality and life and God and patriotism! The mother, at her harp! The ancient telegrapher, at his desk. The librarian, in her stacks! The teacher, in her classroom! The soldier, on the train! They're all making these melodramatic, eyes-tearing-up speeches! It never ends! Even the dead come back and make speeches! I don't remember the book piling it on quite so thick, but it's been some time since I read it. But the one scene I remember vividly from reading it in high school - the scene where Homer delivers a telegram containing tragic news - and the recipient responding by making him eat cactus candy, is there, just as I envisioned it! Except I wouldn't have cast Mickey Rooney. Look for a post-Our Gang Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in the charming apricot-stealing scene. It made me want to steal some apricots myself, if you know what I mean - and I think you do!
Review of The Human Comedy
