Gallant Lady

The 1930s gave us a lot of films about all-sacrificing mothers, such as "So Big", "Stella Dallas" and "Madame X"...and audiences loved them. "Gallant Lady" is also one of these movies, though the way it ends isn't nearly the same as these other films.

The story begins with a flyer dying on takeoff on some historic flight. His girlfriend is left behind...pregnant. She meets a man who befriends her and he helps her through her pregnancy and when she gives up her child for adoption. As the years pass, Sally (Ann Harding) is able to straighten out her life and make a success of herself but when she takes a cruise something hard to believe occurs....her biological son is on the ship and he and Sally become friends. Later, when Sally is hired by the boy's future step-mother, she sees firsthand how cold and mean she is to the kid...so she vows to take her fiance away and marry him herself...and then she'll be both the boy's biological and step-mother! How does all this work out?

This is a very good film but it does suffer from a few coincidences too many...that the adopted boy's mother would soon die, that Sally is on the same ship as the kid, etcetera. But if you can look past it, it is a fascinating and enjoyable film. Well made.