mark.waltz This has all the characteristics of "Little House on the Prairie", focusing on newcomers to a small community where they make both friends and foes, work hard, have a ton of children and even more tragedies. There's the kindly minister, doctor, giving women of the town, and one interfering busy body who is the poster hag for good intentions are the pathways to hell.Instead of being already parents, newcomers Glynis Johns and Cameron Mitchell are Scottish immigrants who have come to see her uncle, unfortunately recently deceased in a fire. They decide to remain to give their unborn child a home, and before long, there are six of them. Papa passes on, and with mama ailing, it seems that they will soon need to be placed in other homes. Nasty Reta Shaw, who has been a thorn in John's side since the very beginning (think Mrs. Olsen without humor) begins to follow what she believes her Christian duty to be, obviously only going to make things worse.People on the prairie faced many hardships, whether it be the weather, financial or medical, and with one child suffering from diphtheria and Johns from typhoid, their tragedies seem insurmountable. Of the children, Rex Thompson and Patty McCormick stand out the most. Johns is also excellent, with Mitchell often funny, especially when dealing with boss Alan Hale Jr., a strong Irishman who hates Scotts. This is a story of survival, family sticking together even when the worst has happened and it's only the children. Shaw's hateful character deserves old fashioned hisses, a contrary to the hugs audiences wanted to give her as the lovable Mabel in the same year's film version of "The Pajama Game".The beautiful snowy photography is another plus, showing both the danger and magnificence of it. I wouldn't recommend going into this film without Kleenex as many moments occur that could bring on a flood of tears.

bkoganbing I took a quick look at the career of director Allen Reisner who worked at Studio One before taking on this feature film. Reisner went back to working mostly for television after All Mine To Give. But never in his career did he come close to doing anything as good as this film. Very few have.All Mine To Give has become a Christmas classic in its own right as well received as It's A Wonderful Life. The story though is one of the most depressing you'll ever see and yet it's about an unconquerable spirit present even in our children.The film is the story of the Eunson family, Scottish immigrants who settle in frontier Wisconsin in the 1850s. The parents are Cameron Mitchell and Glynis Johns who then raise five children, the oldest being Rex Thompson.All Mine To Give while showing the Eunsons and most of the rest of their neighbors as decent folks is a no frills, uncompromising look at frontier life in those days. So many diseases we've conquered now were present back then. When both Mitchell and Johns fall to them the orphaned Eunson kids are left in a terrible fix. It's up to Thompson to decide their fates.And this is all happening at Christmas time which has made All Mine To Give a staple on TCM in December. The story is based on a true incident at the time this story is taking place. It also is strikingly similar to what happened to Herbert Hoover and his two siblings when they were orphaned.Such fine character players as Sylvia Field, Reta Shaw, Royal Dano, Alan Hale, Jr. play some of the townspeople. All Mine To Give will pull on so many emotions at once you'll be drained with a single viewing. Filmed during the last years of RKO Studios, All Mine To Give is a flawless holiday classic with a great story and a wonderful cast to tell it.

jbrown26 I remember this movie as a child in 4th grade. It was the first time that I had ever experience real emotions watching a film. Like a lot of the viewers here I saw the movie at school. As I look back now it makes me grin. I remember when the lights came on everyone was crying, that including the school teachers. I've seen the film only once more since way back then "1962" and it still had the same effect.I would highly recommend this film to everyone who enjoys a good family type movie. In the beginning I thought that the movie might be about life in a forest and the creatures that they might encounter, or someone being lost. I never expected anything happening to either of the parents. I've seen many many movies in my life, I own over 3500 films and I have never seen a movie that moved me as much as this one. It's one of the best tear jerking movies that I have ever ever seen. Parents should watch it with their kids.

Morganalee Such a story goes frankly and unblushingly for the tear ducts, but for some reason this one didn't quite get mine. There was some quality in the stoic big brother--or lacking in the stoic big brother--that just did not draw me in. Or perhaps when the tragedy is as blatant as it is here, my remove and reserve are self-protective. Anyway, if you really do go for stories about families dismantled child by child for everyone's own good, you should look for an old TV movie, "Who Will Love My Children," from 1983. It too is based on a true story, only the stoic in this case is the children's mother, dying from cancer, who decides to give her many children away while she's still living so that she can make sure they'll be in good homes. So she packs them off, one by one, to separate families, while her alcoholic and ineffective husband fumes impotently in the background. If you like tearjerkers, you'll love this one.