The role was a stretch for Irene Dunne, usually a comedienne who teamed with Cary Grant, among others, in screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s (The Awful Truth, etc.). Unfortunately, the film signaled her retirement rather than a new beginning.
The sentimentality of the film wears at times. The film's slowness, in particular the overlong death scene of Uncle Chris (Oskar Homolka), is almost Bergmanesque, though the similarity is shattered by the fake Norwegian accents, I guess. Unlike Bergman's characters, though, the members of the Hanson family are mostly morally admirable (even Uncle Chris, who has quietly given his money to the needy). And while it's easy to get impatient with the film's pace, and to criticize the trite and obvious moments, the characters are portrayed warmly and with unusual realism.
