blanche-2 Noel Coward said Jane Bryan was one of the best actresses on the planet after seeing "We Are Not Alone," from 1939. This beautiful woman led a charmed life. After making two more films, she married the owner of Rexall Drugs and retired. I'd say she did okay."We Are Not Alone" is based on the novel by James Hilton and stars, besides Bryan, Paul Muni, Flora Robson, and Una O'Connor. I didn't read the novel, so I'm unclear whether it was a love story or a story making an antiwar statement, or managed to do both things in a less choppy manner than the film. In any case, the film, set in England at the start of World War I, does a complete turnaround midstream and becomes about something else.Muni plays an absent-minded, sweet, respected doctor, David Newcombe, who lives in a village with his wife Jessica (Robson) and young son Gerald. Gerald is overimaginative, easily frightened, and his mother's response is to be too harsh and disciplinary. Fortunately, he has his father to balance things out.David encounters Leni (Bryan) when she becomes his patient. She's Austrian and is a dancer, but when she becomes injured, her work becomes too difficult. At one point, he brings Gerald with him when he treats her, and, hearing about how good she is with the boy, Jessica thinks she might be a great nanny. She hires her.It's not long before gossip starts, and Jessica becomes jealous and also doesn't like the fact that Leni was "on stage" and at one point attempted suicide. She and David argue, with David refusing to fire Leni. Jessica angrily brings the boy to live with her brother.When the town erupts in anti-German sentiment, David realizes that he has to get Leni out of the country immediately.This is a disappointing film, to say the least - I mean, what happened to the Hayes code? The Hayes code wanted everybody punished for their sins, so how come people are punished when they don't commit any? I really had a major problem with this.Una O'Connor as the troublemaking maid is a shrew right out of hell. The little boy, played by David Severn, is adorable, and his innocent smile at the end of the film will make you cry. Someone wrote that the end is life-affirming. In a way, I guess it is. Still, it bothered me.So much for wanting to end Thanksgiving on an upbeat note.

Neil Doyle WE ARE NOT ALONE is one of James Hilton's lesser works, perhaps because it is a somber drama with a downbeat ending--and somewhere there's a message trying to get out. Whatever it is, it remains ambiguous as the ending itself.The performances are expert, the tale is told with sensitivity--but somewhere along the way the plot goes off on a different tangent and we're left with an unsatisfying conclusion.Paul Muni as a gentle doctor faces his imminent death with more noblesse oblige than Sidney Carton ('A Tale of Two Cities')--in fact, he makes Carton look like a coward. Jane Bryan as the German girl who becomes a nanny for his son, and Flora Robson as his shrewish wife (the kind who deserves their fate) is excellent.Little Raymond Severn gives an appealing performance as Muni's child and his scenes with his father have genuine warmth.But that ending...what were they thinking???

smrhyne I have watched this movie many times because I always enjoy watching Paul Muni, no matter what role he is in. This movie is an opportunity to see Muni without the heavy make-up that he wore in many of his movies. Although I like this movie a lot, I was rather disappointed in the ending. It seemed to change gears about halfway through. The movie goes from being a poignant love story to making a political statement about war. But I still recommend it. Muni, Flora Robson and Jane Bryan all give excellent performances and Muni's relationship with his son is beautiful to see.

shelley-6 Paul Muni and Jane Bryan give an outstanding performance in this drama. Taken from a novel by James Hilton, this story concerns a village doctor, his wife, and a plain German girl who became their little boys governess. Most of the movie is of the trial of the doctor and the governess who are accused of killing the mean spirited doctor's wife. The love between the simple doctor and the German governess is so tender that your heart goes out to both of them.. Jane Bryan, a young actress from the Warner lot was an outstanding actress, but a few years after making this movie, she quit making films and seemed to disappear completely. It was our loss.