Produced by Walter MacEwen and William Jacobs, and directed by Jo Graham, Always in My Heart was based on the play Fly Away Home by Dorothy Bennett and Irving White, with a screenplay adaptation by Adele Comandini. It was not the first time the play had been made into a film. Only three years before, Warner Bros. had called it Daughters Courageous (1939) with only a few changes to the story.
Always in My Heart was one of only two films in which Kay Francis appeared in 1942. She'd had a three year financial dispute with Warner Bros. after having been one of their top stars in the 1930s, but her career had been derailed by the studio to end her contract. Although Francis won her salary, it harmed her career for a time. In 1942, Francis was no longer a top box office draw, nor under contract, but she was still a name. When her old friend Walter Huston specifically requested her, Francis was able to receive her asking price and have her gowns made by top designer Orry-Kelly. The film was Huston and Francis' fourth together, but it was really an attempt by the studio to make young Gloria Warren a singing star in the vein of Deanna Durbin. Warren didn't catch on with the public and only made four more films before retiring in 1947.
Always in My Heart was no great shakes with the critics or the public when it was released on March 13, 1942. Made for $515,000, it grossed $524,000 at the domestic box office and $1,574,000 overseas, for a total of $2,098,000 (in 1940s dollars). New York Times critic Bosley Crowther complained that the film was a "hodge-podge fable the Warners have somehow enticed such artists of contrasting talents as Walter Huston and Borrah Minevitch. Mr. Huston plays the father with such ease and sincerity that the defects of his associates--especially Kay Francis--and of the script stand out in embarrassing prominence when he is not on the screen. And Mr. Minevitch and his Rascals play their harmonicas at every opportunity. Needless to say, the music is of infinite variety, with the title tune sung or played at least a dozen times."
The song that Crowther found overplayed, Always in My Heart, by Cuban composer Ernest Lecuona with English lyrics by Kim Gannon, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and became a popular tune, covered by Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, and Dean Martin among others.
By Lorraine LoBianco
SOURCES:
Crowther, Bosley "The Screen; Warners Present Gloria Warren in 'Always in My Heart,' with Walter Huston, Kay Francis, at Strand" The New York Times 14 Mar 42
Gevinson, Alan Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films 1911-1960
Internet Movie Database
http://kayfrancisfilms.com/box-office-information/
Mason, Irene Kay Francis 183 Success Facts. Everything You Need To Know About Kay Francis
Paymer, Marvin E. and Post, Don E. Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs
Shipman, David The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years
