The Divided Heart

The Divided Heart
The Divided Heart UK release poster
Directed by	Charles Crichton
Produced by	Michael Truman
Written by	Jack Whittingham and Richard Hughes
Starring	Cornell Borchers Yvonne Mitchell Armin Dahlen Alexander Knox
Music by	Georges Auric
Cinematography	Otto Heller
Edited by	Peter Bezencenet
Distributed by	Ealing Studios
Release date	9 November 1954 (UK) 11 August 1955 (U.S.)
Running time	89 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Divided Heart is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and released in 1954. The film is a drama, based on a true story of a child, whose father was a member of Slovenian Partisans executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to Auschwitz, while little Ivan was, like other 300 babies and young children from Slovenia, whose parents were declared Banditen by Nazis, sent to Germany in a Nazi program known as Lebensborn.

The script was written by Jack Whittingham and Richard Hughes. It was produced by Michael Truman and edited by Peter Bezencenet, with cinematography by Otto Heller and music by Georges Auric. The Divided Heart was widely admired, and won three British Academy Film Awards.

During World War II, a three-year-old boy is found wandering alone in Germany. No family can be traced, and it is presumed that his parents and siblings have been casualties of war. The child is placed in an orphanage, from where he is subsequently adopted by a childless couple, whom he grows to love and accept as his parents. When the boy is 10 years old, his natural mother is found alive in Yugoslavia where she has survived the war as a refugee. She returns to Germany to claim her child, having lost her husband and two other children in the war. The film focuses on the moral dilemma of the situation: should the child remain with the adoptive parents who have given him a loving and happy home, or be returned to his natural mother who has lost everything else, and to what extent should the child's own wishes be taken into account? The case is finally referred to a three-man court, who will decide the child's future. As in the true story on which the film is based, he is returned to his biological mother.

The Divided Heart was a popular and critical success, being highly praised for its sensitivity, emotional impact and the even-handedness with which it dealt with its subject matter. While noting that the film's ending reportedly left many viewers feeling disappointed and let down, critics conceded that it would have been impossible for a storyline of this nature to reach a conclusion which pleased everyone. In a contemporary review in the New York Times, noted critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "This is a bleak, heart-rending problem, as it is finely presented in this film with exceptionally sensitive understanding and scrupulous integrity. And the fact that it cannot be unraveled to the satisfaction of all...is simply an indication that a happy solution is beyond the power of a man as wise as Solomon—or even the author of the script—to hit upon."