Pilgrimage

This emotional drama was a considerable change of pace from the westerns and war pictures for which John Ford is best known. Hannah Jessop fears being abandoned by her son Jim, and she doesn't approve of his romance with Mary Saunders. When Hannah discovers that Jim and Mary plan to wed, she sends her son off to fight in World War I, unaware that Mary is carrying his child. Jim is killed in combat just as Mary is giving birth, and while Hannah is crushed by the loss of her son, she cannot forgive Mary or abide her grandson. Years later, Hannah is prodded into joining a group of women who lost their sons in war on a visit to the battlefields of Europe; en route, she meets Mrs. Hatfield, whose warmth and gracious acceptance of her misfortune forces Hannah to take a look at herself and her attitudes.