So Well Remembered
At the end of World War II in the Lancashire mill town of Browdley, town councillor, newspaper editor, and zealous reformer George Boswell (John Mills) recalls the past 26 years of his life. In 1919, he defends Olivia Channing (Martha Scott) when she applies for a library job. Her cotton mill owner father John Channing (Frederick Leister) had been sent to prison for almost 20 years for speculating with and losing many people's money.
George falls in love with Olivia, though it scandalises the townspeople, and eventually proposes to her. That night, she has an argument with her father. He has Dr. Richard Whiteside (Trevor Howard) drive him into town to speak to George, but they crash on a washed-out road and John is killed. Olivia then agrees to marry George.
Trevor Mangin (Reginald Tate), Browdley's most influential businessman, asks George to run for Parliament. Seeing an opportunity to further his reforming efforts, George agrees, much to Olivia's delight.
Whiteside brings George an alarming report about the danger of an epidemic in the town's filthy slums. Mangin, who owns many of them, produces a more optimistic one. Given that Whiteside has taken to drinking heavily since the accident, George accepts Mangin's report, causing the council to vote to do nothing. However, a diphtheria epidemic breaks out, just as Whiteside feared. A free clinic is opened to inoculate the healthy children and treat the sick. George tells Olivia to take their son there, but she cannot bear to do it, resulting in the child's death.
When George drops out of the election because of Mangin's lies, Olivia tells him that she is leaving him. George realises that she married him solely for his prospects. They go their separate ways. He eventually rises to mayor, while she remarries a rich man and has another son, Charles Winslow (Richard Carlson). Meanwhile, Whiteside takes in a baby girl, Julie Morgan (Patricia Roc), orphaned at birth. George helps raise her.
Many years pass. A widowed Olivia returns, takes up residence in her father's mansion, and reopens the Channing mill. Her son becomes a flier in the Royal Air Force in World War II. On leave, he meets Julie and they fall in love. However, Olivia does not want to relinquish her son. Charles is seriously injured in combat, his face disfigured. This enables Olivia to isolate and retain control of him, until George manages to convince him to break free and marry Julie. When Olivia arrives, looking for her son, George reveals that he has figured out that Olivia did nothing to prevent her father from driving to his death, though she must have known that the road was washed out. Whiteside had overheard the Channings' argument; knowing his daughter, John Channing intended to warn George against her.
murder, flashback