No Sad Songs for Me

No Sad Songs for Me is a 1950 film directed by Rudolph Maté, featuring Margaret Sullavan in her last film role as a woman dying of cancer. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music Scoring in 1951. The sentimental film is known as a post-war Hollywood tearjerker. Synopsis Mary Scott thought she was pregnant. Instead she learns from her physician she has terminal cancer with only eight months to live. She gets the doctor's assurance to keep her illness a secret and not tell her husband Bradley and young daughter Polly. She wants to live her last year with each minute happy and important. Brad is a surveyor. and Mary is a wife, mother and housekeeper. Husband gets a new assistant at work. Chris Radna is a draftsman and much help to the business. Christmas is coming, and Polly's joy at Christmas is evident. Mary keeps trying to do each thing just right. For New Year's Eve, Mary insists they invite Chris to the annual party. Brad sees Chris in a dress for the first time, and he flirts and dances with her all night. Husband Brad is paying so much attention that Mary hears the other women gossiping about it in the ladies' room. Mary is sure her ultimate sacrifice of secrecy is protecting her family, but she is still hurt. It becomes clear that Brad and Chris are falling in love and to get away, Mary visits her father in San Francisco. Still she cannot tell her dad about the cancer. She comes home and decides if her husband no longer loves her that suicide may be the answer. Brad really does love his wife, he tells her of the affair, and he expresses remorse. It is over, and Chris is leaving town. Mary secretly visits Chris, and Chris is sorry too. Chris's first husband died in World War II, and she never expected to see love gain.