Most of the other reviews posted here have compared this movie unfavorably with Mank's A Letter To Three Wives and whilst there are similarities it is actually closer - as my summary indicates - to a much later movie, Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell, in which any one of three GIs could be the father of Gina Lollobrigida's now fully grown daughter. This time around any one of three women could be the mother of an adopted boy who is the sole survivor of an air crash. How so?Seems that Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal and Ruth Roman all had a son born September 25th in the same year and all three, for various reasons, placed him with the Shelter Adoption Agency and signed away all rights. Now he is in the news and his date of birth revealed all three converge on the scene and we get their backstorys in flashback. It's a taut, well-handled entry and though light years short of Letter To Three Wives is nevertheless highly entertaining. All three leads are fine actresses - Parker picked up a Best Actress gong at Venice that same year for Caged - and the male support is interesting for nostalgia buffs throwing out such names as Frank Lovejoy, Ted de Corisa, Kenneth Tobey etc. Definitely recommend.

This marvelous 1950 film deals with 3 women who gave up their baby boy for adoption. 5 years later, the child is involved in a plane crash that killed his parents. Each of the women believe that the boy is theirs.

Patricia Neal, as one of the women, is a hard-nosed reporter. As with the others, the film goes back to show the situation that would lead them to give up the baby. Neal had divorced her husband only to learn that she was a reporter. A career woman, she could never care for a child or hold on to her marriage.

Then there is Ruth Roman who went to prison for killing her boyfriend. The latter wanted her to have an abortion when she told him of her pregnancy.

Eleanor Parker is a sweet woman who gave up an illegitimate child and is now happily married. You're rooting for Parker to be the mother. She can provide the boy with the proper upbringing. True, it will mean that she will have to tell her husband about her past, but she can provide the right nurturing environment.

Of course, the 3 women will come to the mountain area where the boy is in the plane. Neal will have to use her paper connections to get to who the real mother is.

As a reader, please connect to this film via your video store. It's well worth the trip.

Naturally, each of the women

Whatever suspense THREE SECRETS has is derived from the audience not knowing (until the end) which woman's boy has survived a plane crash. Each woman (ELEANOR PARKER, RUTH ROMAN and PATRICIA NEAL) thinks it's her own abandoned five year-old son. As they wait patiently for more news on the identity of the boy, each woman reflects in flashbacks on what led up to their heart-breaking decision.

Robert Wise has directed all of the melodrama with some fine touches and a steady hand, so that Parker, Roman and Neal are all seen to advantage in a plot vaguely similar to that of A LETTER TO THREE WIVES in which three women await news on which husband deserted them.

Parker is a woman who had an illegitimate child; Roman had to give up her child while she served a jail term; Neal was a career woman who preferred career to domestic chores.

Sensibily acted and directed, it's a rather low-key melodrama that might not meet the demands of fans not enthusiastic about so-called chick flicks.