Divorcée with a five-year-old daughter falls in love with a co-worker and remarries, is later dragged into court by her first husband who thinks his little girl is living in an unfit home. The reason for all this melodrama: the woman is white and her new husband is black. Released by the independent Lion company three years before the slick and glossy "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" hit theaters; it is almost difficult to imagine today the social and legal ramifications this picture likely kicked up in 1964. Debuting director Larry Peerce does surprisingly sensitive work here (particularly in comparison to his bombastic later output), and leads Barbara Barrie and Bernie Hamilton are very fine in their roles, yet the heated tone of the piece is expended all on Richard Mulligan's estranged father. Mulligan, acting like he's on the stage (or perhaps a TV soap opera), is allowed to sound off with disgust about his happy, content child's situation, waving his arms about for emphasis. His discontent causes the interracial couple to freeze up (and indeed, we are shown no signs of affection between the two once they are married). Preconceived as a heart breaker, the movie is steered (gently) towards an emotionally tumultuous finish, which leaves the viewer with a lot to think about but doesn't allow us to see into the futures of its characters. As a result, the finale is rather a slap in the face to those who have invested their interest in the couple, with statistics at the very end which fail to provide us with closure. **1/2 from ****