Only Yesterday

Only Yesterday is a 1933 American pre-Code melodrama film, directed by John M. Stahl, about a young woman who becomes pregnant by her boyfriend before he rushes off to fight in World War I. It stars Margaret Sullavan (in her film debut) and John Boles. According to the on-screen credit, the film's story line was "suggested" by the 1931 nonfiction bestseller Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen, who had sold Universal the rights to his book. The film is set in a time frame close to that of Allen's book but otherwise bears no resemblance to it, and the film's title may simply have been an attempt to capitalize on the book's fame at the time of the film's release. The plot of the film appears to be based closely on Letter from an Unknown Woman (Briefe einer Unbekannten) by Stefan Zweig, published first in 1922 and in English translation a decade later. According to the New York Times, some moviegoers contacted Zweig's publisher, Viking Press, noting similarities between the film and his book. The Times reported that "These similarities were bought and paid for by Universal Pictures", which moved the story to the United States, "altered the story greatly, and made no mention of Zweig's name in the film". The studio also paid "a large sum" for the right to use the title of Allen's book.