Come Back, Little Sheba

Doc and Lola Delaney are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has settled into disappointment. Doc gave up his medical studies years earlier to marry Lola, and he now struggles with drink; Lola keeps a messy house and fills the silence with talk. To ease their loneliness and their money troubles, they take in a boarder, a young student named Marie. Her energy and optimism bring the household briefly to life and stir in Doc feelings he cannot easily name. When Marie becomes involved with a young man, the tension in the house sharpens, and Doc finds his sobriety and his marriage tested.

The film was directed by Daniel Mann, the first of six features listed for him and the earliest by many years before Who's Got the Action? It is based on William Inge's play, adapted for the screen by Ketti Frings and produced by Hal B. Wallis. Burt Lancaster plays Doc and Shirley Booth plays Lola, with Terry Moore as Marie, Richard Jaeckel as Turk Fisher, and supporting turns from Philip Ober and Edwin Max.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.5 from about 5,800 votes, while on TMDB it has a 7.3 from roughly 45 votes. The much larger vote count on IMDb makes that figure the more representative measure of how the film has been received over the decades, and the scores sit close together, indicating steady approval rather than a sharply divided response.