My Son, My Son! (1940)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Howard Spring (novel)
Lenore J. Coffee (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Marriage Of Convenience | Soldier | Hand Grenade | Artist | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Madeleine Carroll	...	Livia Vaynol
Brian Aherne	...	William Essex
Louis Hayward	...	Oliver Essex
Laraine Day	...	Maeve O'Riorden
Henry Hull	...	Dermot O'Riorden
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Nellie Moscrop Essex
Sophie Stewart	...	Sheila O'Riorden
Bruce Lester	...	Rory O'Riorden
Scotty Beckett	...	Oliver as a Child
Brenda Henderson	...	Maeve as a Child
Teddy Moorwood	...	Rory as a Child
May Beatty	...	Annie
Stanley Logan	...	The Colonel
Lionel Belmore	...	Mr. Moscrop
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Mulvaney

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6026) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Edward Small Productions

Trivia:

Laraine Day replaced Frances Dee, who had collapsed on set.

Movie Connections:

Version of "My Son, My Son" (1979)

Soundtrack:

It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary

tedious and unengaging

Not having read the novel upon which this tedious film was based, I can only guess that it must have been epic and dense with lots of character detail, one of those historical romances the reader can get lost in. Translated to celluloid it becomes a long series of episodic sketches transporting us from the Victorian age to World War One. Brian Aherne comes across as a bland variation of Erroll Flynn; he seems to stand around looking vaguely disappointed much of the time. Amazingly, his character is a highly successful novelist-turned-playwright but we get no sense of what relationship his art has to who he is as a man. Ostensibly he is from the slums but never does he look, act or speak like someone from that social stratum. Madeleine Carroll as always is lovely to behold but is given very little to do. Louis Hayward has the meatiest role as the rotter son but even his character lacks depth. His delivery reminds one of Noel Coward, who, by the way, mentored him early in his career. The whole enterprise has a highly artificial look and feel, particularly in the battle sequences featuring Hayward. All this adds up to a most unengaging 2 hours.