Howard Spring was a best selling Welsh novelist who after a variety of
jobs found his metier as a journalist, then as a children's novelist where
he was a runner up for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. "My Son, My Son"
was his first book for adults and producer Edward Small bought the
rights for $50,000, thinking the role of the wastrel son would be perfect
for his new discovery Louis Hayward. And he was excellent as the
carefree Oliver but Scotty Beckett who played Oliver as a child gave the
role a psychological nastiness and the promise of horrible things to come.
When Hayward came into the movie, it seemed to go into the "two men
in love with the same girl" plotline - and then there's Laraine Day, very
pretty but playing her part with a ghastly Irish brogue - when she
remembers. Initially she is "unsubtle" but her performance improves as
the movie goes on. She plays the star struck and love struck daughter of
Aherne's best friend (Henry Hull) but unlike Oliver, takes Aherne's love
of artist Livy (Madeleine Carroll) in a mature way.
This is a pretty lengthy (too long) saga of children gone wrong. Brian Aherne who seems to spark in the earlier scenes really does get such a defeated stance in the latter part it's hard to believe what Livy sees in him. He plays budding writer William Essex who through a series of good deeds finds himself married to dour and cold Josephine Hutchinson - one thing she is right about, she can see bad things in store for their son. Oliver who steals and cheats and has a most unappealing look (I know Scotty Beckett is a little cutie but he has the most awful smirk). Of course father is blind to giving him any type of reprimand, even when Oliver turns on him after father has tried to interfere with mother giving the boy a thrashing - that should have set off alarm bells but no!!
Louis Hayward gives a terrific performance as the adult Oliver but things begin to get soapy when Oliver brings Livy to a party and Livy sees in William the unknown man who had stolen her heart a year before (Hutchinson has conveniently died). Tensions run high as Oliver does not take too kindly to having something or someone taken from him.
Louis Hayward and Madeleine Carroll are the only people who shine in this plot heavy movie. Bathos takes over as Oliver goes to war leaving a pregnant Maeve (Day) with suicidal feelings. The heavy handed patriotic ending with it's "the clouds will part and the sun will shine again" seems to have been an after thought!!
This is a pretty lengthy (too long) saga of children gone wrong. Brian Aherne who seems to spark in the earlier scenes really does get such a defeated stance in the latter part it's hard to believe what Livy sees in him. He plays budding writer William Essex who through a series of good deeds finds himself married to dour and cold Josephine Hutchinson - one thing she is right about, she can see bad things in store for their son. Oliver who steals and cheats and has a most unappealing look (I know Scotty Beckett is a little cutie but he has the most awful smirk). Of course father is blind to giving him any type of reprimand, even when Oliver turns on him after father has tried to interfere with mother giving the boy a thrashing - that should have set off alarm bells but no!!
Louis Hayward gives a terrific performance as the adult Oliver but things begin to get soapy when Oliver brings Livy to a party and Livy sees in William the unknown man who had stolen her heart a year before (Hutchinson has conveniently died). Tensions run high as Oliver does not take too kindly to having something or someone taken from him.
Louis Hayward and Madeleine Carroll are the only people who shine in this plot heavy movie. Bathos takes over as Oliver goes to war leaving a pregnant Maeve (Day) with suicidal feelings. The heavy handed patriotic ending with it's "the clouds will part and the sun will shine again" seems to have been an after thought!!