My Son John

In its way, this film is a historical document (albeit a misguided one), and certainly a product of its time. Made at the height of the infamous red scare, "My Son John" is so fervent in its anti-Communist message that it becomes somewhat fascinating as a piece of social history.The film has become famous (or perhaps more correctly notorious) as propaganda; despite the sometimes; overwrought script, the film is not without a talented cast. The great theatrical actress Helen Hayes, in one of her relatively rare movie appearances, is really very good as the mother, as is Dean Jagger as the father, and Robert Walker is fine as the son who is the object of his parent's suspicions. (Walker actually died before filming was finished, so some scenes were shot with a double or prepared with footage from Walker's earlier film "Strangers On A Train", or re-written to exclude Walker's character or requiring his presence.)

In response to another reviewer, who wondered who had actually seen this film - I saw it a couple of times on Canadian television, once in the 1970's, and the last time in December, 1990. To my knowledge, it hasn't been shown on Canadian TV (at least in my viewing area) since that time.

Update: The film was released on DVD and blu-ray in 2015.

I have been watching movies for 35 years and follow listings, VHS and DVD releases, and this is one I have YET to come across. Does anyone know WHY it isn't available in some form or the other? Is it lost? Does it need restoration? The content, while out of date, nevertheless, isn't the main issue. It's that this film needs to be seen. What good are films, such as this one, "Porgy and Bess," "The Constant Nymph," etc tied up in estates for no one to see and pass opinions on? I wish there were a website of "unavailable films" where one could reference why certain ones are never heard from. Cable channels too many times show the same films over and over again but never ones that need to be seen.

I watched it on TCM last evening; first time I've seen it in thirty years. Enjoyed it even more this time. Though Ms. Hayes turns on the tears a lot, there are also some finely nuanced scenes from her.

"My Son John" is neither mawkish or camp, my opinion. In context of the times, lack of any espionage storyline is easy to understand. Simply being a Commie was John's ultimate betrayal of his family; anything he did as Soviet agent was secondary to that.

A fun thing to watch for in this movie is the wealth of veiled references to Mrs. Jefferson's menopause all through the film. Heck, it even serves as sort of plot device in a climactic scene near the end.

Those seeking anti-Communist camp would be better served with John Wayne's "Big Jim McLain" released the same year.

"My Son John" is only partly a Cold War cautionary tale. It's mostly a family drama of inter-generational estrangement, with some education based class friction thrown in. Oh yeah, and LOTS and LOTS of menopause. I really enjoyed watching it.

Made in 1952 at the height of the McCarthy era Red Scare when studio chiefs were scurrying to prove their patriotism and disavow rumors of Communist infiltrators in their midst while members of the Senate's House Un-American Affairs Committee (HUAC) were clamoring for their heads, this unintentionally hilarious howler rivals "Reefer Madness" and "The Green Berets" in its sanctimonious dissemination of moralistic disinformation.

Robert Walker plays "My Son John" Jefferson, whom you recognize immediately as an insidious Commie agent because he creeps like a rat through the shadows wearing a long overcoat with the collar turned up and a broad-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes, passing secret papers to similarly dressed fifth columnists at night behind Washington monuments.

But John is more than stealthful and insidious: he is sarcastic to his priest (Frank McHugh) and disrespectful to his long-suffering mother (Helen Hayes), which motivates his father (Dean Jagger) to beat him over the head with the family Bible as John kneels at his feet. (Dr. Freud, please put down your note pad). When the family physician (Minor Watson) explains that research scientists are guided by Divine Inspiration while searching for cures to diseases and John sneers, "I see - He hides things and then He helps us find them!" one wonders exactly to whom (or against whom) this propaganda is directed.

"If you don't like your Uncle Sammy," thunders Dean Jagger, former Doughboy, thumping his chest and marching around the living room, "Go back to your home o'er the sea!" - an obvious warning to any fellow traveling pinkos sitting in the audience (or hiding behind studio typewriters), wearing long overcoats with their collars turned up and broad-brimmed hats pulled down low over their eyes.

We don't watch movies to seek out their faults and laugh at their foibles: we want to enjoy them. Suspension of disbelief and a generous tolerance allows us to accept most films of the 30's, 40's and 50's at face value; as we would overlook the primitive special effects of those decades compared to those of our own; as we ignore the fact that clouds don't move on sound stages and the spokes of wagon wheels always seem to be revolving backwards. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to take this silly, pedantic film seriously. Obviously the director and the actors responsible for its production did not, or they would have used their talents (which are formidable) to make a better picture.

When you tire of scoffing, you will lament the waste of talent: Helen Hayes was the First Lady of the American Theater; Robert Walker was one of the finest up and coming young actors of his generation, equally gifted in both drama and comedy; Dean Jagger, Frank McHugh, and Minor Watson were top notch supporting players for over 40 years, from the early talkies well into their old age; and the legendary Leo McCarey, whose long list of screen credits includes "Duck Soup" with the Marx Brothers, and "Going My Way" with Bing Crosby, for which he won the Best Director Oscar in 1945, was also the genius who introduced Mr. Laurel to Mr. Hardy.

This film is not available on either VHS or DVD and to my knowledge is never, shown on TV. It's been years, indeed, decades, since I last saw it. One question, that the film makes no attempt to answer, continues to linger: what was there about John's God-fearing, patriotic upbringing by his overbearing but obviously loving parents that made him join that Communist Party which was so committed to the violent overthrow of American middle-class society and values?

Much maligned in its day as one of Hollywood's much too fervent attempts at atonement to the HUAC and McCarthy for having once hired so many communists, this slick Paramount picture made in 1952 remains a social document that reveals the right-wing views some members of the film community held during those dark days. It glorifies an idealized small-town family. Dad (Dean Jagger) is a solid hard-working citizen, a Legioner who finds time to toss around a football with his two blonde athletic sons about to fight the good war in Korea; he's a man who goes to church every Sunday. The flaw in the perfect unit is mother--who else?-- and her curse of too much Mommy love; Helen Hayes, for some reason, too obviously dotes on the son (Robert Walker) who doesn't play football, doesn't go to church, and prefers the company of college professors, yes professors, to his own family. He is, horror of horrors, a practicing self-admitted intellectual.

Needless to say, we eventually learn that any spoiled child brought up this way cannot be up to good. Despite this silly propogandist view of the true values of decent American life, the film is very well directed by the great Leo McCarey, excellently acted by all the leading players. Robert Walker, in his last film, is particularly effective as the non-athletic son with heretic (read unAmerican) views. If the film had been made a decade or so later, his secret would have been that he was gay, but as this is 1952, the sin is political.