Un alma envenenada

Apparently, (from the other reviews) if you haven't seen the movie and you are a Communist apologist, you hate the movie, the actors, the script. Too bad for you.

McCarthyism is not the opposite of communism. McCarthy was wrong, but the Red threat was real. There were, and probably still are, communist agents actively working in America. It's history. Go look it up and stop crying.

This is a story of a mother whose heart is breaking because her son is a communist. We don't know much about him, but we know he is a communist. The story isn't about him. It's about the mother and her anguish.

Personally, I started to watch it because of the commie angle. There isn't much. I continued to watch it because of Hayes. I don't watch chick flicks, but my lord, she pulls at your heart strings.

Overall, I found it mildly interesting. The actors are terrific. The story was almost non-existent, despite the pinko protests of bashing the commies. Poor, poor commies.

There is a guy named John who is being followed. His mama notices. She finds out he is a commie. She cries. John is torn between mama and his goal of destroying America. She cries. John searches his soul. She cries. John is torn: How can I do my commie stuff if mama is always crying. Oh, the horror, the pathos.

One more time, kiddies: McCarthyism was wrong. Communism was a real threat. Kruschev wanted to nuke us. George Bernard Shaw thought it was right for the "state" to put to death anyone who did not contribute enough. Mao killed 70 million. Stalin killed 40 million. Add in Italy, the Balkans, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Vietnam, Laos, etc., etc., etc. Communists killed more people than Hitler. They killed before Hitler and after him. Even when Hitler was actively killing people, the communists were killing at a rate three times faster. Just counting the Jews, Russia killed more of them during World War II than Hitler.

This won't be a movie that I watch again. There's no action. The commies just talk. They had enough raincoats, but they didn't fill them with people like Bogart. He would have shot all of those dirty commies. He might even have slapped mama for crying so much.

This movie is known as a "propaganda" film because it has a point of view that the US Govt. approved of. If you choose to believe that Hollywood deliberately put out movies to support our government, you are free to do so. But if you have a brain in your head, I'm sure you realize that Hollywood puts out movies solely to make money. They thought that this movie would sell. The commie threat was big in the news. It was everywhere. They used it for their gain.

Nowadays, the communist threat is not as virulent, and the pinkos are more amusing than annoying. I just hope that they do not start apologizing for bin Laden and the other idiots who now attack America.

Keep your Papa Joe nightlight. Keep your Che t-shirt. Keep reading your little red book from the Chairman. You can deny history as much as you want. As for me, I'm sticking with Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Captain America.

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.

Somewhat paranoiac drama looking at the perceived communist threat in the 40s and 50s. Overwrought in both direction and performance-Helen Hayes in particular seems on the very verge throughout the film. Walker died suddenly during the making of the film and his performance was completed by cobbling together outtakes from Strangers on a Train and the use of a stand-in in some scenes, its easy to pick out most of the these and it cast an odd melancholy pall over the picture. More of an interesting artifact of a troubled time in US history than a good example of film making. McCarey could be an exceptional director who made many fine films and possessed a few Oscars but he is decidedly off his game here. A strange experience.

People who were watching movies before the days of VCR might remember this one. As of July 17, 2004, 49 IMDb users had rated this film that's been unavailable anywhere except at special museum showings. As of February 18, 2009, 130 IMDb users have rated it. How many of them have actually seen MY SON JOHN(?) Any how many rated it based on its notoriety?

I'd like to hear from those people who've seen it. Recent or otherwise. Where did you see it?

You don't have to tell me how ridiculously bad it is. Some movies are just forgettably bad, but this is one nobody forgets. I've yet to talk to anyone who thought it was good, but I wouldn't mind hearing from anyone who feels that way.

I haven't cast a vote because I haven't seen it, but I sure would like to. Does anyone know where I can buy it on DVD?

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.