Four Sons

This movie has a very slow beginning, so if you're expecting a riveting war movie, rent something else tonight. And put aside the notion that actors playing Europeans should have European accents. The four titular sons are played by Americans Don Ameche, Alan Curtis, Robert Lowery, and George Ernest. Their mother, Eugenie Leontovich, has an accent, but she didn't pass it along.

On the brink of WWII, all four brothers take different paths, and the film slowly explores them. One brother, Robert, heads off to America. Alan supports the Nazi regime, but Don is very much against it. George is the youngest and tries to stay at home with his mother as long as possible before he's drafted. There's also some internal drama, as Don's girlfriend falls in love with Alan and causes some bad blood between the brothers.

The main focus on this movie is Eugenie, but I was far more impressed with Don Ameche's dramatic talents. We all think of him as a comic actor, from The Bickersons on the radio, to screwball comedies with Claudette Colbert, to finally winning an Academy Award in Cocoon. But there were a few movies he made that gave him the opportunity to cry and get angry. This movie presents lots of dramatic scenes, and he eats them up. Eugenie is supposed to be the stereotypical long-suffering mom, with lots of heartache and lots of crying scenes. However, some things just don't stand the test of time, and her melodramatic "silent film" techniques just don't look convincing today. If you do end up liking this movie, though, you might want to check out the similar film The Mortal Storm, also made in 1940.

"Four Sons" is a remake of the movie by the same name. The 1928 version was directed by John Ford and is all about how a family reacts to the coming of WWI as well as their lives during this time. Now, in the remake, it's been updated and is set in Czechoslovakia instead of Bavaria. It' set just before WWII and shows how the family is impacted. In particular, it focuses on four brothers...one who goes to America to live at the beginning of the story, one who is pro-Nazi and joins a Fascist organization, one who is just a young man and one who is the thoughtful one who is strongly anti-Nazi. As for Mama, she lives in denial...assuming everything will somehow work itself out for the better.

Because this film was made before the US officially entered WWII, the film differs significantly in that the youngest in America never joins the US Army and fights against his brothers in the war. Additionally, unlike the original, this one is strongly critical of the Germans...and the Nazis in particular.

So is this film any good? Yes...very good. The acting is very good and the script reworked nicely to make it very timely. Unfortunately, the 1928 version is one of the great films of the 1920s and because of this and its originality, I still prefer it...even though it is a silent. However, both differ enough that you might want to see both movies.