The Silver Cord

I had heard this film highly recommended on the Classic Movies website, so, after checking out the IMDB notes as well, I was able to obtain it for viewing. The warped scenario deals with the fates of two women when their respective visits to meet the "in-law" (Laura Hope Crews in a tour de force surprising from the woman best known as Aunt Pittypat) turns into the horrifying recognition of the ultimate "out-law". There's little time to spare before we get a good idea of why there is no father figure in the picture. At times, the obsessive nature of Mom's voracious emotions toward her sons suggests an incestuous factor that only a precode film could feature. An absorbing, and sometimes frankly disturbing, film which is hard to obtain but worth a look.

"Now what I say about children is this: Have 'em, Love 'em. And then leave 'em be."

The pre-Code era is full of villains and gangsters, but none are more evil than this woman so wonderfully played by Laura Hope Crews, though she is a monster of a very different sort - a smothering, manipulative mother who deliberately sabotages the romantic relationships of her two sons.

We see that we're not just dealing with a mother struggling to accept a new phase in life when she talks to her younger son (Eric Linden) with his head in her lap. She tells him that he and his fiancée (Frances Dee) don't love each other and that he should leave her, a suggestion the milquetoast young man passively accepts , and then she says "I won't have to be lonely now" before leaning down to kiss him fully on the lips. It's an extraordinary moment, even considering the custom of the period, when it wasn't uncommon for a parent to kiss their child on the mouth (and note earlier we see the two prospective sisters-in-law doing it in a way that would raise eyebrows today, but which was clearly innocent then). Later she lays a smooch on the older son (Joel McCrea) as he's about to go to bed, and it's telling that the peck he gives his wife (Irene Dunne) afterwards is shorter in duration. There's a real mental illness here, one that has the sons under her sway, and ultimately we find that she's displaced the romance missing from her marriage onto her sons.

The women in this film truly shine, starting with Laura Hope Crews of course, but also Irene Dunne and Frances Dee, each of whom have some fantastic moments confronting her. In addition to the main theme of a possessive parent, the film also points out that women can be brilliant and have a career in addition to being a wife and mother (and a research biologist no less). Meanwhile, as the mother clings to her sons, she pathetically voices the fear of the older generation, that women having careers is putting motherhood "in some danger of vanishing from the face of the earth."

The film is a little infuriating because of how weak the two sons are, but this is a script which has no wasted scenes, great dialogue, and great pace - and with the psychological manipulation taking place on top of it, it all feels very modern. It's an example of a film I love finding out about from the pre-Code era, as it seems to be lesser known and feels so alive, despite its age.

Devastating portrayal of just how far a mothers love for her children will go. Unfortunately, her love is more possessive than normal and this type of love is ruinous in a relationship with ones children.

Laura Hope Crews gives the greatest performance of her career, unfortunately, it is overshadowed by her appearance in "Gone With the Wind".

Joel McCrea and Eric Linden are outstanding as her sons while Irene Dunne and Frances Dee are equally well as the women in their respective lives.

If you ever get the chance to see this film, then you will never forget it. It may have been made quite awhile ago, but the movie still packs a wallop.

I really felt the movie was ahead of its time. The one potential daughter-in-law was such a strong, career oriented woman. She knew what she wanted and was diplomatic but firm with the over-bearing mother-in-law to be. The mother's role was played extremely well (you just loved to hate her). Her need to control her son's lives was neurotically evil. If you've ever been in a relationship where you've been judged and found lacking (and everybody involved knew it) this may hit too close to home. It's been years since I saw this movie and I remember thinking that this plot and dialog would work in a 50's or 60's movie. It is difficult to watch because of the mother and sons' dynamic but I would love to watch it again. I keep hoping to find it on one of the old movie channels but so far no luck. Attempts to buy it were also futile (I don't believe it's on tape or DVD).

Long before the Freudian craze in the forties thrillers ,"the silver cord" depicted a terrifying mother/children relationship where mom is in love with her boys (and at least in one case vice versa: the boy kisses her on the mouth).

The movie looks like a filmed stage production for we almost never leave the house and there are only five actors (plus a short appearance by the doctor),but it's absorbing from start to finish .Irene Dunne ,as a scientist ,predates woman's lib by thirty years .Frances Dee says the words that are the keys to the movie: " give birth to them ,raise them ,and let them live!" To keep her sons by her side,the mother-in-law you would not imagine even in your worst dreams ,would do anything:she urges her sons to break up ,she even blackmails them with the poor condition of her heart (whereas the physician says she is all right);when her younger son's fiancé tries to commit suicide ,she is not moved that much :Laura Hope Crews ' playing may seem old fashioned by today's standards;but this portrayal of a self-absorbed woman remain convincing and Mrs Phelps is a distant relative of Tennessee Williams' Mrs Venable in "suddenly last Summer"