Forgotten

Lee Kohlmar, with his wonderful Bavarian accent, is a Jewish businessman whose two sons are ungrateful, and whose daughters-in-law despise him. Discarded by everyone but his youngest daughter and her boyfriend, he is reduced to living in an old-age home.

Without spoiling the plot (just see King Lear), what makes this low-budget film work so well is the uncompromising Ashkenazi Jewishness -- or should i say American Yiddishkeit? -- of the characters, even those played by non-Jewish actors.

The emphasis on giving charity, the celebration of food and family, the pride at gaining American citizenship, and the ultimate epithet of anger ("Swine!") will be recognizable to anyone who ever watched "The Goldbergs" with Molly Berg. It is a bit sentimental, but what family drama isn't?

This is not a story about the tenements of the Lower East Side or the Nazis or Israel. It is about an American Jewish businessman in the chemical dye industry (as an adjunct to the garment industry) and about the value of friendship, thriftiness, and honesty in that world. It is about the joy of owning and running a business, not for wealth, but to be useful in the world.

The chief struggle is between the immigrant generation and the "Americanized" children who don't value the old ways, and in this It bears some resemblance to the movie "Avalon" as well as to the romance comic book story "Different!" by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

I rated it as 9 out of 10 because it was well made on a shoestring budget and because it was a joy to see so many older character actors (NONE OF THEM CREDITED!) doing their small parts with professionalism and panache.

Lee Kohlmar spent many years building up his dye-importing business. Despite some warnings, he retires, leaving it to his sons, Leon Ames and Selmer Jackson. At first he enjoys his retirement, but rifts begin to open at home, where his daughter-in-law objects to his pipe and his hovering presence. So he goes to stay with his other son, who also has a wife.... and eventually he stays in an old folks home, where the boys dutifully visit each Saturday. Then his daughter, June Clyde, returns from California, where she has been nursing his old friend Otto Lederer.

It's quite obviously KING LEAR among the Jews up to this point, although the third act is a bit different. It's a very good variation. Under Richard Thorpe's efficient Poverty Row direction, matters proceed at a good clip, with a couple of interesting low-key scenes and a sympathetically written role for Kohlmar. I found his line readings a bit slow, but since he plays it with an accent, that is probably a deliberate choice to give the goyim a chance to figure out precisely what he is saying.

"Forgotten" on some levels is a rather tragic movie and it really depends upon personal factors how one interprets it.

The main character, Papa Strauss (Lee Kohlmar), was a German immigrant who was trying to make his mark in America. He started the Strauss Dye Co. And built it up to something successful. He shared his wealth and his life with his children: Lena (June Clyde), Louie (Leon Ames), and Hans (Selmer Jackson). As he got older and his two sons got married, they pushed him out of the way more and more. Lena was still attached to him, but she had to go to California to take care of her sick uncle Adolph. While she was gone the two sons, at the urging of their wives Myrtle (Natalie Moorhead) and May (Natalie Kingston), relegated their father to the margins of their lives and the company.

This is where the sentiments of the viewers may vary. It was clear that Invincible Pictures was making Papa the sympathetic character. His sons no longer had time for him and their wives weren't keen on him at all. A poor old man who'd given them everything was now "forgotten."

I'm sure there are those viewers who sided with Papa Strauss and probably had animus towards his sons and their wives.

Then, there are the viewers like me. Not that I liked his sons or anything, but Papa Strauss was quite pitiful. His whole life was centered around his children. He had not a friend to speak of. He was one of those parents who wanted to keep their children attached to them until the end. What's funny is that if Papa Strauss was a mother, he'd be an antagonist of sorts. He'd be a doting meddlesome mother tearing her sons from their wives ala the mothers in "Shopworn" (1932), "The Silver Cord" (1933), and "Another Language" (1933). But, because he was a father and it was unbecoming for a man to be so meddlesome, his daughter Lena did the talking for him while he suffered in silence.

It all boiled down to Papa Strauss needing friends and a hobby and he had neither. So, even though his sons were made to look ungrateful because they were no longer listening to their poor old dad and were being influenced by their seemingly selfish wives, I would hardly characterize them as such. They were men with lives and wives of their own and like most children, their parents play a smaller and smaller role in their lives as they get older. I know that in this case the boys owed a lot to their father because he gave them the dye business, but that's just it--he gave it to them. Sure, they should show him some gratitude, but at some point they were going to become independent of him and that's what they did. In the case of "Forgotten" their independence was insolence, and in another movie their independence would be men making a name for themselves.

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In 1933, Lionel Barrymore made a great film called "Sweepings". In it, he played an elderly man who spent his entire life building an empire. Yet, sadly, as his children aged, they showed less and less concern about the family business and more about their own petty desires. Also in 1933, tiny Chesterfield Studios brought out a very similar and lower budgeted movie called "Forgotten"...and it's equally effective and well made.

When the film begins, Papa Strauss is so proud because he's just become an American citizen. He's a very decent and hardworking guy and it's easy to like him. The story then jumps ahead 17 years and Strauss is now much older and has built a large and successful company. At the urging of his three children, he decides reluctantly to retire and take it easy. What he doesn't realize is that both his weak sons married god-awful women and the plan really is to not only push him out of the company but their lives. He's too nice and doesn't fight back as they slowly move him into obsolescence. When his daughter discovers that not only have they gotten out of the company but moved him into an old folks' home, she brings him home and gives him a purpose...to begin an all-new business. What's next? See the film.

Like "Sweepings" this is an excellent film about the depersonalization of the elderly. Both are difficult to watch at times, though "Sweepings" is a little more hopeless and grim to watch. With "Forgotten" there is a more upbeat, funny and ironic ending...though it still makes a strong statement about respect and love for the elderly. Well worth seeing and I particularly liked Lee Kohlmar in the lead