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THE SILVER CORD (RKO Radio, 1933), directed by John Cromwell, is a story about two sons (Joel McCrea and Eric Linden) whose widowed mother (Laura Hope Crews) tries to destroy their happiness with the women (Irene Dunne and Frances Dee) they love and marry. The movie adaptation, taken from the 1929 stage play, also directed by Cromwell, starred Laura Hope Crews. While Dunne and McCrea have feature billing in the screen version, it is Crews, reprising her stage role, who carries the story from start to finish. Inasmuch as it is a filmed staged play, very talky with little action, the story itself is never boring, especially when it relies on the shock value of Crews' excessive selfishness that gives the plot some entertaining bite.

THE SILVER CORD became the very first movie I got to see when American Movie Classics was added to the system by my local cable system. It fact, up to that time, it was rarely televised anywhere, with the exception of its dubbed Spanish TV broadcast in the early 1970s on WNJU, Channel 47, in Newark, New Jersey. For a while, American Movie Classics aired THE SILVER CORD from 1984 to 1994 until Turner Classic Movies finally got to air this now rarely seen gem May 3, 2020.

As for Crews (born November 13, 1879), the actual star of this product, resumed her movie career mostly in secondary character parts, up to the time of her death (December 12, 1942). She never had a finer opportunity of screen than she did in THE SILVER CORD, and never did again. With a small list of actors credited in the cast, seen in a brief role is Gustav Von Seyffertitz, the same nasty villain who terrorized Mary Pickford in the silent classic, SPARROWS (United Artists, 1926). Overall, highly recommended. (***1/2)

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).

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.

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"

Ugh....this movie gave me the creeps. Like another reviewer, I have only seen it once and have never seen it repeated on AMC,TCM or late night film fests. But, oh do I remember it. A very unpleasant but enthralling film about mother love gone bad. Laura Hope Crewes is the epitome of evil and it is hard to believe that she went on to be Aunt PittyPat in GWTW. She tears up the screen with her portrayal of the mother obsessed by her "love" for her sons. Eric Linden, a rather weak actor, is perfect as the one son.....Joel McCrae is ok as the other, but, since he is usually a man of action, you hope he will pull out a pistol and blow Crewes' brains out. When one remembers a film several years after seeing it but one time, it must be recommended. You will either be attracted or repelled by this little gem