All My Sons (1948)
All My Sons (1948), directed by Irving Reis.
I had never heard of this before it appeared on Blu-ray, although it is adapted from Arthur Miller's first successful play. American playwrights like Miller, O'Neil and Capote are something of a chore for me to enjoy and I tend to neglect them.
I might have thought of it as an average post-War small town family melodrama, but for some reason it struck me strangely. More so because the disc commentary track was concerned with entirely different matters: to them it was about capitalism and gender roles and the seedy underbelly of seemingly normal life (wasn't that a terribly worn cliche even then?)
But to me it was a magic view-port into the world of 1948. Not the real world, of course, movies don't show that. Films are always fantasies of what the makers want the world to be, or what they are afraid it is, or more likely of whatever the viewer wants to see.
Nonetheless, even a reflection of reality tells us something of that world. I saw people content with small town America, the relief of putting the War behind, of enjoying the simple things. Not a paradise: they still feel grief from losses in the War. The factory owner is big man and people must accommodate him whether they like him or not. Those sent to prison for criminal mismanagement of wartime production tend to be forgotten.
Our cast:
Edward G. Robinson, as I always remind readers, was never even nominated for an Academy Award. Here he is a complex character, a jovial husband and father, master of his business who came up from the streets, but also very hard in matters of self-preservation. He is unexpectedly empathetic to the next generation: "I don't know you at all, do I, kid?" "No, Pop, you don't".
Burt Lancaster wanted this role as a departure from the tough-guy work he had been doing. He is the dutiful son who went to war and returned. Now he will chart is own path. He is intensely loyal to his father until that becomes impossible.
Howard Duff worked in B-films. Here he gets a pivotal role, changing the story in an instant by hearing one stray comment at the dinner table. He's very good.
Mady Christians (mother) and Louisa Horton (fiancée): I don't remember them from other work, but like everyone in the film they perform finely.
Very dark but gorgeous photography by Russell Metty. His composition is so strong it is almost like an unseen narrator or stage manager. We see the film is a stage adaptation, but don't mind.
Score by Leith Stevens.
Available on Blu-ray from Kino. In their commentary track Kat Ellinger and Lee Gambin talk more about the actors and the times than the story.
