The commie threat was big in the news. "[13] McCarey told the magazine Motion Picture that he felt mistreated and hurt. My Son John is a haunting tale of a mother’s worst nightmare. John is torn between mama and his goal of destroying America. She cries. Even when Hitler was actively killing people, the communists were killing at a rate three times faster. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. Mom learns the stranger is an FBI agent with an interest in John, who suddenly needs the pants he left at home, and Mom quickly learns why. His poor mother cannot imagine what could have caused such a change in her favorite son, who used to be loving and church-going and now seems remote from both. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? They had no education. [3], Filming took place in Washington, D.C., Manassas, Virginia, and Hollywood. [13], Bosley Crowther wrote in his review for The New York Times that the film represented its time perfectly in that it "corresponds with the present public ferment of angry resentment and fear", that it is "a picture so strongly dedicated to the purpose of the American anti-Communist purge that it seethes with the sort of emotionalism and illogic that is characteristic of so much thinking these days". Hayes denied that the film's "message" attracted her to the project: "I just like the character and the story. Add in Italy, the Balkans, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Vietnam, Laos, etc., etc., etc. His already nervous wreck of a mother is distraught by the way he seems to be feigning feelings for her and his father that he no longer has. Klawans hears Connolly's tone in the film's finale, a commencement address warning the young against liberalism. The Jeffersons are the ideal picture-perfect all-American family in a small town, but their eldest son John returns home after a long absence spouting views that cause them to worry he may be a Communist. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Plus, his odd refusal to accompany the family to church on Sunday not only disturbs her but their priest as well. Jo Jones, a young defense plant worker whose husband is in the military during World War II, shares a house with three other women in the same situation. Their older brother John sends regrets that he can not join their farewell dinner because of his work for the federal government in Washington. There's no action. My Son John A cuckolded embezzler on the verge of suicide is helped by a tout, an alcoholic playwright, and a pick-up girl to reimburse the money with a gambling sting. The FBI agent tells him he should "use whatever free will you have. Amid all this turmoil, an irony is that one of the latest films from Hollywood, My Son John, is a passionate endorsement of the relentless pursuit of American Communists to the extent that the acceptance of "guilt by association" is espoused. His already nervous wreck of a mother is distraught by the way he seems to be feigning feelings for her and his father that he no longer has. He might even have slapped mama for crying so much.This movie is known as a "propaganda" film because it has a point of view that the US Govt. View production, box office, & company info. In fact, he likes to help them out so much that he often finds himself broke and unable to help his own family buy the things they need--like a house. It should be seen by the people of every American home. He is also being watched by an FBI agent who comes to the home and greatly disturbs John's mother with his odd questions about him. Go look it up and stop crying.This is a story of a mother whose heart is breaking because her son is a communist. Wholesome American husband and wife Dan (Dean Jagger) and Lucille (Helen Hayes) are disgusted when their son, John (Robert Walker), a government worker, begins exhibiting pro … But who's brighter in the end-- the mother or the son? Title: He also seems to be making fun of and smirking at his father's jubilant expressions of patriotism. It poses the problem–how bright can you get? "[8], Ten days into shooting, the plot's unknown elements continued to garner press coverage. Parents Guide. He is also being watched by an FBI agent who comes to the home and greatly disturbs John's mother with his odd questions about him. My Son John ( 1952) My Son John. He takes up a lot of things including atheism. Sam Clayton has a good heart and likes to help out people in need. He wrote:[19]. You can deny history as much as you want. [15] Others have interpreted John's character as homosexual. A month after the film opened, the Catholic Press Association awarded McCarey its 1952 Literary Prize for "exemplification of Christian, Catholic principles", citing his work on My Son John and other films. She refuses to accept his assurances of loyalty and begs him to confess, and declares that he deserves to be punished. John Jefferson comes home from a trip overseas a strangely changed man. Oh, the horror, the pathos.One more time, kiddies: McCarthyism was wrong. Stalin killed 40 million. We don't know much about him, but we know he is a communist. He also gets strange calls and goes off to strange "meetings" with no explanation. The Jeffersons are the ideal picture-perfect all-American family in a small town, but their eldest son John returns home after a long absence spouting views that cause them to worry he may be a Communist. After a visit from the FBI, John assures his mother of his loyalty by swearing on her Bible, but John and his father argue. Poor, poor commies.There is a guy named John who is being followed. The nomination was later viewed as a possible attempt by the motion picture industry to signal its loyalty to the anti-Communist campaign then underway.[2]. John searches his soul. It was reported that he died less than a week after completing work on the film,[12] though in fact McCarey had to alter the film's ending because of Walker's unfilmed sequences and insert a shot of Walker from Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. Synopsis Plus, his odd refusal to accompany the family to church on Sunday not only disturbs her but their priest as well. [6], In February 1951 Robert Walker was borrowed from MGM to play the title role. [7] The same month Dean Jagger signed. [3], Others have appreciated that the film locates the ideological conflict within a complex set of family relations, with father and son competing for the same woman's affection, but noted that John is not just intellectual, but "an unathletic, sexually ambiguous intellectual", both "sullen" and "slick". He is also being watched by an FBI agent who comes to the home and greatly disturbs John's mother with his odd questions about him. When an itinerant reluctantly returns home to help his sickly mother run her shop, they are both tempted to turn to crime to help make ends meet. It's history. While praising all the actors, he regretted the film's "snide anti-intellectual stance". A celebrated actor struggles to distinguish his own life from that of his most recent stage role, Othello. [22], An assessment of McCarey's extraordinary sympathy for his characters found that the director had lost that feeling by the 1950s, or at least failed to have succeeded in maintaining it consistently. [4], The details of the story were kept secret while it was first described in one news report as "a contemporary drama about the relationship between a mother and son, described by McCarey as 'highly emotional but with much humor'". (scenes deleted). The FBI finds his tape-recorded confession and play it at his college's commencement exercises.[1][2][3]. My Son John is a 1952 American drama film directed by Leo McCarey, starring Robert Walker as a suspected Communist spy. Was this review helpful to you? Mother enters the apartment and confronts John, who confesses to having an affair. Liz Peterson receives word that her mother has died. No wonder he has no real feelings for his family and shuns the church he once loved!During a high-speed chase, John is killed, but he had previously recorded an address to the graduating class of his alma mater, warning them of the temptations of Communist recruiters, which his mother and father listen to fondly as the leave the graduation, hoping that the students he posthumously addressed will take heed of his warning. John Jefferson comes home from a trip overseas a strangely changed man. He would have shot all of those dirty commies. The following weekend, however, he makes it home from Washington D.C. where he works. I continued to watch it because of Hayes. Comedy, Certificate: Passed After the police question her and her family, Liz finds out that her son John has been arrested for the crime. [21], Patricia Bosworth, writing about a festival of blacklist-era films in 1992, characterized My Son John as "hysterical", "the anti-Communist movie to end all anti-Communist movies". A fender-bender brings a stranger into the story, increasing John's annoyance and arousing Mom's curiosity. [23], J. Hoberman noted the film's dual personality, writing that it "aspires to the warmth of a domestic comedy while remaining tendentious to the core, relentlessly unfunny and starkly melodramatic". The mother knows only two books–her Bible and her cookbook. I don't watch chick flicks, but my lord, she pulls at your heart strings.Overall, I found it mildly interesting. He offered this:[10]. In his view, McCarey's "exquisitely sensitive" handling of the mother-son relationship in the first part of the film was undercut by Myles Connolly, a screenwriter known for writing many a "bullying speech" for Frank Capra.
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