Edward, My Son (1949)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Robert Morley (play) and
Noel Langley (play) ...

Release Date:

June 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Broadway Stage Hit . . . Now on the Screen !

Plot:

Arnold Boult is determined to make his son a success at all costs. He commits arson, causes two suicides...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Arnold Boult
Deborah Kerr	...	Evelyn Boult
Ian Hunter	...	Doctor Larry Woodhope
James Donald	...	Bronton
Mervyn Johns	...	Harry Sempkin
Leueen MacGrath	...	Eileen Perrin
Felix Aylmer	...	Mr. Hanray
Walter Fitzgerald	...	Mr. Kedner
Tilsa Page	...	Betty Foxley
Ernest Jay	...	Walter Prothin
Colin Gordon	...	Ellerby
Harriette Johns	...	Phyllis Mayden
Julian D'Albie	...	Summers
Clement McCallum	...	Sergeant Kenyon

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Ian Hunter repeats his stage role from the Broadway production, although his character's surname has been changed.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Some of the Best (1949)

kerr's tour de force

For years I resisted this movie because of the sobbing title. I expected a maudlin, embarrassing tale.

I should have known better. And while I've never been a particular fan of Spencer Tracy (his emotional range never interested me), this time he worked okay, in that he wasn't a god-damned hero, and there wasn't a bevy of minor actors sucking up to him. I liked him being a bad guy; I liked his covert, vaguely whimsical smile. For the first time, I found him believable, more than stock characterization.

Also, the movie was so well crafted that Tracy's ambitions were always credible. And when you understand the motivation, usually, you are sympathetic.

It was Deborah Kerr who stole my interest. Her character, toward the end of the film, is so broken, that she approached Greek classicism. She was ugly, tear-stained, stooped - and her lamentation carried throughout that great barn of a mansion of a home. She couldn't have been more than 35 (ca.), but she had become 80, in spirit. One knew, when she went upstairs that final time, that she would not be seen again, and would only be spoken of in past tense.

Although Kerr is a favorite, there's only one other film of hers that knocked me out: for her beauty, her rawness and her intact feminity - and that of course is "The Sundowners". These two films place her at the pinnacle of Britain's actors.