Starring James Hall, Margaret Mann and Charles Morton
Produced by Fox Film Corporation
In pre-World War I Germany, a small but bustling Bavarian village is home to a Mother Bernle and her four sons. Franz is a military officer. Joseph rides around town in hay cart with his friends and without a care in the world. Johann is the strong one and enjoys a hard day's work. Andreas is the youngest and daydreams while tending his sheep. They are a tight-knit family despite their very different personalities.
On mother's birthday night, she gives Joseph all of the money she has saved so that her son can follow his dream of moving to America to open a deli with his friend. The birthday bash becomes a farewell party, with the entire town in attendance.
Soon, Joseph is in New York with his deli plus a new wife and a son. Back in Germany, war has come and Franz and Johann join the army.
Of course, tragedy lurks in the family's previously perfect existence. Which of the brothers will survive the conflict? And can Joseph escape the impact of the war from America?
John Ford's Four Sons wants to be an epic family-centric melodrama set in the backdrop of World War I. It wants to navigate the tragedy and triumph of the Bernles across two continents as it literally pits brother against brother.
Sadly, the story is so disjointed it cannot evoke any emotion except frustration.
It's a shame too because Ford's direction and much of the acting are brilliant. The idyllic German hamlet that serves as the backdrop of the film is beautifully realized and populated by any number of memorable and eccentric characters.
That village is part of the problem though. It seems to morph to fit whatever the latest plot point is. First, it's barely a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Later, it becomes home to a massive military barracks capable of sending hundreds of men off to war. We are in the same place, but the plot demands a large military parade from the town.
If the town has two personalities, Joseph is schizophrenic. He starts with a yearning for America and is able to realize his dream. He opens a New York eatery called the German-American Delicatessen and reprimands one of his employees for even talking about the war. A couple scenes later, Joseph has renamed his shop the Liberty Delicatessen and is off to war fighting Germans on behalf of America.
Sorry, but some explanation is needed. He loved life back in Germany. His brothers fought for the Fatherland. Why is he suddenly not simply pro-U.S., but anti-German? He had a run-in with one German officer early in the film, but that hardly explains his turn against his family and his entire way of life.
As for the other brothers, what's to say? They do not really exist as characters, but as plot points to be offed when the writer is looking for an emotional reaction. Their characterization has all the subtlety of a boy band (He's the leader! He's the sensitive one! He's the strong one!). It's hard to feel much for caricatures when they die.
Joseph's inconsistency and the portrayal of his brothers are emblematic of the film as a whole. Each scene is designed to elicit a specific reaction: comedy, sorrow, disgust, but they are completely disconnected from one another. Things happen not in a logical order, but because the moment requires it. Four Sons plays better as a series of short films, not a cohesive whole.
Ford's technical brilliance and the solid acting from the ensemble can't disguise that the basic plot has holes. And the gaps force the characters to act and react in ways that feel at best false and at worst maddeningly inconsistent.
** out of *****
Photo from Silent Era
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