The wrong ways of Oliver Essex

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Movie
German title The wrong ways of Oliver Essex
Original title My Son, My Son!
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 117 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Charles Vidor
script Lenore J. Coffee
production Edward Small
United Artists
music Edward Ward
camera Harry Stradling Sr.
cut Grant Whytock
Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
occupation

The Errwege des Oliver Essex (original title My Son, My Son! ), Also: Geliebte Söhne , is an American film by director Charles Vidor from 1940. The plot is based on Howard Springs' hit novel My Son, which was published in New York in 1938 . My Son , whose original title was O Absalom .

The film thematizes the unconditional love a father has for his son, which turns into the opposite of what he wanted.

action

In 1893, on the eve of his friend Dermot O'Riordan's wedding, the writer William Essex made a promise to himself. He vows that he will be able to leave the slums in Manchester behind and give his future children a better start in life than he had. William decides to marry Nellie, the daughter of a successful baker. He tries to compensate for the fact that he doesn't really love the young woman by treating her with respect and persuading himself that she too will benefit from this connection. Unfortunately, his deeply religious and somewhat prudish wife doesn't get along with Dermot and his wife Sheila, who is pregnant with their first child, as does Nellie. At around the same time, the friends' sons Rory and Oliver are born.

When William actually had success not only with his first novel, but also with the subsequent ones, he was able to afford a summer home on the Cornish coast . Dermot, his friend since early childhood, also made it to a successful cabinet maker and made considerable wealth. William now begins to indulge his son Oliver excessively in accordance with his self-made promise, which Nellie, who sees this with concern, cannot change anything. Dermot, on the other hand, transfers his love for Ireland to his son Rory , which makes him a patriot who later wants to fight for his fatherland. The two boys are best friends during childhood, but as they get older, their very different upbringing keeps them apart. Rory develops into a serious young man who takes on responsibility, while Oliver, who has always been cleared of every difficulty by his father, seeks his place in life.

After Oliver's mother Nellie dies as a result of an accident, contact between father and son becomes increasingly difficult. When both of them fall in love with the artist Livia Vaynol, there is a break. When World War II breaks out, both Oliver and Rory are drafted and sent overseas . William tries desperately to reach his son before he leaves for London , but comes too late and can only say goodbye to Rory. That same night he learns that Maeve, Rory's sister, is pregnant by his son Oliver. When William offers to help, she refuses. Shortly thereafter, she committed suicide.

William also goes to war a little later, as a war correspondent . When he meets his son and wants to speak to him, he stubbornly refuses. When Rory, who was on leave from the front , returns, he confronts Oliver about Maeve's death. The friend, however, rejects any responsibility; Rory is about to shoot Oliver. Before the men move out the next day and Oliver meets his father, the two of them embrace. Shortly afterwards, the young man is killed in battle.

Oliver is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross . The long-suffering father learns from Rory that Oliver had said to him the night before he died that he would do anything to make him, his father, proud.

Production and Background

According to a message in the film industry magazine Hollywood Reporter , producer Edward Small is to have sent copies of the following prologue to various critics and based on William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom! have referred: And the king was moved and went up to the chamber above the gate and wept ... Oh, my son Absalom ... By God, I would have died for you, oh Absalom, my son. He promised himself opinions from which the film could benefit.

The shooting extended from late November 1939 to late February 1940. The film opened in the United States on March 22, 1940. In the Federal Republic of Germany , the film was 89 minutes long and was first shown on April 6, 1951. The reference or alternative title for The Wrong Paths of Oliver Essex was "Beloved Sons" .

Brian Aherne, Madeleine Carroll and Louis Hayward spoke their characters from the film for a broadcast in March 1940 for the radio show of the Lux-Radio-Theater.

The end of the film differs from the novel, where Oliver does not fall on the battlefield of war, but ends on the gallows.

criticism

Bosley Crowther ruled in the New York Times , that the emotional moments would indeed touch on such an extensive story told, the audience, but had the disadvantage is that there are too many boring and obvious passages. And with a film of this length, one should expect a little more than purely personal stories. Concerning Brian Aherne's performance as a father, Crowther stated that he was a stubborn, confused and almost touchingly naive idealist in the Victorian era, one could well empathize with him, but occasionally become impatient. Louis Hayward shows the son as a charming villain, but also as a hated cheater. Madeleine Carroll plays the young artist Livia with warmth, grace and dignity. The achievements of Henry Hull, Laraine Day and Josephine Hutchinson were also praised.

The Lexicon of International Films was of the opinion that it was a "maudlin family film without artistic line".

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1941 , John DuCasse Schulze was nominated for “Best Set Design in a Black and White Film ” . The Oscar went to Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse for the Jane Austen film Pride and Prejudice .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ My Son, My Son! Screenplay info at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  2. ↑ a b My Son, My Son! (1940) at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  3. ↑ My Son, My Son! (1940) Original Print Information at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English).
  4. ↑ a b c The wrong ways of Oliver Essex at zweiausendeins.de. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bosley Crowther: My Son, My Son! A Compassionate Drama In: The New York Times, May 10, 1940 (English). Retrieved January 6, 2014.