Four Sons
About Four Sons
Mother Bernle, played by Margaret Mann, sees her son Joseph, played by James Hall, leave a Bavarian village for New York, where he marries Annabelle and opens a delicatessen, while Franz, Johann, and Andreas stay. In the war the three join the German army and Joseph the American army, and the postman reports that all three in Germany are dead. After the armistice she learns her letters for Ellis Island, forgets them under questioning, and wanders into the city. Joseph finds her by the fire, holding his son.
Cast & crew
More about Four Sons
John Ford directed and produced with William Fox. Philip Klein adapted I. A. R. Wylie's story "Grandmother Bernle Learns Her Letters," printed in the Saturday Evening Post in 1926. Charles G. Clarke and George Schneiderman photographed it. Margaret Clancey edited. Nobody speaks. Fox released it on February 13, 1928, with a Movietone score and effects, and also on disc. It runs 100 minutes. Earle Foxe plays Major von Stomm. Albert Gran plays the postman. Frank Reicher plays the schoolmaster. John Wayne is an uncredited officer.
Themes
Look
Charles G. Clarke and George Schneiderman shot the Bavarian village and the New York streets for the Movietone release.
Music
A synchronized Movietone score and effects, also issued on disc. No spoken dialogue.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved the film in 1999 with L'Immagine Ritrovata and Twentieth Century Fox.
Notes
- Ralph Bushman is Francis X. Bushman Jr.
- Archduke Leopold of Austria plays a captain.
- John Wayne's part is an officer, without a credit.
- Fox remade the story in 1940.
- Wikipedia gives the box-office take as $1.5 million.
Scenes
- The postman brings three notices that Franz, Johann, and Andreas are dead.
- Mother Bernle fails the questions at Ellis Island and is found later holding Joseph's son.
Influenced by
- Grandmother Bernle Learns Her Letters (I. A. R. Wylie story)
Influenced
- Four Sons (1940)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Four Sons (1928).webm)
