SORRELL AND SON (1927)
Direction: Herbert Brenon
Cast: H. B. Warner, Nils Asther, Anna Q. Nilsson, Alice Joyce, Carmel Myers, Mary Nolan, Mickey McBan, Louis Wolheim, Norman Trevor, Lionel Belmore
Screenplay: Elizabeth Meehan; from Warwick Deeping's novel
H. B. Warner, Alice Joyce, Sorrell and Son
A skilled melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity, Sorrell and Son benefits greatly from Herbert Brenon's assured direction, which deservedly received a nomination in the first year of the Academy Awards.
Crucial to the film's effectiveness, however, is the central performance of the war-scarred father who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his son. Luckily, stage and screen veteran H. B. Warner, perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings, is the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion.
Unlike many silent-era performers — even in the generally more subtle late 1920s — Warner never begs for the audience's sympathy with eyes directed upwards to heaven or downwards at his feet. Instead, he enthralled me by way of unaffected, true-to-life facial and body gestures. Clearly, either Warner or Brenon — or both — believed that for an over-the-top melodrama to be taken seriously, less is always more. A lesson most actors and filmmakers still haven't learned.
Set in England in the aftermath of World War I, Sorrell and Son tells the story of Stephen Sorrell (Warner), a returning war veteran who suffers all sorts of humiliations and privations just so he can support his young son, Kit (Mickey McBan), following the desertion of his self-centered wife (Anna Q. Nilsson).
Now, despite its sappy premise Sorrell and Son is no mere Stella Dallas in men's clothes. In addition to its depiction of the difficult social environment of post-World War I England, Brenon's film — adapted by Elizabeth Meehan from Warwick Deeping's novel — also delves into a series of complex human issues, some of which remain controversial to this day. Thrown into the mix are class distinctions, jealousy, envy, lust, love, incest, and even euthanasia.
The supporting cast is generally capable, with veteran Anna Q. Nilsson nearly stealing the show as the mother who abandons husband and son to live her own glamorous life. Once the son (grown into Nils Asther) becomes a respected young doctor, Mom returns and decides she really, but really likes her handsome boy. Also, as Warner's late-in-life love interest, fellow film veteran Alice Joyce underplays to perfection.
Sorrell and Son was thought lost until a few years ago. Part of the last reel remains missing (photographs were used to complete the narrative), and much of the picture is so contrasty that the actors' faces get all but washed out. Although the condition of the currently available print makes it impossible to appreciate the work of masterful cinematographer James Wong Howe, the fact that one can still appreciate both the story and the performances is an indication of how good Sorrell and Son is.
Photo: courtesy of Derek Boothroyd.
Note: A version of this Sorrell and Son review was initially posted in June 2005.
Also worth noting is that a 1934 British-made talkie version of Sorrell and Son starred H. B. Warner once again as Captain Stephen Sorrell. Others in the cast were Margot Grahame as the selfish wife and mother, Hugh Williams as the adult Kit Sorrell, and Peter Penrose as the young Kit. Jack Raymond directed from an adaptation by Lydia Hayward.
1 Academy Award Nomination (1927-28)
Best Director, Dramatic Picture*: Herbert Brenon
* In the first year of the Academy Awards, covering films released in the Los Angeles area between August 1927 and July 1928, the Best Director award was divided in two categories: Dramatic Picture and Comedy Direction.