My Son, My Son!

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My Son, My Son!
My Son, My Son! FilmPoster.jpeg
Film poster
Directed by Charles Vidor
Written by Lenore J. Coffee
Based on My Son, My Son by Howard Spring
Produced by Edward Small
Starring Madeleine Carroll
Cinematography Harry Stradling
Edited by Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
Grant Whytock
Music by Edward Ward
Production
company
Edward Small Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • March 22, 1940 (1940-03-22)
Running time
116 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

My Son, My Son! is a 1940 American drama film based on a novel by the same name written by Howard Spring and directed by Charles Vidor. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by John DuCasse Schulze. [1]

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Edward Small bought film rights to the book for $50,000 [2] in part because he thought it would make an ideal vehicle for his new star, Louis Hayward. [3]

Plans to make the film were temporarily halted due to World War II. [4]

Lenore Coffee who wrote the script "had a very wonderful experience with [director] Charlie Vidor." She said Small "was a rather ignorant man, but he had inklings and hunches... I liked him very much. He had a hunch about My Son, My Son! and he bought it. He had never bought an elegant story before." Coffee worked on the script with Carles Vidor and consulted with him and star Brian Aherne during filming despite then being under contract to Warner Bros." [5]

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References

  1. "NY Times: My Son, My Son!". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. 2012. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  2. "Marshall Will Play in 'My Son, My Son': Europe Lures Notables Students Belittle Stars Tommy Kelly Assigned Ann Sheridan's New Role" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times March 28, 1939: 15.
  3. "ENTER VILLAIN LOUIS HAYWARD!". The Australian Women's Weekly . National Library of Australia. May 18, 1940. p. 36 Supplement: The Movie World. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  4. "PRODUCERS GIRD FOR WAR: The Cinema Capital Contemplates Its Probable Effects Upon the Industry" by DOUGLAS W. CHURCHILL. New York Times September 10, 1939: X3.
  5. McGilligan, Patrick (1986). "Lenore Coffee: Easy Smiler, Easy Weeper". In McGilligan, Patrick (ed.). Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age. p. 146.