All My Sons

Edward G. Robinson fills the role of Joe Keller nicely in an adaptation of All My Sons, which was a hit on Broadway. This time he is on the wrong side of the law in a melodramatic story about a businessman that cuts costs and is responsible for the death of his son and others. What works here is the repetitive dialogue, which seems rather poetic, and the fact that Joe Keller is in continual denial about his misdeeds. People obviously do act this way, when they have to repress a painful truth. In many ways, the film plays like a high-grade soap opera, and it is interesting to watch the two separate story strands (the defective war equipment and a missing son) integrate into one cohesive whole. The final scene where Robinson goes up the stairs and says the boys that died in the war were all his sons is probably one of the finest moments the actor has on screen. It is not overwrought as one might expect but a masterful delivery of eloquence and despair.

I was shocked to see the viewers at rated this as 6.6 or something. If this is a 6, Gone With the Wind is a 4. A moral conflict that all should be able to identify with. Edward plays the role beautifully, he makes the call or rather has someone else make the call to preserve the status quo but it does anything but that. Anyone else playing the lead it might have been a lesser movie. I was disappointed that it was not on the best 100 movies list in last years pole.

The first film made from an Arthur Miller play is heavily theatrical but highly satisfactory, with Hollywood tough guys Lancaster and Robinson providing boxoffice punch but also the necessary gravitas.

I have never found anything exceptional about Director Irving Reis: solid work and little else in movies that I have largely forgotten. ALL MY SONS clearly deserves to rate his masterpiece and to that end it is buoyed by an extraordinary performance from Austrian actress Mady Christians, ably aided by main lead Robinson and the very young Lancaster. Duff also puts in a very effective short appearance. Sound cinematography does not distract one from the all-important dialogue and moral quandary at the movie's heart. The screenplay, possibly the best adaptation yet of Arthur Miller's play, deserves high plaudits. Strongly recommended.

Enjoyed this Edward G. Robinson, where he plays the role of Joe Keller, a self made man who was poor and built up a very profitable business. Joe has a nice family he is very proud of and works hard to give them all the comforts he never had when he was a child growing up. During World War II Joe started bidding for government contracts and he was making good money until American pilots started having problems with their aircraft and many pilots were killed because of faulty parts. There is a big scandal and Joe Keller faces some very serious problems. Burt Lancaster, (Chris Keller) plays the role of one of Joe Keller's son's and he gives an outstanding supporting role in this film. After this airplane scandal, many people started saying, "Ask Joe Keller" what really happened. Edward G. put his heart and soul in his role and clearly showed his great professional acting abilities. This is a rather sad story, but true to life.

I saw this movie today for the umpteenth time and it finally occurred to me... Weren't both men to blame? Wasn't Herbert Deever really just as guilty as Joe Keller? No matter who "says" they are responsible, anyone involved in knowingly shipping faulty parts that could kill people is responsible. Deever shouldn't have sent them out, no matter what he was told. Isn't that what all those Nazis claimed when asked how they could commit so many atrocities? "I was just taking orders." That doesn't wash with me or with most people. We all have a responsibility to follow our own consciences with regard to right and wrong. They were both guilty.... It's a wonderful story and very well performed and written, but that fact remains to be discussed.

Since this movie had no particular reputation, I expected a somewhat ho-hum adaptation of Arthur Miller's play. In fact, the movie somewhat improves on the play. It's not afraid to be a little more "superficial" than the play, opting less for profundity than for solid melodrama, and I do mean solid. Robinson is superb, but the real surprise for me was the unshowy, very subtle (for him) performance by Lancaster, never a favorite of mine in his latter-day, hammy period. Here he seems content to be an ensemble player, supporting Robinson and playing a relatively quiet, Gary Cooper sort of role, and therefore he comes off more of a genuine star than usual. When he does finally explode in physical violence, the effect is truly shocking.

Irving Reis's "All My Sons" is based on one of Arthur Miller's lesser known plays, but I would call it just as important as "Death of a Salesman" or "The Crucible". Edward G. Robinson's businessman is the embodiment of evil. It's easy to see this as a one-time story, but it has repeatedly happened. From insufficiently armored Humvees in Iraq to peanut butter tainted with listeria (when the CEO knew that it was), these stories are a rebuttal to all who rail against regulations. Regulations exist to keep society safe: building codes, speed limits, etc. The idea that the market will solve everything results in the sale of dangerous products and the refusal to maintain infrastructure, leading to bridges collapsing. Does the relative of a celebrity have to get killed in a collapsing bridge before we fix our infrastructure? Anyway, this is a good movie. Everyone should see it. No surprise that many of the performers faced HUAC.