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Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

After the brilliance of "Those High Grey Walls" it was inevitable that director Charles Vidor would most likely be stuck with a lesser screenplay for his next assignment. In fact, Edward Small now asked for Vidor's services on My Son, My Son (1940), an adaptation of Howard Spring's best-selling English novel about a best-selling English novelist, who does everything he can to spoil his son. Brian Aherne is the excessively fond father. Louis Hayward plays the wayward son who, after failing to seduce his future step-mother (Madeleine Carroll), succeeds instead in seducing the daughter (Laraine Day) of his father's best friend (Henry Hull). In the book by Howard Spring, the son dies by hanging; in the film, however, he dies a hero! Admittedly, director Vidor and his players give this potboiler from Howard Spring's remarkably successful novel the full treatment, but I would normally doubt if "My Son, My Son" would earn many brownie points among moviegoers and television fanatics today. But I stand corrected , however. The movie has earned some enthusiastic reviews at IMDb even though it betrays the book and provides an entirely different outcome for its degenerate "hero"!

Brian Aherne stars in "My Son, My Son," the son being Louis Hayward in this 1940 film. Madeline Carroll, Laraine Day, Henry Hull, and Josephine Hutchinson also star in this saga that spans 20+ years. William Essex is an ambitious young man, determined to get out of the slums. He winds up helping a sick man and his daughter (Hutchinson) by delivering bread to their customers. After the man's death, he marries the daughter, a stern religious woman. Together they have a son, Oliver. William has a blind spot when it comes to the boy and is overly indulgent, even when it becomes evident that the kid is a manipulative cheat and liar. William is eventually widowed and reconnects with an artist, Livia (Carroll), whom he met while doing research for a novel in the mines. Unfortunately Oliver is in love with her as well and considers this a big competition, although Livia is not in love with him. His behavior nearly drives Livia away. Oliver then has his way with a childhood friend, now an actress currently starring in William's play - and the daughter of William's best friend. By the time Oliver goes to serve in World War I, he has cut a wide path of destruction."My Son, My Son" makes for an okay movie but has a very disappointing performance by Brian Aherne. Aherne, who by this time had been overshadowed by Errol Flynn, was capable of much better as he showed in "Merrily We Live" and other films. He was an accomplished stage actor as well. However, he did not seem very committed to this material. In a way, I don't blame him. The character comes across like an idiot letting this brat get away with what he did.The rest of the performances are very good, particularly from Hayward, who did this smooth con man type of character very well. Carroll is luminous as a woman desperately in love with William but frightened of what Oliver might do next. Laraine Day is lovely as Maeve, who harbors a secret love for William and whose life takes on tragic proportions."My Son, My Son" is nowhere near as horrible as one of the reviews indicates (in my opinion) but it isn't great. It seems to have a tacked-on Hollywood ending as well.

We have often seen in films the self-sacrificing mother and the negative effects it has had on children. This 1940 film deals with a father, who attains wealth as a writer, and has a son that he spoils rotten so that the latter can have everything in life that he didn't. Naturally, tragedy results from all this.Our father is played wonderfully and Louis Hayward, as the son, is excellent as well as the son who ruins the life of so many.Ironically, it is the mother here, a religious woman, who sees from the beginning that there is a need to discipline the boy. The father can't do this and the two argue only to show that their marriage has been a failure. When dad meets Madeleine Carroll, his wife is conveniently killed by being run-over. Ironically, this occurs on her way home from church. The son has also met Carroll and when he learns that his father loves her, he plots to destroy their liaison.The father's friend also marries and has two wonderful children. The daughter grows up to become a famous actress and is indebted to the father for writing her plays. The actress is Lorraine Day,and she is miscast in this film. When he can not have Ms. Carroll, Hayward turns to her and when she finds herself in trouble, the father offers to marry her as the son rejects her. Day takes her life tragically.World War 1 in England intervenes and the son, seeing his father's devotion, becomes a hero but it is too late.An absorbing film dealing with the loving relationship between father and son. It should not be missed.

For almost two hours, BRIAN AHERNE suffers nobly as a man whose only son is a rotten, spoiled liar and scoundrel (LOUIS HAYWARD). He plays the man in a rather naive, prissy and Victorian way who always means to punish his son for his indiscretions but is quickly convinced by his charming no good son that he's completely innocent and his motives have been misunderstood.Hayward plays the wayward son with a winning smile and open-eyed look that is supposed to deceive everyone but the two women who seem to know him for what he is--MADELEINE CARROLL (looking elegantly beautiful, a vision of blonde loveliness) and pert looking LARAINE DAY as a young actress compromised by him and secretly in love with his father. By the time she commits suicide, the story has reached the apex of its tear-jerker status. The story, instead, concludes with the son being awarded the Victorian Cross for his bravery in battle (World War I), and Aherne is happy that his son died a hero.It's a story of unrequited love and tries for a bittersweet effect, but misses the mark along the way. Aherne is just too maddeningly naive and Hayward too obviously deceitful for the story to make sense. It's further hurt by the happy ending that seems to have been tacked on, it's so untrue to the characters. I understand that in the novel, the young man's character was not redeemed and he died on the gallows.On the technical side, the Art Direction won an Oscar nomination and the B&W photography by Harry Stradling, Jr. is very effective.Trivia note: Why did Hollywood casting directors make such obvious mistakes when selecting children who turn into adults? I mean how does cherubic SCOTTY BECKETT (much too sweet looking here) turn into LOUIS HAYWARD as an adult? No way this could have happened!! You might as well have Mickey Rooney turn into Tyrone Power.