Four Sons (1928)

US 100m, B&W, Silent
Director: John Ford; Cast: Margaret Mann, James Hall, Charles Morton, Ralph Bushman, George Meeker

Four Sons is a melodrama from the perspective of a German family during WWI. A proud widowed mother sees three of her four sons off to war, while the fourth goes to America where he starts a new life. As the US eventually enters the war, the fourth son is enlisted to fight against his brothers. The family drama that ensues, leaves the mother despondent, lonely and longing for her son in America, who, after the war sends for her. Similar to How Green is My Valley (1941), in theme and tone, this too is a beautifully shot film which won the Photoplay Medal of Honor for Best Film of 1928 (Klaus Ming January 2016).