Four Sons

Four Sons is a 1928 silent drama film directed and produced by John Ford and written for the screen by Philip Klein from a story by I. A. R. Wylie first published in the Saturday Evening Post as "Grandmother Bernle Learns Her Letters" (1926). It is one of only a handful of survivors out of the more than fifty silent films that Ford directed between 1917 and 1928. It starred Margaret Mann, James Hall, and Charles Morton. The film is also notable for the presence of the young John Wayne in an uncredited role as an officer. Though "silent," it was released with a Movietone music and sound effects track.

Contents

• Four sons 1928 james hall margaret mann charles morton john wayne
• the ninth of november the dying soldier sequence from john ford s four sons 1928
• Plot
• Preservation
• Cast
• References

A family is torn apart by the advent of World War I. It was remade in 1940 with the same title, starring Don Ameche and Eugenie Leontovich, and directed by Archie Mayo, although the war was updated to World War II.

Plot

Mother Bernle is a widow in Bavaria with four sons: Franz, Johann, Andreas and Joseph.

Joseph receives a job offer from the United States, and he is given money to travel there by his mother.

The First World War is heating up. Franz, who is already serving in the German army, is joined by first Johann and then Andreas who is forced into the army.

In America, Joseph has married and is running a delicatessen. when America enters the war, Joseph enlists to fight for the American side. When Joseph's enlistment is discovered, it causes problems for Mother Bernle because she is shunned in her village.

Franz and Johann are killed on the eastern front. Andreas is wounded on the western front and dies in the arms of his brother Joseph.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Four Sons in 1999.

Cast

Margaret Mann as Mother Bernle

James Hall as Joseph "Dutch" Bernle

Charles Morton as Johann Bernle

Ralph Bushman as Franz Bernle

George Meeker as Andreas Bernle

June Collyer as Annabelle

Earle Foxe as Maj. von Stomm

Albert Gran as The postman

Frank Reicher as The schoolmaster

Archduke Leopold of Austria as a captain

John Wayne as Officer (uncredited)