- Sorrell and Son (1927) movie review summary: A trio of first-rate performances – H.B. Warner, Alice Joyce, Anna Q. Nilsson – and the sober handling of several potentially melodramatic themes and situations – dysfunctional family relationships, class disparities, incest, euthanasia – make Herbert Brenon’s long-thought-lost father-son drama a must.
- Sorrell and Son synopsis: After his wife (Anna Q. Nilsson) abandons him, World War I veteran Stephen Sorrell (H.B. Warner) suffers through all sorts of humiliations and privations in order to provide for his young son, Kit (Mickey McBan). Years later, the wife reappears, becoming overly attached to her now handsome adult son (Nils Asther).
Sorrell and Son (1927) movie review: A superlative H.B. Warner stars in Herbert Brenon’s surprisingly effective father-son melodrama
Partially shot on location in England and produced independently by veteran filmmaker Herbert Brenon for United Artists, Sorrell and Son is a surprisingly skillful melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity. This long-thought-lost 1927 version of Warwick Deeping’s 1925 bestseller benefits greatly from Brenon’s assured direction, deservedly shortlisted in the first year of the Academy Awards.
Just as crucial to the film’s effectiveness is the portrayal of its central character, a World War I-scarred Englishman who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his young son.
Luckily, London-born stage and screen veteran H.B. Warner – best remembered for playing Jesus Christ in another 1927 release, Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings – rises to the occasion, coming across as the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion, while adroitly skirting the pitfalls of overearnestness and self-pity.
Less is more
Unlike many silent era performers – even in the relatively more subtle late 1920s – Warner never begs for the audience’s sympathy. Instead of turning his eyes plaintively upwards to heaven or downwards to some bottomless hell, he seizes the viewer’s sympathy by painstakingly bringing his character to three-dimensional life: His war veteran is not just a long-suffering Papa; he’s also a man who happens to be strong, weak, resolute, bewildered, proud, debased.
The viewer can grasp this emotional kaleidoscope without the need for 3D glasses – or, for that matter, spoken dialogue. Every nuance is clearly conveyed through Warner’s carefully modulated facial expressions and body language.
At least in the case of Sorrell and Son, it’s evident that H.B. Warner and Herbert Brenon believed that less would be more.
Sorrell and Son synopsis: Class divisions, incest, euthanasia
Set in England in the aftermath of World War I, Sorrell and Son tells the story of Stephen Sorrell (H.B. Warner), a returning war veteran who suffers all sorts of humiliations and privations just so he can support his young son, Kit (Mickey McBan), following the desertion of his self-centered wife, Dora (Anna Q. Nilsson).
Despite its sappy premise, Sorrell and Son is no Stella Dallas or Madame X in male drag.[1] Besides its depiction of the difficult socioeconomic environment in postwar England, the film – adapted by Brenon’s frequent collaborator Elizabeth Meehan (The Great Gatsby; Laugh, Clown, Laugh) – also delves into a series of complex issues, some of which remain controversial to this day.
Among the goodies thrown into the characters’ interpersonal stories are lust, envy, jealousy, class distinctions, incestuous desires, and, capping it all off, euthanasia.
Scene-stealer Anna Q. Nilsson
As a plus, the Sorrell and Son supporting cast is generally capable, with Anna Q. Nilsson – by then a veteran of more than 150 shorts and features[2] – nearly stealing the show as the jazzy mother who abandons husband and son to enjoy her own glamorous life.
Once the son (grown into Nils Asther) becomes a respected young doctor, Mom returns. That’s when her maternal feelings flourish, as she comes to the realization that she really – but really – cares for her handsome offspring.
Additionally, Sorrell and Son features another movie veteran, Alice Joyce – at one point known as “The Madonna of the Screen” – as Warner’s warm-hearted, late-life love interest. One of the most restrained performers of the 1920s, Joyce underplays to perfection.[3]
Enduring work of art against tough odds
As mentioned in the first paragraph of this brief commentary, Sorrell and Son was thought lost until a few years ago. Part of the last reel remains missing (photographs were used to complete the narrative), and much of the picture is so contrasty that at times the actors’ facial features get all but washed out.
Yet even though the condition of the currently available print makes it impossible to relish the work of masterful cinematographer and frequent Herbert Brenon collaborator James Wong Howe (The Spanish Dancer, Peter Pan), the fact that nearly a century after its release one can still appreciate both the film’s drama and its performances is an indication of what a remarkable accomplishment Sorrell and Son is.
Irrespective of its age and overall physical health, this is one movie that, if you’re given the rare chance to check it out, should not be missed.[4]
Sorrell and Son (1927) movie cast & crew
Director: Herbert Brenon.
Screenplay: Elizabeth Meehan.
From Warwick Deeping’s 1925 novel.Cast:
H.B. Warner … Stephen Sorrell
Anna Q. Nilsson … Dora Sorrell
Alice Joyce … Fanny Garland
Nils Asther … Kit Sorrell as a Man
Mary Nolan … Molly Roland as a Woman
Mickey McBan … Kit Sorrell as a Child
Carmel Myers … Flo Palfrey
Lionel Belmore … John Palfrey
Louis Wolheim … Buck
Norman Trevor … Thomas Roland
Betsy Ann Hisle … Molly Roland as a Child
Paul McAllister … Dr. OrangeCinematography: James Wong Howe.
Film Editing: Marie Halvey.
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck.
Art Direction: William Cameron Menzies.
Production Company: Feature Productions, Inc.
Distributor: United Artists.
Running Time: 100 min.
Country: United States | United Kingdom.
Endnotes
Suffering movie mothers
[1] At a time when women were responsible for a sizable chunk of the domestic box office, father-love stories were less common than those about mother love – e.g., Vera Gordon in Humoresque (1920), Pauline Frederick and Ruth Chatterton in Madame X (1920, 1929), Norma Talmadge in The Lady (1925), Belle Bennett in Stella Dallas (1925) and Mother Machree (1928), Margaret Mann in Four Sons (1928).
Anna Q. Nilsson
[2] Prior to Sorrell and Son, Herbert Brenon had directed Swedish-born Anna Q. Nilsson in a couple of dramas: The Rustle of Silk (1923) and The Side Show of Life (1924).
In the talkie era, Nilsson is best remembered for her cameo in the “waxworks” sequence in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. (1950), playing bridge with Gloria Swanson, Buster Keaton, and her Sorrell and Son leading man H.B. Warner.
Alice Joyce
[3] A star at the beginning of the 1910s (The Christian, The American Princess), Alice Joyce went through a brief professional lull in the early 1920s before she, by then in her mid-30s, made a solid comeback in mid-decade – e.g, King Baggot’s The Home Maker; Herbert Brenon’s Dancing Mothers, The Little French Girl, and Beau Geste.
Sound and television versions
[4] A 1933 Anglo-American talkie version of Sorrell and Son starred H.B. Warner once again as Capt. Stephen Sorrell. Others in the cast were Hugh Williams as the adult Kit Sorrell, Peter Penrose as the young Kit, and Margot Grahame as Dora Sorrell. Jack Raymond directed from an adaptation by Lydia Hayward.
A 1984 British television miniseries starred Richard Pasco as Sorrell, Peter Chelsom as the adult Kit, Paul Critchley as the young Kit, and Gwen Watford as Dora. Derek Bennett directed from an adaptation by Jeremy Paul.
Academy Awards
Sorrell and Son received one Academy Award nomination for the period 1927–1928.
- Best Director, Dramatic Picture† (Herbert Brenon).
† In the first year of the Academy Awards, there were two Best Director categories: Dramatic Picture and Comedy.
Sorrell and Son movie credits via the American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog website.
H.B. Warner and Alice Joyce Sorrell and Son (1927) image: United Artists.
See also: Sorrell and Son Academy screening.
“Sorrell and Son (1927) Movie Review: Quality Adult Drama” last updated in April 2024.