Sons and Lovers (1960)

Truly Dreadful Film

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Master cinematographer Jack Cardiff directed Sons And Lovers and got an Oscar nomination for it. The adaption of the D.H. Lawrence novel also yielded an Oscar nomination for Trevor Howard as Best Actor playing the rough and outspoken patriarch of the Welsh Morel family. The film is a look at a Welsh coal miner's family just before World War I. But if you are expecting something like John Ford's How Green Was My Valley let me disabuse you of that quickly. There's nothing poetical in the life these miner's lead, certainly Howard doesn't find it. One of his three sons is killed early on in a mining accident and another moves away from Howard and wife Wendy Hiller.But the third son based in part on Lawrence himself is a talented artist and has little chance of really blooming into a full fledged artist in Wales. He's played by Dean Stockwell and Hiller really clings to him. Which annoys Howard no end as he feels he should do his bit to put food on the table as the rest of the men do.Stockwell of course is torn and his struggle is the basis for the novel. He gets a job doing displays in a dress shop where he meets Mary Ure who is one of the dressmakers, quite a beauty, already married, but a woman who believes in free love. Stockwell gets some free samples. He's also involved with Heather Sears a pious young lady who comes from a religious family.Howard got his one and only Oscar nomination for this part. He who got first recognition for playing romantic leads like Brief Encounter is anything but romantic here. He's blustering and swaggering and dominates the scene with whomever he's in it. Wendy Hiller is pained to keep up with him, but as the clinging vine of a mother it's really her character on which the plot turns.Sons And Lovers yielded one Oscar, for black and white cinematography to Freddie Francis. On a television interview Jack Cardiff said that he never interfered with the camera work in this film. Like a good chief executive he picked the right subordinate for the job and was rewarded for his faith with the film's Oscar.Sons And Lovers ought to be viewed back to back with How Green Was My Valley. Both are family films set in the same background, but what different families.

I am pretty sure D. H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers" was considered a rather shocking book when it debuted in the early 20th century. The book had a male lead (Paul) who was sexual--sleeping with both his girlfriend as well as having an affair with a married woman. In the book and in this movie, this could have been a lot more explicit but due to conventions of the day it's somewhat muted--but still very much a groundbreaking sort of story (the same can be said for Lawrence's later book, "Lady Chatterly's Lover"). So in that sense, the film is interesting to any film student since it is rather frank and unusual when it comes to sex.The acting is quite nice. While Dean Stockwell was an American, he did a credible job playing a Brit in the lead. As for the rest of the cast, they are also quite good though two performances struck me. Trevor Howard usually played refined roles--upper or at least middle-class gentlemen. Here, he's a crude coal miner--and not the least bit likable through much of the film. The other performance, though not exactly a huge or important role, was that of Ernest Thesiger as Paul's benefactor. I loved seeing Thesinger, as this was a HUGE departure from his most famous role--an evil scientist in "The Bride of Frankenstein"! So, with a groundbreaking sort of story (that has MANY Freudian overtones) and very good acting, I loved the film, right? Well, no...not especially. This brings me to a major problem with the film--I just didn't particularly like anyone and felt very detached from them. Paul was rather selfish and cold and no one seemed particularly interesting or likable. You may not mind this--I did. Worth seeing--just not a must-see film.

This exquisite adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel is famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff's most accomplished film as a director; in fact, he was nominated and indeed won several major Best Direction awards (including the Golden Globe). Sadly, none of his other directorial efforts were anywhere near as rewarding although I'd still like to watch at least 2 of them - the epic THE LONG SHIPS (1963) and the horror film THE MUTATIONS (1974; a SE DVD of which has been released under the title THE FREAKMAKER).Amazingly, this was a Hollywood production (made by 20th Century Fox) and, as such, leading man Dean Stockwell (who was probably never better) was imposed on Cardiff by producer Jerry Wald - though he seems to have been pleased with his performance. The acting of the Oscar-nominated Trevor Howard (as Stockwell's boorish and drunkard coal-miner father) and Mary Ure (as the married but separated young suffragette with whom Stockwell has an affair), as well as Wendy Hiller (as his strong but possessive mother), is irreproachable. The supporting cast includes Ernest Thesiger (in one of his last films) and Donald Pleasence, with both unfortunately having limited screen-time.Freddie Francis' luminous black-and-white cinematography earned the film its only Oscar; interestingly, Francis also followed in Cardiff's footsteps and became a film director himself (with similarly erratic results, ironically enough). Mario Nascimbene's lovely music score and the film's vivid recreation of an era (in authentic locations, no less) add immeasurably to its lasting impression.The coal-mine setting recalls earlier films like Carol Reed's THE STARS LOOK DOWN (1939) and John Ford's HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), with which it can be favorably compared. Still, for all its quaint Englishness and the inherent sentimentality of its narrative, the film is a remarkably adult and frank depiction of sexual and artistic awakening vis-à-vis repressed Edwardian society and, together with Ken Russell's equally celebrated adaptation of WOMEN IN LOVE (1969), remains undoubtedly the finest screen rendition of D. H. Lawrence's work.It's a shame, therefore, that this is as yet unavailable on R1 DVD but the R2 edition I own is a more than adequate substitute, with a very nice-looking print of the main feature, surprisingly strong audio and, apart from the basic supplements of the original theatrical trailer and a stills gallery, features a wonderful interview with Cardiff about the making of SONS AND LOVERS (interspersed with relevant clips from the film itself) which clocks in at around half-an-hour.

Jack Cardiff, the director of "Sons and Lovers" was one of the greatest cinematographers ever. Just think of "Black Narcissus" but as a director he lacked that extra something, call it egomania, single mindedness or whatever you want. "Sons and Lovers" is beautifully crafted but it doesn't have a real center and by that I mean, no real point of view, no personality. What a feast however. Trevor Howard got an Oscar nomination for his role here and he is truly wonderful. The marvelous Wendy Hiller manages to give a soul to the monstrous mother and make her sympathetic without betraying the misogynistic nature of DH Lawrence's vision. But the film belongs to Dean Stockwell. His truth and his beauty is what I took away with me and stayed with me, always.