Sorrell and Son (1927)

Herbert Brenon: Sorrell and Son (1927) with H. B. Warner (Captain Sorrell) and Mickey McBan (his son Kit). Photo from IMDb.

SORRELL AND SON (Feature Productions / United Artists, US 1927)
Isä ja poika / Elämänvaihtelut / Livets växlingar.
    Dir/sc: Herbert Brenon; adapt: Elizabeth Meehan, from the novel Sorrell & Son (1925) by Warwick Deeping; ph: James Wong Howe; ed: Marie Halvey; art dir: William Cameron Menzies; cast: H. B. Warner, Anna Q. Nilsson, Nils Asther, Carmel Myers, Mary Nolan, Alice Joyce, Mickey McBan, Lionel Belmore, Louis Wolheim; 35 mm, 9448 ft, 90’ (24 fps), Academy Film Archive.
    English intertitles.
    Grand piano: Phil Carli.
    Viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Fuori quadro, 15 Oct 2004.

Kelly Chisholm (GCM): "Based on a beloved British novel by Warwick Deeping, Sorrell and Son tells the story of a father and son’s life together in post-World War I England. Stephen Sorrell (H. B. Warner) returns from the front a wounded war hero, but finds his past bravery is not enough to prevent his wife (Anna Q. Nilsson) from deserting the family or to gain him gentlemanly employment.  The bond between Stephen and his only son, Kit (Mickey McBan as a child, Nils Asther as an adult), is deep and loving, through years of Stephen struggling in porter jobs to send Kit to privileged schools and provide a respectable upbringing for him. Women come into both their lives, whether welcome, like Kit’s lifelong sweetheart (Mary Nolan), or unwelcome, like Stephen’s abusive and lustful employer (Carmel Myers). Hardship, illness, and the re-entry of Kit’s mother into his life test their bond, but throughout Stephen and Kit remain devoted to each other, with the true test coming when Stephen falls gravely ill."

"The film was shot on location in England by legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe.  Director Herbert Brenon (Peter Pan, A Kiss for Cinderella, and Laugh, Clown, Laugh) brings a warm touch and coaxes lovely performances out of the cast, especially child actor Mickey McBan.  Leading man H. B. Warner went on to reprise his role of Stephen in a sound version of the story in 1934."

"This version of Sorrell and Son has been preserved from the only known existing material, an incomplete, early safety film print of very poor image quality. We have done the best we can using standard photographic laboratory techniques to bring out the beauty of the image; however, very little detail remained in the existing material. The film is missing roughly about 5 minutes of the very end of the picture, most likely due to deterioration of the original nitrate elements. A summary of the film’s ending, based on existing stills and the script, follows the surviving footage." – Kelly Chisholm (GCM)

AA: Sorrell and Son (1927) was a film believed lost at the time of GCM's 1996 Herbert Brenon retrospective, but it has just been discovered and restored by the Academy Film Archive.

There is a Warwick Deeping connection in this year's retrospective: in the first screening we saw Fox Farm (1922) which deals with blindness as a life-changing tragedy. The wife distances herself from her husband after he turns blind (but he then finds a new and true love). In Sorrell and Son it's about WWI: the wife leaves Captain Sorrell with another man when Sorrell returns from the front. Sorrell is sick, poor and unemployed, but he takes good care of his son as a single father despite a long series of hardships and humiliations. The son grows up (incarnated by Nils Asther), becomes a surgeon and has to make a hard decision of euthanasia when his dad is diagnozed with terminal cancer.

The actual duration of the screening was: 2880 m /24 fps/ 104 min.

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SYNOPSIS FROM AFI CATALOG ONLINE:

"Captain Stephen Sorrell, who was badly wounded during World War I, returns to London with the Military Cross, only to find that his pleasure-seeking wife Dora is leaving him for a wealthier man.

Sorrell's pain at her betrayal is only softened by the love he and his young son Kit feel toward each other. Hoping to care for Kit and retain his status as a gentleman, Sorrell tries to return to his old position as a sales manager but is told that it has been filled.

Because of his poor health and difficult times, Sorrell cannot find work in London, so he accepts a clerk's position at an antiques store in Staunton. Although the position reduces Sorrell's status, he is happy it will enable him to provide for Kit. Arriving in Staunton, Sorrell is shattered to learn that the antiques dealer has died and the position no longer exists. Desperate to keep Kit with him, Sorrell accepts a job as a porter at a local inn. The proprietress, Flo Palfrey, delights in humiliating Sorrell, whom she recognizes as having been born a gentleman, yet she also is attracted to him and tries to seduce him. When he rejects her advances, she fires him, but his fortunes turn for the better when Thomas Roland, a guest at the inn, hires him to work as a porter at a large hotel he manages.

Sorrell works very hard at the hotel, despite constant ill treatment by Buck, the bullying head porter. One night, when Buck tries to force himself on Fanny Garland, a housekeeper who has befriended Sorrell, he is stopped by Sorrell in a violent clash. Awakened by the disturbance, Roland dismisses Buck and makes Sorrell the new head porter.

As the years pass, Sorrell excels as the head porter, while Kit and Roland's daughter Molly happily play together. Roland pays for Kit's tuition at a prominent boarding school, but when Sorrell goes to visit his son, the headmaster berates him for being a lowly porter and expels Kit. Despite their humiliation, Sorrell and Kit are happy to be reunited.

As the years pass, Kit, who has wanted to become a surgeon since the famous Dr. Orange saved Molly’s life after a childhood accident, attends Oxford and graduates from medical school. For Sorrell, now manager of the hotel after Roland retires, and in a loving relationship with Fanny, life seems complete until Dora, now a lonely, wealthy widow, re-enters his life. Although Kit does not want to see her, Sorrell convinces him that he should accept her offer to stay with her in London for a few weeks. Dora shows Kit a life of luxury pleasure in London, but he rejects her and returns to his father.

Sometime later, after Dr. Orange has given Kit a position at a London hospital, he begins to excel at his profession. One day, however, during brain surgery, Kit accidentally cuts his hand, which becomes infected. The infection soon becomes so serious that doctors are certain that Kit’s arm must be amputated to save his life. Kit refuses the operation, with the loving support of his father, but passes the crisis and recovers.

Soon Kit and Dora marry, to the pride and happiness of Roland and Sorrell. While the newlyweds are on their honeymoon, Sorrell collapses in the garden of the cottage he shares with Fanny. Sorrell does not want to disturb Kit’s honeymoon, but upon his return, Kit learns that his father is dying.

Orange, who is attending Sorrell, tells the devastated Kit that only morphine will stop the great pain that will be with his father until death. That night, acquiescing to his father’s wishes, Kit gives him an overdose of morphine to stop the pain, then kisses his dying father’s forehead. Despondent and racked with guilt, Kit is comforted by Molly, who tells him “what a last service” he did for his father. The next day, the devoted Fanny attends Sorrell's garden."