Four Sons (1928)

Set in Bavaria as WWI looms in the distance, a widow (Margaret Mann) is proud of her four sons. As one son (James Hall) goes to America and becomes a citizen, the other three (Ralph Bushman, George Meeker, Charles Morton) are eventually conscripted into the German Army. Based on the short story GRANDMOTHER BERNLE LEARNS HER LETTERS and directed by John Ford (STAGECOACH). One of Ford's later silent films, this tale of mother love and war is (considering it's John Ford) surprisingly unsentimental. It manages to avoid the heavy handedness of the 1930 version of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT yet still get its anti-war message across. Unfortunately, the film's last 20 minutes or so with the mother literally lost in America seems out of sync with the rest of the movie. Remade in 1940 and updated to WWII. With June Collyer and Earle Foxe.