The careful reader of this blog will have worked out that I am a big John Ford fan and number many of his films among my favourites. There are not many of his sound movies that I have not seen (he also made dozens of silent flicks) and this was one that had eluded me previously. So why am I sad? Because it was a big fat disappointment and joins "Mogambo" and "Gideon's Day" as the exceptions that prove the rule. Ford's strengths are his emotional manipulation (I'm sure he would have denied this if asked) and his miraculous use of music (only noticeable here in a small way). This film feels like it was made by a totally detached director and even the two leads, Franchot Tone and Madeleine Carroll, who are often quite likeable, appear to have no real interest in each other.
The story spans over one hundred years and tells of the Southern family who spread their business interests to England, France and Germany and how they face up to the changes in the world, in particular from the early days of World War I through the stockmarket crash of 1929. After this, where the family had always been foremost, they now seem to think that only another war will save them. The part that I thought well-done, and this was especially prescient in a film made in 1934, was Ford's visualizing the growing threat of the Nazis in Germany, the fascists in Italy, and the marshaling of the communist forces in Russia.
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