mark.waltz Having seen a ton of the classic American theater, I regret not having seen this live. Like "Death of a Salesman" and "A Long Day's Journey Into Night", every time this has been revived, it was the hottest non- musical ticket on Broadway. It also took a long time for me to get to this movie version, quite edited, but devastating and engrossing none the less.Post war America was in turmoil in more ways than just the hardships of returning soldiers. A cynical world dealt with political and social upheavals, and this powerful drama shows it through the family angle in ways that are sometimes painful to face in the way it relates to real life.Powerful munitions plant owner Edward G. Robinson has grown in success while his former partner (Frank Conroy) has gone to prison for allegedly selling the government detective airplane parts. Rather than feel any sort of guilt, Robinson has been hiding something in regards to his part in it, having been on trial and briefly imprisoned, but acquitted for any wrong doing. The whole town seems to believe he was as guilty (or more), but stands around and says nothing-for the most part.His wife, Mady Christians, delusionally believes that a son who went off to war wasn't killed as rumored; Son Burt Lancaster is now engaged to his brother's girl, and Conroy's son (Howard Duff) has come back to settle the score.What starts off as lighthearted family fare quickly turns serious as all of these secrets and more come out. Little bits by the neighbors are surprisingly fresh, real and still timely. Performances by Robinson, Christian and Lancaster are intense and filled with honest, raw emotions. This is great theater at its most consuming, although I would have loved to have seen a full version of the play with this glorious cast.

bkoganbing All My Sons was Arthur Miller's second produced play and first commercial success winning Tony Awards for Best play, a Tony for stage director Elia Kazan and a run of 347 performances for the year of 1947. But when the film version was made the following year the House Un- American Activities Committee was taking a long hard look at All My Sons and all who were associated with it.Universal Studios which produced the film version did more than just expand a play that had a one set setting on stage, that set being the backyard of the Keller family. A whole lot of references to the capitalist system built on greed and the notion of anything for a profit were carefully eliminated. Miller's protagonist Joe Keller becomes a monstrous aberation as opposed to a symbol. That being said the adaption by Chester Erskine is still a fine drama with the polemics trimmed.Taking over from Ed Begley who did the role on stage is Edward G. Robinson as Joe Keller the owner of a factory which had shipped some bad engine parts for airplanes and caused the crash of several of them. Robinson managed to skate responsibility and the blame fell on his partner Frank Conroy who is now in prison. Incidentally one of the changes is that on stage Conroy's character is never seen only talked about. Here Burt Lancaster as Robinson's surviving son has a new scene with Conroy visiting him in prison to learn the truth about his father as doubts of his innocence have crept into his mind.The House UnAmerican Activities Committee was all over this work in their glory days of 1948. Arthur Miller was blacklisted, so was Mady Christians who played Mrs. Keller. Elia Kazan as we know turned friendly witness for the hounds of HUAC and Edward G. Robinson in the Fifties was what was termed 'gray listed'. Not forbidden to work per se, but studios were not giving A budget work any more and wouldn't until Cecil B. DeMille hired him for The Ten Commandments.In the end Robinson has to take responsibility for what he did and he does it in the most dramatic way possible. Aficionados of Arthur Miller's work will note the similarities between the Keller and the Loman families in Miller's next production Death Of A Salesman.Possibly one day we'll get another film version that is more true to what Arthur Miller had in mind. This will due until that happens.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . remain the five most bittersweet words in Illinois history, so it's natural for playwright Arthur Miller to set ALL MY SONS in the Land of Lincoln, and name his main character so he can rephrase "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's Black Sox Scandal epitaph as, "If you want to know, just ask Joe." Mr. Miller did not believe in the American Way (which is the main reason that his wife, Marilyn Monroe, dumped him). Arty campaigned against our credo, "See something, say something" with his hysterical story, THE CRUCIBLE. He denigrated the American Way (Amway, for short) which recognizes that "You cannot have your One Per Cent of Big Winners without enduring whining from the 99% of Deluded Losers" with his DEATH OF A SALESMAN "Willie Loman" character. Most glaringly, here in ALL MY SONS, it never crosses the mind of war profiteer "Joe Keller" to fix his warplane faulty cylinder peccadillo the C of C way, by making substantial "campaign contribution" bribes to the Party of Lincoln. Had he written off the cost of doing business with a well-placed $500 here and a thousand there, his patsy partner Herb Deever never would have been indicted in the first place. There would have been no scandal (and NO play or movie, either!). Pinko fellow traveler Arty's sad tales all rely upon his near-total ignorance of the American Way.

edwagreen Excellent film dealing with Arthur Miller's story of a man who sold defective plane parts to the military during World War 11 resulting in the death of many pilots.Edward G. Robinson gave us an outstanding performance as the conflicted individual, who did this for his own selfish-interests only to escape prosecution but to see his partner jailed.This is a story of intense inter-family conflicts. The partner's daughter was to be married to Joe's (Robinson's) son Larry in the film. The picture begins with the fact that Larry is missing in action. Ann, played by Louisa Horton, is now becoming engaged to Joe's other son, Chris, played with marvelous insight by a young Burt Lancaster.Mady Christians is also a standout as Joe's devoted wife, who herself is in denial that Larry is probably dead and knowing full well what her husband did was wrong.This is a terrific film dealing with moral conflict and the ultimate tragic resolution to it.You have to wonder what Edward G. Robinson had to do to be nominated for an academy award.This is Arthur Miller at his best writing. A truly American classic.