''Four Sons'' is a 1940
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
directed by
Archie Mayo
Archibald L. Mayo (January 29, 1891 – December 4, 1968) was a film director, screenwriter and actor.
Early years
The son of a tailor, Mayo was born in New York City. After attending the city's public schools, he studied at Columbia Unive ...
. It stars
Don Ameche
Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which l ...
and
Eugenie Leontovich
Eugenie Leontovich (born Evgenia Konstantinovna Leontovich; russian: Евге́ния Константиновна Леонто́вич, tr. ; March 21 or April 3 "Eugenie Leontovich, 93; actress, writer, director", ''Chicago Tribune'', April ...
. It is a remake of the 1928
film of the same name.
The film follows the lives of four Czecho-German brothers following the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
. Two of them choose to serve
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, another chooses to fight in support of the
Czech lands
The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since 1 ...
, and the fourth emigrates to the United States.
Plot
When the Germans invade Czechoslovakia in 1939, the four sons of a Czecho-German family follow different paths: Czech patriot, Nazi supporter, artist in America, and heroic German soldier.
Cast
* Don Ameche as Chris Bern
* Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern
*
Mary Beth Hughes
Mary Elizabeth Hughes (November 13, 1919 Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P. 586. – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, a ...
as Anna
*
Alan Curtis as Karl Bern
*
George Ernest
George Ernest (born George Ruud Hjorth; November 20, 1921 – June 25, 2009) was an American actor and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) combat photographer/cameraman during World War II. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1930 a ...
as Fritz Bern
*
Robert Lowery as Joseph
*
Lionel Royce
Lionel Royce (born Leon Moriz Reiss; March 30, 1891 – April 1, 1946) was an Austrian-American actor of stage and screen, also known during his European career as Leo Reuss. He began his career in theater in Vienna, Austria, in 1919, before ...
as Max Sturm
*
Sig Ruman
Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in ...
as Newmann (as Sig Rumann)
*
Ludwig Stössel
Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933.
Biography
St ...
as Pastor
*
Christian Rub
Christian Rub (pronounced ''Rhoob''; April 13, 1886 – April 14, 1956) was an Austrian-born American character actor. He was known for his work in films of the late 1910s to the early 1950s, and was featured in more than 100 films.
Biography
...
as Kapek
*
Torben Meyer
Torben Emil Meyer (1 December 1884 – 22 May 1975) was a Danish-American character actor who appeared in more than 190 films in a 55-year career. He began his acting career in Europe before moving to the United States.
Early life
Meyer was ...
as Gustav
References
External links
*
*
1940 films
1940 war films
Remakes of American films
American war films
American black-and-white films
Films about Nazi Germany
Films directed by Archie Mayo
Films set in 1939
Films set in the Czech Republic
Films set in Czechoslovakia
20th Century Fox films
Sound film remakes of silent films
American World War II films
World War II films made in wartime
1940s English-language films
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