EDWARD, MY SON (1949) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: George Cukor
Spencer Tracy, Deborah Kerr, Ian Hunter,
Mervyn Johns, James Donald, Leureen MacGrath
An unscrupulous bastard makes a fortune in the business world, alienating everybody he knows and destroying anybody who gets in his way. He claims to be doing it all for his son, Edward, who never appears on screen and who seems to have even fewer ethical principles than his old man. The movie's a bit of a slog, introduced by Tracy, speaking straight into the camera, seeking sympathy and understanding for a monster whose abiding ruthlessness precludes even the pretense of empathy or remorse. Toward the end, it just kind of goes off the edge, along with Deborah Kerr, playing Tracy's ruined, booze-addled wife.
