My Son John

An anti-Communist drama starring Robert Walker, My Son John was produced during the height of McCarthyism. The Jeffersons, a picture-perfect, small town, all-American family see their eldest son John return home after a long absence spouting views that cause them to worry he may be a Communist spy. After a visit from the FBI, John assures his mother (Helen Hayes) of his loyalty by swearing on her Bible. She begs him to confess and declares that he deserves to be punished.

Despite its questionable message (to say the least), this is a sublime and important American tragedy, as well as the last Robert Walker role (he died before shooting was completed). McCarey had to alter the film’s ending because of Walker’s unfilmed sequences and inserted a shot of Walker from Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train.

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