Ruth Chatterton was one of those early talkie leading ladies who could play either sappy heroines or hard-luck heroines who either suffered or made people around them suffer. She's an Austrian immigrant who performs in vaudeville with her no good husband. When the husband disappears, selling their son into adoption, she spends years searching for him to find more heartbreak as she finds personal success as an opera singer. Fredric March plays the sympathetic attorney who tries to help her find her child. Chatterton's accent can be cloying at times, and the early static cinematography may be hard for people to stay interested the entire time. Having just gone down this territory in "Madame X", Chatterton tries to rise above the pathos of the material. She received an Oscar Nomination for this film, which I suspect that several years later would be considered dated and easily dismissed. March, on the verge of becoming a major cinematic star, has a thankless part, and Gilbert Emery seems like a silent movie villain as the no-good husband. There are enough lavish moments covering the period from pre-World War I to the present day, but the vaudeville sequences are rather sad. Chatterton is better when her accent starts to dwindle with time. Made up to be unrecognizable in the first half, she looks closer to her more familiar screen image as the film reaches its conclusion.
11 Reviews
Ripped from his mother's care
bkoganbing22 January 2014
The first half of the title role in Sarah And Son is played by Ruth Chatterton who got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The second part of the title is done by young Philippe DeLacy who plays her son who was untimely ripped from Chatterton by his father Fuller Melish who in his third of three pictures plays a no good rat of a husband.
Melish who died untimely right after Sarah And Son was finished actually sells their young kid off to a wealthy American family for money and he then promptly takes off. It's unfortunate he died because he had a bright future playing all kinds of cad roles. Chatterton is shattered by this, but she picks herself up and becomes a great opera star from her humble days in French music hall. She also finds out where her son is and sets her sights on his return.
Enter Fredric March in one of his early roles. He's the brother of Doris Lloyd who now has custody of DeLacy who naturally thinks she's his real mother. But March is also an attorney with a sense of justice and he kind of fancies Chatterton anyway.
Chatterton despite attempting a Fifi D'Orsay type French accent registers well as the distraught mother. So does March although the film is clearly Chatterton's. The film is melodramatic and dated and allowances should be made there.
Still for fans of Chatterton and March I recommend it.
Melish who died untimely right after Sarah And Son was finished actually sells their young kid off to a wealthy American family for money and he then promptly takes off. It's unfortunate he died because he had a bright future playing all kinds of cad roles. Chatterton is shattered by this, but she picks herself up and becomes a great opera star from her humble days in French music hall. She also finds out where her son is and sets her sights on his return.
Enter Fredric March in one of his early roles. He's the brother of Doris Lloyd who now has custody of DeLacy who naturally thinks she's his real mother. But March is also an attorney with a sense of justice and he kind of fancies Chatterton anyway.
Chatterton despite attempting a Fifi D'Orsay type French accent registers well as the distraught mother. So does March although the film is clearly Chatterton's. The film is melodramatic and dated and allowances should be made there.
Still for fans of Chatterton and March I recommend it.
Fraulein Ruth
richardchatten4 February 2024
A virtual retread of Ruth Chatterton's role of the previous year as 'Madame X' with the difference that she's an Austrian immigrant (hence the accent) that charts her rise from a simple vaudeville hoofer at the time of The Great War before she rises in the world to become 'Madame Sarah Storm, Prima Donna Supreme' in chic off-the-shoulder dresses and dripping with fur, epitomising the glamour of the Roaring Twenties.
Naturally she has to suffer - a legacy of her earlier marriage to a drunken wastrel (played by Fuller Mellish Jr., who died of a cerebral haemorrhage before the film was even released): the father of her child who decamps with the infant and sells it to a wealthy couple.
When at long last mother and son are finally reunited it's facilitated by the then novel device (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) of a chase involving a speedboat.
Naturally she has to suffer - a legacy of her earlier marriage to a drunken wastrel (played by Fuller Mellish Jr., who died of a cerebral haemorrhage before the film was even released): the father of her child who decamps with the infant and sells it to a wealthy couple.
When at long last mother and son are finally reunited it's facilitated by the then novel device (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) of a chase involving a speedboat.
Very Solid
smithjlj-0833928 November 2018
Similar to 'A Feather in Her Cap' or 'Stella Dallas'
HotToastyRag17 July 2018
Ruth Chatterton, a poor, low-life mother who can barely make ends meet, is married to a no-good jerk, Fueller Mullish Jr. When Fueller steals their infant son and sells him to a rich family, Ruth is heartbroken. She contacts a high-class lawyer, Fredric March, to help get her boy back, but he's already settled in his new home.
It actually takes a long time for the plot to unfold, so if you decide to watch this, you'll be looking at your watch wondering when Fredric March is going to show up. Unless you love silent movies or very early talkies, you probably won't make it through this one. It hasn't been remastered, so the sound quality is poor and the film looks like it's on the verge of overexposure. The actors talk in a very stylized manner, over-pronouncing things and having very obvious facial expressions. Also, Ruth talks in a very strong accent and it's tough to understand her at times. I'd recommend sticking with A Feather in Her Cap and Stella Dallas if you like these types of stories.
It actually takes a long time for the plot to unfold, so if you decide to watch this, you'll be looking at your watch wondering when Fredric March is going to show up. Unless you love silent movies or very early talkies, you probably won't make it through this one. It hasn't been remastered, so the sound quality is poor and the film looks like it's on the verge of overexposure. The actors talk in a very stylized manner, over-pronouncing things and having very obvious facial expressions. Also, Ruth talks in a very strong accent and it's tough to understand her at times. I'd recommend sticking with A Feather in Her Cap and Stella Dallas if you like these types of stories.
Chatterton received an Oscar nomination for this?? Unlike wine or cheese, this one didn't age well.
planktonrules18 August 2023
"Sarah and Son" is a very old fashioned film...the sort they made mostly in the late 1920s to the early 30s. The plot is a weepy thing with a longsuffering mother and her estranged son...sort of like what you'd also have seen in "So Big" (1932) or "Madam X" (1920, 1929). It's also the style film you really wouldn't see much of after the early talking picture days.
Sarah (Ruth Chatterton) is a woman who has fallen for the wrong man. Her husband turns out to be a lazy louse. He's so awful that one day he sells their baby and then joins the Marines in time to fight in WWI. Sarah is naturally beside herself with grief. Following the war, she discovers the name of the family the husband sold the baby to...but they refuse to return the child. Considering they are rich and she is a poor woman with little means, she eventually realizes it's futile and gives up...for now.
Now, ten years later, Sarah has become a world famous opera singer and has the means to fight back for her boy. And, considering how miserable the boy is, perhaps she'll get him back and they'll become a family once again. But what is next? Surely, getting him back won't be that easy in such a soapy picture...especially when the family with the boy are not above trickery to keep him.
In the early days of talking pictures, films tended to try too hard when it came to sound. Musicals were all the rage and in the case of this film, having Chatterton affecting such a strong accent was considered a good thing. Today, it just seems like she was overdoing the accent a bit and it made me wish the film either had subtitles or she'd dropped this odd Dutch-like accent. It's really hard to believe her performance garnered her an Oscar nomination, though many of the early winners and nominees are dated when you see them today (such as Mary Pickford in "Coquette").
Overall, a modestly enjoyable but very dated film that is mostly of interest to old movie buffs. Otherwise, the story is a bit hard to believe, the accent too thick and the story a bit sappy. Not bad, mind you...but also not all that good either.
By the way, years after the film was first released, it was re-released with a new title very sloppily slapped onto the title screen.
Sarah (Ruth Chatterton) is a woman who has fallen for the wrong man. Her husband turns out to be a lazy louse. He's so awful that one day he sells their baby and then joins the Marines in time to fight in WWI. Sarah is naturally beside herself with grief. Following the war, she discovers the name of the family the husband sold the baby to...but they refuse to return the child. Considering they are rich and she is a poor woman with little means, she eventually realizes it's futile and gives up...for now.
Now, ten years later, Sarah has become a world famous opera singer and has the means to fight back for her boy. And, considering how miserable the boy is, perhaps she'll get him back and they'll become a family once again. But what is next? Surely, getting him back won't be that easy in such a soapy picture...especially when the family with the boy are not above trickery to keep him.
In the early days of talking pictures, films tended to try too hard when it came to sound. Musicals were all the rage and in the case of this film, having Chatterton affecting such a strong accent was considered a good thing. Today, it just seems like she was overdoing the accent a bit and it made me wish the film either had subtitles or she'd dropped this odd Dutch-like accent. It's really hard to believe her performance garnered her an Oscar nomination, though many of the early winners and nominees are dated when you see them today (such as Mary Pickford in "Coquette").
Overall, a modestly enjoyable but very dated film that is mostly of interest to old movie buffs. Otherwise, the story is a bit hard to believe, the accent too thick and the story a bit sappy. Not bad, mind you...but also not all that good either.
By the way, years after the film was first released, it was re-released with a new title very sloppily slapped onto the title screen.
Ruth Chatterton Loses Another Child
view_and_review4 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This is the third movie in which I've seen Ruth Chatterton trying to reclaim her son. She lost her son in "The Laughing Lady" and "Frisco Jenny." That seems to be her thing.
In "Sarah and Son" Ruth plays Sarah Storm, a struggling performer. She married her stage partner Jim Grey (Fuller Mellish Jr.) and the two had a little boy. Jim, her husband, turned out to be a total waste of flesh. He was shiftless and lazy which left Sarah to be the breadwinner and nurturer to their son Bobby.
In a fit of drunken anger Jim joined the marine corp. And sold their son to Mr. And Mrs. Ashmore (Gilbert Emery and Doris Lloyd). Sarah went out to get some milk and when she came back the two of them were gone.
A few years later Sarah saw Jim in an infirmary for wounded troops. All she was able to get from him before he died was that the boy was with the Ashmores.
Sarah found the Ashmores, but they were totally unwilling to give up their adopted son. They wouldn't even let Sarah ascertain whether or not the boy was hers, which was like an admission that they knew the child belonged to her. Arbitrating between the two was the Ashmores' lawyer, Howard Vanning (Fredric March).
There's very little more distressing than seeing a woman search for her missing child. The angst and pain that she feels is palpable. Add into there the element of deceit when the woman knows where her child is, and it becomes positively enraging. But in the case with "Sarah and Son" it was even more of a cocktail of emotions because the boy Sarah so desperately wanted was ten-years-old and had only known one set of parents. Even should you hate the very sight of Mr. And Mrs. Ashmore and want them to suffer for keeping Sarah's child from her, would that be fair to young Bobby? It was such a conundrum and I hated "Sarah and Son" for it. I wanted to hate the Ashmores and make them suffer without causing Bobby to suffer, and there was no way to do that.
Unless, of course, Bobby voluntarily and happily chose to be with Sarah. Then it would be the fairytale ending: Sarah reunites with her son, the Ashmores get nothing, and Bobby is not forced into a situation he doesn't want to be in.
And that's the ending Hollywood delivered.
I didn't want fairytale even if I didn't want the more realistic ending which would've been Bobby wanting to stay with the Ashmores and Sarah reluctantly consenting. I know, I know, it had to end one way or the other and Ruth Chatterton had voluntarily given up her son in two other movies already, so she deserved a break.
In "Sarah and Son" Ruth plays Sarah Storm, a struggling performer. She married her stage partner Jim Grey (Fuller Mellish Jr.) and the two had a little boy. Jim, her husband, turned out to be a total waste of flesh. He was shiftless and lazy which left Sarah to be the breadwinner and nurturer to their son Bobby.
In a fit of drunken anger Jim joined the marine corp. And sold their son to Mr. And Mrs. Ashmore (Gilbert Emery and Doris Lloyd). Sarah went out to get some milk and when she came back the two of them were gone.
A few years later Sarah saw Jim in an infirmary for wounded troops. All she was able to get from him before he died was that the boy was with the Ashmores.
Sarah found the Ashmores, but they were totally unwilling to give up their adopted son. They wouldn't even let Sarah ascertain whether or not the boy was hers, which was like an admission that they knew the child belonged to her. Arbitrating between the two was the Ashmores' lawyer, Howard Vanning (Fredric March).
There's very little more distressing than seeing a woman search for her missing child. The angst and pain that she feels is palpable. Add into there the element of deceit when the woman knows where her child is, and it becomes positively enraging. But in the case with "Sarah and Son" it was even more of a cocktail of emotions because the boy Sarah so desperately wanted was ten-years-old and had only known one set of parents. Even should you hate the very sight of Mr. And Mrs. Ashmore and want them to suffer for keeping Sarah's child from her, would that be fair to young Bobby? It was such a conundrum and I hated "Sarah and Son" for it. I wanted to hate the Ashmores and make them suffer without causing Bobby to suffer, and there was no way to do that.
Unless, of course, Bobby voluntarily and happily chose to be with Sarah. Then it would be the fairytale ending: Sarah reunites with her son, the Ashmores get nothing, and Bobby is not forced into a situation he doesn't want to be in.
And that's the ending Hollywood delivered.
I didn't want fairytale even if I didn't want the more realistic ending which would've been Bobby wanting to stay with the Ashmores and Sarah reluctantly consenting. I know, I know, it had to end one way or the other and Ruth Chatterton had voluntarily given up her son in two other movies already, so she deserved a break.
Ruth Chatterton Rises Above a Sudsy Plot!!!
kidboots8 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Ruth Chatterton was a wonderful actress who, although coming to movies at an older age (36), proved she could master most genres. In 1931 "Movie Fan" readers voted her the "Finest Actress on the Screen" and she was often referred to as the First Lady of the Screen (until Ann Harding came along). She scintillated in "Charming Sinners" and "The Laughing Lady", witty drawing room comedies that were all the rage in those early talkie days. She then returned to mother love tear-jerkers - in 1929 she had starred in MGM's "Madame X" and it had proved a big hit.
Sarah Storm (Ruth Chatterton) has ambitions to go on the stage and with hard work and determination she succeeds - and even drags her lazy, shiftless boyfriend, Jim (Fuller Mellish Jnr.), along with her. Just as things are looking brighter she gets word that her little sister has died and in a weak moment she agrees to marry Jim. With a little baby to feed, Jim has reverted to his lazy ways and is forever telling her to put the baby into a home - until Sarah is pushed to breaking point!!! When Jim goes to a family acquaintance to borrow money, the man expresses envy that Jim has a child - he and his wife have never been able to have children. A plan then hatches in Jim's drunken brain - he joins the Marines, but before he sails he sells the baby to the childless couple.
Four years later Sarah is entertaining wounded soldiers in a hospital when she finds Jim dying, but before he does he repents and tells her the name of the family - Ashmore - where he left the baby. When the family is traced they are adamant that the baby is theirs - Frederic March plays Howard Vanning, their lawyer, who over the years becomes suspicious that, maybe, Bobby isn't their son. Bobby (Phillipe De Lacy) is growing up extremely unhappy - his parents are over protective and have wrapped him in cotton wool. Sarah, meanwhile, has studied music and become a world class opera singer but she has never given up on her quest to find her son. Howard organises for Sarah to meet Bobby but the Ashmores, who know all too well that Bobby is not their son, substitute the maid's son, who is the same age, for the inspection. The real Bobby has run away and "thumbs" his way to his Uncle Howard's, who has just turned up with Sarah. The stage is set for a very teary ending, involving a speedboat accident and a near drowning.
Ruth Chatterton seemed a bit "all at sea" in the first half of the movie as the gauche immigrant girl, "Dutchy", who wants to better herself. She laid the accent on rather thick. The last half was better, when she was a world famous diva and a bit more refined, she seemed more at ease.She definitely did not play Sarah in a sentimental manner and the film was all the better for that. Fuller Mellish Jnr. , who died before this film was released, seemed to be typecast as playing detestable villains - in "Sarah and Son" and "Applause", 2 of his 3 films he played low lifes.
Highly Recommended.
Sarah Storm (Ruth Chatterton) has ambitions to go on the stage and with hard work and determination she succeeds - and even drags her lazy, shiftless boyfriend, Jim (Fuller Mellish Jnr.), along with her. Just as things are looking brighter she gets word that her little sister has died and in a weak moment she agrees to marry Jim. With a little baby to feed, Jim has reverted to his lazy ways and is forever telling her to put the baby into a home - until Sarah is pushed to breaking point!!! When Jim goes to a family acquaintance to borrow money, the man expresses envy that Jim has a child - he and his wife have never been able to have children. A plan then hatches in Jim's drunken brain - he joins the Marines, but before he sails he sells the baby to the childless couple.
Four years later Sarah is entertaining wounded soldiers in a hospital when she finds Jim dying, but before he does he repents and tells her the name of the family - Ashmore - where he left the baby. When the family is traced they are adamant that the baby is theirs - Frederic March plays Howard Vanning, their lawyer, who over the years becomes suspicious that, maybe, Bobby isn't their son. Bobby (Phillipe De Lacy) is growing up extremely unhappy - his parents are over protective and have wrapped him in cotton wool. Sarah, meanwhile, has studied music and become a world class opera singer but she has never given up on her quest to find her son. Howard organises for Sarah to meet Bobby but the Ashmores, who know all too well that Bobby is not their son, substitute the maid's son, who is the same age, for the inspection. The real Bobby has run away and "thumbs" his way to his Uncle Howard's, who has just turned up with Sarah. The stage is set for a very teary ending, involving a speedboat accident and a near drowning.
Ruth Chatterton seemed a bit "all at sea" in the first half of the movie as the gauche immigrant girl, "Dutchy", who wants to better herself. She laid the accent on rather thick. The last half was better, when she was a world famous diva and a bit more refined, she seemed more at ease.She definitely did not play Sarah in a sentimental manner and the film was all the better for that. Fuller Mellish Jnr. , who died before this film was released, seemed to be typecast as playing detestable villains - in "Sarah and Son" and "Applause", 2 of his 3 films he played low lifes.
Highly Recommended.
Sarah and Son
CinemaSerf11 February 2024
"Grey" (Fuller Mellish Jr) is a bit of a rake. He treats his wife "Sarah" (Ruth Chatterton) appallingly and after years of this, absconds with their young baby son "Bobby" (who turns into Philippe De Lacy) of whom he soon bores and so he sells him onto a decent and wealthy family before enlisting. "Sarah" is heartbroken but the Great War intervenes and thereafter, the "Ashmore" family who acquired her son decline to give him up - she hasn't got tuppence to rub together. Her luck changes though - her singing takes her to operatic stardom and she is now in a better financial position to appeal directly to her now quite spoilt son. Grimly determined to reconcile her family, she tries to influence "Vanning" (Frederic March). He's a lawyer and a relative of the "Ashmore" family. As she pursues her real goal, a side benefit includes a burgeoning romance between these two. Can she establish her own ideal family unit? The story itself provides for quite an emotional maelstrom. The frustrated mother seeking a son who has never known anyone but the folks he grew up with, loved and took care of him. There's never going to be a conclusion that satisfies everyone, but so long as "Sarah" gets her way. Chatterton delivers well here as does De Lacy as the young lad, but there's just far too little of March for him to make much difference to the rather ploddingly melodramatic fashion in which Dorothy Arzner decides to tell the tale. The production is adequate and the denouement filmed quite effectively, but it's all just a bit flat.
Wonderful early talkie with fine Chatterton performance
ngrim_27 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Despite it's early-talkie limitations, this film is really very good. It features Oscar nominee Ruth Chatterton and a pre-stardom Fredric March.
The film centers around Sarah Storm (Chatterton), a singer with a lowlife husband/boyfriend. When she tries to throw him out, he struggles with her, and she runs out. Just afterward, the neighbor's maid brings over their infant son. The lowlife husband gives the baby to a rich family.
Sarah finds him in a hospital and gets the family name out of him before being taken away. She goes to the family's lawyer, who happens to be the brother also. She fights for a chance to see the boy. While trying to gain access to the boy, a romance blossoms between her and the lawyer (March).
So seek it out if your interested, in my opinion, you won't be disappointed.
The film centers around Sarah Storm (Chatterton), a singer with a lowlife husband/boyfriend. When she tries to throw him out, he struggles with her, and she runs out. Just afterward, the neighbor's maid brings over their infant son. The lowlife husband gives the baby to a rich family.
Sarah finds him in a hospital and gets the family name out of him before being taken away. She goes to the family's lawyer, who happens to be the brother also. She fights for a chance to see the boy. While trying to gain access to the boy, a romance blossoms between her and the lawyer (March).
So seek it out if your interested, in my opinion, you won't be disappointed.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
