MEDIOCRE NEW MOVIE: THE FABLEMANS

Father and son: Paul Dano and Gabriel LaBelle

THE FABLEMANS (2022). Director: Steven Spielberg. 

In 1952 young Sammy Fableman (Mateo Zoryan) lives in Arizona with his sisters, mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams of Shutter Island) and father Burt (Paul Dano of The Batman). Practically living with them is "Uncle" Bennie (Seth Rogan), who is Burt's best friend. As Sammy becomes a teen (Gabriel LaBelle), he makes amateur films with his boy scout troop that impress and excite his family and the townspeople. Footage of a camping trip that his father asks him to put together also reveals a disturbing secret. Apparently Mitzi and Bennie are in love. Sammy has to deal with this, his emerging hormones, anti-Semitism at school after he moves, and his first love affair with a girl named Monica (Chloe East). 

Mitzi sees the footage shot of her and "Uncle" Bennie

The Fablemans is based on Spielberg's own childhood, and while his parents did divorce, I don't know how much of the triangle situation with "Uncle" Bennie is fact or faction. Frankly, it's the only halfway dramatic development in this film that I confess I found rather boring at times. I also confess that despite some good movies and box office successes (along with a few bombs), I was never that carried away with the semi-literate Spielberg or thought he was really in the front rank of filmmakers. (Two of his films that I think are especially good, however, are The War of the Worlds and Duel.)  

Little Sammy (Mateo Zoryan) and his train set

The Fablemans is perhaps supposed to be some kind of love valentine to the movies, but in that case I wish Spielberg had made a masterpiece, which this isn't. The acting is excellent -- Judd Hirsch enlivens the movie for the few minutes he's on-screen --  which is why you probably keep watching even when things get slow. Without a word of dialogue Michelle Williams is wonderful as she watches the footage of her and Bennie that Sammy excised from his video about the camping trip and explains why he has been so angry with her. It's a wonderful sequence, but there aren't enough of them in this movie. (All the high school business of bullying and young love has been seen a thousand times before and been done better besides.) As in most modern films, The Fablemans is so scared of being a soap opera that it minimizes the drama -- I mean this whole triangle situation, while it may be a trifle cliched, is rather explosive, but this only simmers without ever coming to a boil.

In the screenplay co-writers Spielberg and the equally over-rated Tony Kushner try to come up with powerful scenes, but they seem much too contrived, such as when a high school bully (a talented fellow named Sam Rechner) who appears in Sammy's movie breaks down and cries. Subtlety is all well and good -- if that is even what it is -- but the movie fails to really confront issues, it just meanders along until a silly conclusion when Sammy meets director John Ford. Then it's over. Ho hum. 

Verdict: We'll have to wait for an unlikely sequel -- this was not a box office hit -- to see the more interesting moments in Spielberg's career. **1/2. 

ALL MY SONS

Burt Lancaster and Edward G. Robinson

ALL MY SONS (1948). Director: Irving Reis. Based on the play by Arthur Miller.

Industrialist Joe Keller (Edward G. Robinson) was acquitted of deliberately selling defective plane parts to the army during WW2, but his partner, Herb Deever (Frank Conroy), wound up in jail.  21 planes crashed, killing the pilots and crews, because of the faulty parts. Now Deever's daughter, Ann (Louisa Horton), is engaged to Keller's son, Chris (Burt Lancaster). Adding to the awkwardness of the situation is the fact that Ann used to be engaged to Chris' late brother, who died fighting overseas, a fact which his mother, Kate (Mady Christians), refuses to acknowledge. Into this gathering comes Ann's angry brother, George (Howard Duff), who believes that Joe is the true guilty party and let his own father take the fall. With so much at stake Chris confronts first Herb and then Joe, but what he finds out may not be at all to his liking. And then there's a letter written to Ann from Chris' brother overseas just before his death ... 

Lancaster, Horton, Fraser, Morgan

All My Sons is a powerful, well-written and well-acted drama of the kind you rarely see these days. An outstanding Edward G. Robinson heads the cast and etches a strong portrait of a man who just doesn't get it until he finally does. The other cast members, including Lancaster, are all impressive as well. The supporting cast includes Arlene Francis and Lloyd Hough as one set of neighbors and Elisabeth Fraser and Harry Morgan as another; these are also interesting characters even if their appearances are brief. Howard Duff is a pleasant surprise as George, a sad figure who only felt truly at home when he was with the Kellers and now must cut himself off from them forever. Louisa Horton, who was married to George Roy Hill for twenty years, debuted in this film and years later appeared in Alice, Sweet, Alice. Helen Brown has a nice bit as an alcoholic woman whose husband died, and who confronts Joe in a restaurant and calls him a murderer. Despite being opened up in an intelligent fashion, the film is at times stagey, with some wrong choices in line readings and the like, but mostly this is a superior and memorable drama. 

Verdict: Fascinating situations explored in depth and with compassion. ***1/4. 

OUR VERY OWN

Ann Blyth and Joan Evans

OUR VERY OWN (1950). Director: David Miller.

Gail McCaulay (Ann Blyth) is just about to turn 18. Gail, who has two younger sisters, is practically engaged to her handsome beau, Chuck (Farley Granger). The elder of Gail's two siblings, Joan (Joan Evans of On the Loose), is attracted to Chuck and very jealous of their relationship, and during an argument she lets slip that Gail was adopted, something Joan only recently discovered by accident. Gail's world is upended by this revelation, and she decides to seek out her birth mother (Ann Dvorak), but will she be able to ultimately handle her feelings and accept that she is very much loved by her true and supportive family? And what will her "real" mother be like?

Ann Dvorak and Jane Wyatt

Our Very Own is an absorbing and pleasant movie with good performances from Blyth, Evans and Granger as well as from Jame Wyatt and Donald Cook as the girls' parents. Ann Dvorak also scores as the birth mother who is so afraid her husband will find out about her child, and you wish she was given  more screen time. Natalie Wood is adorable as the youngest of the three sisters, and she has a cute scene when she's driving a TV installer (Gus Schilling) to distraction with all of her questions. Phyllis Kirk also appears to advantage as Zaza, a very sympathetic friend of Gail's -- her wealthy father would rather go to a party than attend her graduation.  Martin Milner is Bert, who has a crush on Joan and is rather unkind to Gwen (Kipp Hamilton of The Unforgiven), a slightly chubby girl who has a crush on him. Those who hope the film might be a trash wallow along the lines of Three Bad Sisters will be disappointed, as there are no cat fights and no talk of genetic issues that may derail marriage plans and the like.

Verdict: Compelling romantic drama with a heartwarming conclusion. ***.