Made smack dab during WWII (but with America's victory ever-anticipated), this is the story of an American family who takes in a war orphan relative who turns out to be a brainwashed Hitler youth! March plays a man who idolized the young boy's father and was saddened at his death. Homeier plays the boy who has been taught that his father was a traitor and a coward. Other members of the household include March's spinster sister Moorehead, his spunky, but affectionate daughter Carroll and feisty German maid Angold. March's girlfriend (Field) has the misfortune, in Homeier's eyes, to be Jewish. Homeier is barely in the door before he's spouting Nazi propaganda and wearing a swastika to the supper table! Even though he makes his plans of espionage clear to Angold and his views on Judaism clear to Field, everyone treats him as if he's a normal kid who just needs to learn to fit in. He never hides his disdain for anyone ethnic or his plans to overthrow the United States, but people regard him as harmless! This makes for quite a bit of unintentional (?) humor as he responds to anyone with an undesirable bloodline with a "dat's most unfortunate..." and then proceeds to try to raise an army of US youth to aid him in his plans for conquest! Eventually, he crosses the line and the adults FINALLY begin to put two and two together, but by then, he's already endangered the life of one of their loved ones. Understandably, considering the wartime era, this film is tinged with patriotism and propaganda of it's own. Unfortunately, the tone of the film is muddled. It's difficult to tell how seriously the makers expect the audience to take Homeier. It often comes off like very black comedy, even though there's nothing funny about Nazism. He's capable of a lot of nasty deeds and vicious thoughts, but goofy "Leave it to Beaver"-esquire music plays, even during the most menacing scenes. In fact, the entire musical score is intrusive and inept, sometimes making it impossible to concentrate on the dialogue. One highlight is a remarkable fight scene, which was apparently done without the benefit of doubles, Homeier and another boy beat each other senseless! March doesn't have much to do at all until the (rather anticlimactic) ending. He's stuck in one of those roles in which if his character would only open his eyes and listen, a lot of trouble could have been avoided. If any of the characters in the piece would have compared notes, Homeier could have been found out much sooner. This is sloppy story-telling. Field comes off pretty well in a sympathetic part. She's the only one who attempts to stand up to Homeier and injects a fair amount of feeling into her role. Moorehead does well in familiar territory. Carroll is impressive and holds her own well against the much more highly-touted Homeier. As for him, his performance may have wowed the crowds at the time (in the original Broadway production and in the film), but it comes off as rather cartoonish now. His accent is far from authentic and it's difficult to see what he's trying to get across. One minute he's fairly low-key and the next he's a monster. Much like Patty McCormack in the later "The Bad Seed", his supposed cuteness is never convincing to the audience. He's always visibly evil to everyone except those right next to him. He comes off best at the very end (and it's a challenging role to say the least), but prior to that, he seems to be undone by the indirect tone of the direction. The finale is pat and unbelievable. It's an interesting time capsule and a neat precursor to "The Bad Seed", but it contains very little reality. A darker approach would have made the film resonate much deeper.
Review of Tomorrow, the World!
