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An overlong but frequently moving melodrama, My Son, My Son has to struggle with some screenplay stumbling blocks, but ultimately emerges a winner. Lenore J. Coffee's screenplay concerns an overly loving father whose doting behavior produces a son that is spoiled and rotten. This is a subject rich for exploration, but Coffee -- perhaps bound by limitations of the Howard Spring novel from which the film is adapted -- doesn't so much explore this idea as offer repeated examples of it. For a while, this works, as we see ample evidence of just how bad the son is; but eventually this loses impact. Also, despite the exemplary performance of Brian Aherne as the father, we begin to lose patience with and interest in the father; we know that his love for his son is boundless, but his insistence on making excuses for him when his true nature is so evident becomes irritating. It would have been more fruitful had Coffee been allowed to explore just why the father was so blind. Similarly, Louis Hayward is first rate as the cad of a son, but we also tire of that character's repeated abuses. The happy ending also rings very false and is quite unsatisfying. Fortunately, Aherne and Hayward are so good that they help to overcome some of the screenplay flaws, and they have excellent support from Madeleine Carroll and Laraine Day. Charles Vidor directs sensitively, and the film has a very pleasing look throughout.