THE SINS OF THE CHILDREN (1930)

Small-town immigrant barber Adolf Wagenkamp is excited about investing some money he's saved in a local savings and loan business with his friend Joe Higginson. He wants to make his wife vice-president and knows he'll be able to comfortably support their five children. But when he discovers that his son Ludwig has serious health problems, he instead uses the money to send him to a sanitarium out west to recover. As the years pass, Adolf continues sacrificing for his children who never seem as grateful as they should be. Ludwig is now a doctor but to his family's dismay, he has Americanized his name to Lawrence Warren, and when he comes home from years away at school, he chooses to spend more time with his girlfriend's family than his own. When Ludwig is struggling to set up his office, Adolf secretly mortgages his barber shop to loan his son some money; when Ludwig becomes successful, Adolf can't get him to pay back the loan. Johnnie fancies himself an inventor and shows off his shaving cream gun which is a little too enthusiastic in its application of cream to a face, and when he pilfers some money from his workplace, Adolf digs into his pockets to pay it back. Meanwhile, daughter Alma has been sneaking around with Joe Higginson's obnoxious and snooty son Nick who is no good for her. Other problems rain down on poor Adolf, but all he wants on Christmas Eve, even as he stands to lose his barber shop, is for his children to come home for Christmas dinner. Will his ungrateful spawn show up?

This feels a little bit like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE without the angelic interlude, with Nick's dad, Mr. Higginson, serving as a sort of Mr. Potter character—it's because of him that the barber shop is in danger. The plot leans toward melodrama but to its credit keeps a fairly light tone so that even when things are at their bleakest for Adolf, it doesn't seem grim. I suppose it's technically a [SPOILER] to note that, in fact, the kids do show up and rally around the old man, but that seems like a foregone conclusion. None of the children are truly bad, just thoughtless, so you know a happy ending is in store. Louis Mann, an actor I'm not familiar with, is fine as the put-upon patriarch whom you wish would show more backbone throughout. His wife is Clara Blandick (Auntie Em in OZ) but her character is barely sketched in. Robert Montgomery gets second billing even though his role as Nick is fairly small (and he's rather bland). Standouts among the adult kids are Elliott Nugent as the inventor and Francis X. Bushman Jr. as the doctor. Despite the characters' weaknesses, you never really dislike them and you keep hoping they will come through. Some viewers find the ending to be far-fetched, but c'mon, it’s Christmas—how else could it end? Pictured are Mann and Nugent. [TCM]