The movie, "All My Sons", is timeless in the telling a post war story about two families for which the war was never ending. Edward G. Robinson portrays "Joe Keller", the manufacturer who owns the plant that sold faulty airplane parts to the military during the war. His business partner went to prison, but Robinson's character, "Joe Keller", was home sick the day the bad parts were shipped. Eddie Robinson gives a flawless performance, as always, playing a sharp minded and hard working plant owner who's life's blood flows through the profit margins of his business. "Joe" knows everything that goes on at the plant and was never sick a day in his life, so Joe said. Why, then, was he out sick the day the faulty parts were shipped? Joe's wife, "Kate", is unable to accept the fact that one of their sons, Larry, who went missing in action as a pilot in the Pacific theater, was indeed, dead and not, "missing". The war had ended 3 years earlier, but "Kate" could not come to terms with the truth that her son was never coming back home, ever again. The war would never end for Kate. Larry, the "missing pilot", had planned to marry "Ann Deever", who's father was Keller's business partner, who went to prison while "Joe Keller",(Robinson) was acquitted of any wrong doing at the trial because he was home sick. Folks around town suspect Joe's hands weren't clean, and Joe got away with it while Herb was made the fall guy. Joe and Kate have another son, "Chris Keller", played by Burt Lancaster. Chris and Ann began falling in love, as Ann came to terms with her first love, Chris' brother, was killed in the war. The fact that Ann and Chris want to get married is unbearable to Mrs. Keller. Kate's reaction to Ann and Chris being engaged is akin to seeing her missing son in a coffin. Robinson's portrayal as "Joe Keller" leaves nothing to the imagination. He wants the only son he has left to inherit a booming business which was all that Joe Keller could measure the worth of his life by. Everything in Joe's life was built on half truths, denial and finally, success in terms of wealth and reputation as a businessman. When the war was on, Joe needed the lucrative business that came from the military's need for production. His partner went to jail, oh well, that wasn't Joe's fault. Herb Deever was rotting in jail, but Ann Deever was ready to marry Joe's surviving son, Chris. Joe figures that as a way to pay Herb, well, Herb's daughter, Ann. Ann would be getting the business in marriage, to Chris. Joe liked that, but Kate saw it as sacrilegious for Ann to marry Chris instead of waiting for "Larry", her son, Chris' brother, and Ann's initial fiancée. Larry was dead, but Kate wouldn't hear it. Ann's brother, George, (Howard Duff) came back home too, but he was angry after visiting his father, Herb, in prison. He blamed Joe for everything, including the fact that the successful Joe Keller was doing great, and Ann's and George's father was wasting away in prison. George wasn't happy about his sister marrying into the family that looked the other way while his and Ann's father took the rap and went to prison for sending bad parts for military airplanes, which crashed and killed dozens of men in the war. Edward G. Robinson never fails to deliver, and this film is no exception. The supporting cast, especially Mady Christians, who plays "Kate Keller", the brokenhearted mother and the loving wife, is believable and disturbing. Christians portrayal of a mother waiting for her son to come back from the war, gives the feeling that made me cringe, for the fact that I, too am a mother. I was afraid to relate to her because she was so believable. It made me uncomfortable, which is a credit to Christians' acting ability. Burt Lancaster looked stunning, and also gave a decent performance. Howard Duff, who played, "George Deever", the son of the imprisoned business partner, and Ann the fiancée's brother was terrific in his role. Howard Duff's character was the impetus for causing the Keller family, and his sister Ann, to face the truth, and face the ugly things that happen from fighting a war. The story takes place after World War II, which by all accounts, was a just war, as America had been attacked. It isn't about the war in Europe or the war in the Pacific. It is about the war's effects on the people on, "the home front". The war between families and the mother who couldn't stop believing that her missing son wasn't dead. Eddie Robinson is great as, "Joe", a man who sees himself as a total success in business, family, and in service to his country when he provided parts for the cause during wartime. Things unravel little by little until finally, their entire world crumbles around them, as if they were also living in a war torn, bombed out city. The war comes home to stay for these people. I highly recommend the movie, "All My Son's", for viewers of ages 12 and older. This movie has a great deal to offer. I own it, and have gone back to it time and time again.