A sentimental story that sits a little uneasily on its young hero, Frank Coghlan, Jr., but is right up the alley of Louis Wolheim who has a great time as the hero who doesn't want to be a hero, but is one anyway. Only an actor with Wolheim's powerful presence and innate charisma could get away with a story like this, let alone manage it without the benefit of his powerful voice. Yes, this is actually a silent movie, filmed at sound speed with a musical score and sound effects, but no spoken dialogue at all. The young players led by Frank Coghlan, Jr., Anita Louise and Philippe De Lacy also rise nobly to the challenge, while director E. Mason Hopper steers the movie most skillfully through scenes of drama, comedy and even a winsome touch of romance. The music score provided by Josiah Zuro certainly helps. (I don't know where IMDb gets the idea that Mr. Josiah Zuro is uncredited. In fact Mr. Zuro receives a credit that is at least three or four times the size of everyone else's, including that for producer, Paul Bern, as well as director, E. Mason Hopper). Available on an excellent Grapevine DVD.
3 Reviews
Saw it 70 years ago and remember it vividly.
goert26 June 1999
I saw this movie when I was eight years old and it has been retained in my memory ever since. As a youngster growing up in Chicago not too long after the Great War, I recall that there were a few "shell shocked" veterans around the neighborhood and I related this to the film. Little did I know then that I would be involved in combat in WWII later in life. Thanks to this site I have been able to locate the title and will now see if I can get a print. This was a great movie of father/son love and devotion.
Louis Wolheim & Junior Coghlan excel in sentimental father-son tale
tchelitchew21 May 2022
"Square Shoulders" is a charming slice of sentimental hokum from the late silent era. It seems that very few living people have seen this movie, despite the fact that it survives in good quality with its original musical accompaniment. It's very much in the "Madame X" and "Stella Dallas" vein of family drama, where a self-sacrificing parent secretly aids their unknowing child.
Louis Wolheim plays a returning veteran and part-time thief who robs a furniture factory to pay for the education of his son, Junior Coghlan, at a military academy. Wolfheim takes a job as a stableman at the school, where the two bond as outsiders to the school's stuffy environment. All the while, Coghlan remains unaware that the man is his father.
Despite the predictable story, the movie stands out for its strong silent acting. Louis Wolheim, in particular, has a marvelous physical presence. Hulking and pug-nosed, he reminds me a bit of William Bendix, but manages to make Bendix look handsome in comparison! The scene where Wolheim teaches the scrappy and expressive Coghlan to bugle makes for a nifty duet of silent acting. Another notable scene features Erich von Stroheim's son (!) stealing Coghlan's date at an ice cream parlor.
Clocking in at a mere sixty minutes, this sweet little film doesn't overstay its welcome. Wolheim would only live for a few more years after its release, with his greatest performance yet to come in "All Quiet on the Western Front."
Louis Wolheim plays a returning veteran and part-time thief who robs a furniture factory to pay for the education of his son, Junior Coghlan, at a military academy. Wolfheim takes a job as a stableman at the school, where the two bond as outsiders to the school's stuffy environment. All the while, Coghlan remains unaware that the man is his father.
Despite the predictable story, the movie stands out for its strong silent acting. Louis Wolheim, in particular, has a marvelous physical presence. Hulking and pug-nosed, he reminds me a bit of William Bendix, but manages to make Bendix look handsome in comparison! The scene where Wolheim teaches the scrappy and expressive Coghlan to bugle makes for a nifty duet of silent acting. Another notable scene features Erich von Stroheim's son (!) stealing Coghlan's date at an ice cream parlor.
Clocking in at a mere sixty minutes, this sweet little film doesn't overstay its welcome. Wolheim would only live for a few more years after its release, with his greatest performance yet to come in "All Quiet on the Western Front."
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