This is perhaps Jack Cardiff's best known film as a director, and it is certainly not a letdown. 'Sons and Lovers' was DH Lawrence's most autobiographical novel, and here, although some aspects have been shorn down or removed, the substance of that novel comes through.

In the main roles we have US actor Dean Stockwell as Paul Morel, the son who is suffocated by his overbearing mother, and derided by his miner father. His parents are played by Wendy Hiller and Trevor Howard, and they are brilliant in difficult roles. Stockwell, less so, although he certainly looks the part.

The women in Paul's life are played by Heather Sears - another annoying part as Miriam which reminds me of her 'Room at the Top' performance a few years earlier - and Mary Ure, who is a little bland but watchable as Clara. Somehow Ure never really found her niche on the screen.

The film looks sumptuous and the black and white photography is exactly right. There are moving scenes and moments of comedy, plus a wicked cameo appearance by Ernest Thiesinger as an art collector.

This film is much less known than more showy Lawrence adaptations such as 'Women in Love', but it is excellent, well-paced, and is far from a disappointment.

I am pretty sure D. H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers" was considered a rather shocking book when it debuted in the early 20th century. The book had a male lead (Paul) who was sexual--sleeping with both his girlfriend as well as having an affair with a married woman. In the book and in this movie, this could have been a lot more explicit but due to conventions of the day it's somewhat muted--but still very much a groundbreaking sort of story (the same can be said for Lawrence's later book, "Lady Chatterly's Lover"). So in that sense, the film is interesting to any film student since it is rather frank and unusual when it comes to sex.

The acting is quite nice. While Dean Stockwell was an American, he did a credible job playing a Brit in the lead. As for the rest of the cast, they are also quite good though two performances struck me. Trevor Howard usually played refined roles--upper or at least middle-class gentlemen. Here, he's a crude coal miner--and not the least bit likable through much of the film. The other performance, though not exactly a huge or important role, was that of Ernest Thesiger as Paul's benefactor. I loved seeing Thesinger, as this was a HUGE departure from his most famous role--an evil scientist in "The Bride of Frankenstein"! So, with a groundbreaking sort of story (that has MANY Freudian overtones) and very good acting, I loved the film, right? Well, no...not especially. This brings me to a major problem with the film--I just didn't particularly like anyone and felt very detached from them. Paul was rather selfish and cold and no one seemed particularly interesting or likable. You may not mind this--I did. Worth seeing--just not a must-see film.

Master cinematographer Jack Cardiff directed Sons And Lovers and got an Oscar nomination for it. The adaption of the D.H. Lawrence novel also yielded an Oscar nomination for Trevor Howard as Best Actor playing the rough and outspoken patriarch of the Welsh Morel family. The film is a look at a Welsh coal miner's family just before World War I.

But if you are expecting something like John Ford's How Green Was My Valley let me disabuse you of that quickly. There's nothing poetical in the life these miner's lead, certainly Howard doesn't find it. One of his three sons is killed early on in a mining accident and another moves away from Howard and wife Wendy Hiller.

But the third son based in part on Lawrence himself is a talented artist and has little chance of really blooming into a full fledged artist in Wales. He's played by Dean Stockwell and Hiller really clings to him. Which annoys Howard no end as he feels he should do his bit to put food on the table as the rest of the men do.

Stockwell of course is torn and his struggle is the basis for the novel. He gets a job doing displays in a dress shop where he meets Mary Ure who is one of the dressmakers, quite a beauty, already married, but a woman who believes in free love. Stockwell gets some free samples. He's also involved with Heather Sears a pious young lady who comes from a religious family.

Howard got his one and only Oscar nomination for this part. He who got first recognition for playing romantic leads like Brief Encounter is anything but romantic here. He's blustering and swaggering and dominates the scene with whomever he's in it. Wendy Hiller is pained to keep up with him, but as the clinging vine of a mother it's really her character on which the plot turns.

Sons And Lovers yielded one Oscar, for black and white cinematography to Freddie Francis. On a television interview Jack Cardiff said that he never interfered with the camera work in this film. Like a good chief executive he picked the right subordinate for the job and was rewarded for his faith with the film's Oscar.

Sons And Lovers ought to be viewed back to back with How Green Was My Valley. Both are family films set in the same background, but what different families.