To My Unborn Son (1943)
*** (out of 4)
Another fine entry in John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series, which often times told true, if unbelievable, stories. This time out he tells the story of a mild, weak man named Peter Ravitch who must leave his pregnant wife behind when he goes out to protect his village from the Nazis. Soon he is shot but before dying his writes a letter to his unborn son, which by miracle finds its way back to his mother shortly after the man dies. It's important to remember that this film was released in the heart of WWII so it's certainly going to try and be very patriotic and it does that very well. The actual story itself is a pretty interesting one and will certainly keep you entertained from start to finish. What works so well is that we're told the father dies within minutes of the movie and it makes us wait until the end to actually read what he had written. This builds up some nice tension as we patiently wait to see what he wrote his unborn son. The poem he wrote was quite touching especially when you consider that it was written while he was dying. Director Kardos, working as Leslie Kardos here, would later make a few "B" pictures including THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE.