Men Must Fight

Wynyard is the pacifist mother of Holmes and wife of Secretary of State Stone. She is entirely opposed to war, chiefly because her first lover was shot down over France in WW I. Prophetically, the screenwriters created a second world war which began in 1940. Stone, as expected, turns into the pro-U.S. warmonger, while Wynyard makes every effort to keep her son from enlisting. Holmes breaks her hold, however, and goes off to fight. The spectacular finale has a New York City air strike topple the Empire State Building. While the predictions of the film did not completely come true, Holmes was an unfortunate victim of fate, a real-life victim of WW II.