Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Younger Generation 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 14, 2024

How many high-definition debuts can you pack into one collection? The Frank Capra at Columbia Collection aims for a record, The Younger Generation being the latest on our review docket. A partial talkie with silent film segments, it tells the story of a rising businessman who tries to make his immigrant parents assimilate. The Blu-ray features a fantastic video presentation (keeping in mind that it's nearly ninety-five years old), its lossless mono mix sounds great, and the only downside is a barebones supplemental package.

Based on Fannie Hurst’s play "It Is to Laugh," The Younger Generation introduces Morris Goldfish (Ricardo Cortez), the son of Jewish immigrants Julius (Jean Hersholt), a pushcart salesman, and Tilda (Rosa Rosanova), a tireless homemaker who grows increasingly irritated with her husband's laziness. Morris also has a sister, Birdie (Lina Basquette), who's in love with their neighbor, Eddie (Rex Lease). Julius clearly favors Birdie, Tilda favors Morris, and the two children know it. When a childhood fight between the siblings leads to a fire that burns down the Goldfish's apartment, Morris and Birdie are thrust onto paths that lead them into their adult years, with Morris working as a wealthy and successful Fifth Avenue businessman and gaining enough financial independence to move his parents into a fancy apartment uptown. Birdie, ungrateful, misses Eddie, while Julius takes offense to Morris changing his last name to better fit in with his sophisticate circle. Morris has only become more ashamed of his identity and origins, and he makes his desire to blend in known. But when trouble comes knocking and Eddie is suspected of a crime he didn't commit, the family's already tenuous relationships threaten to unravel and destroy all that Julius and Tilda tried to build when they immigrated years earlier.

Elements of ancient Jewish history are sprinkled throughout The Younger Generation. You needn't squint very hard to see the story of Jacob and Esau in the sibling rivalry between Morris and Birdie, and Julius and Tilda's similarities to Isaac and Rebekah, though less obvious, are clearly at work throughout the tale. It's these connections that make the film and its story feel so timeless and the Goldfish family's trials so inescapably... for lack of a better word, fated. Hersholt and Rosanova are exceptional both as young dreamers and as older parents, frustrated with the demands of a son who's more willing to acquiesce than to stand proud as they long have. The sadness in their eyes, pronounced ever so heartbreakingly in the silent film portions of the production, reveals the souls of a people who've struggled for eons to rise above their oppressors only to be dragged back down again and again, often by the foley of younger men who fail to see the value of heritage and ancestral sacrifice.

And good God, did I want to smack Morris across the face; Cortez certainly plays his fear of rejection and shallow selfishness to perfection. I waited and waited. Surely, he'll be redeemed. Surely, he'll learn before it's too late. Surely, he won't leave his family broken by film's end. But then Capra is more interested in depicting the real tribulations of immigrants than in providing the kind of happy ending he would be known for later in his career.

The most interesting outlier is Birdie, selfish in her own right but more justified in her desires. Her loyalty is perhaps as shaky as Morris's, and one can imagine her as the defiant rebel if only Morris hadn't strayed from the path to chase financial security. Did Julius and Tilda do something to deserve any of it? Did they raise Morris and Birdie the wrong way? Or was their family doomed from the start? Were Jacob and Esau fated to split under such tragic circumstances? Dividing their parents as they fought and battled for a birthright? These are the questions that haunt Capra and the production, with few answers and even fewer promises of hope. Morris is a life-shatter-er, whether he realizes it or not, and his father's eventual demise is all but inevitable from the start. The real question becomes whether Birdie and Tilda can stomach Morris after his life has taken its toll on their family.

The Younger Generation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ignore the lack of High Dynamic Range (HDR) and the letters "SDR" at the top of the page. While the inclusion of HDR would have been a nice bonus, The Younger Generation and its 4K 2160p presentation are no worse for the wear. (HDR improvements are far less noticeable in a black and white film than in color.) Contrast is gorgeous and dialed in to perfection. Black levels descend beautifully into rich, striking shadows, brighter portions of the image pop and add dimension to the foregrounds, and midtone grays are handsome and unafflicted with nonsense like banding, blocking or other anomalies. Detail is excellent too, with clean edges, relatively well-resolved textures (particularly in close-ups) and delineation is oh so revealing. Yes, the film is soft. It was, after all, shot in 1929. And yes, more complex scenes -- like the apartment fire -- take on a haze and reduction in clarity that will no doubt be noted. However, such things are all products of the source rather than a problem with the encode or restoration. Print wear, specks and other damage are kept to the barest of minimums, and the entire film looks every bit as good as one should expect from a Sony 4K catalog restoration.

The Younger Generation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Younger Generation delivers two slices of late-20s audio in one production, as does Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio mono mix. Part talkie, part silent film, it was an early movie to feature a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. Also of note, the soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system, which was fairly cutting edge for the era. The result, filtered down through ninety-five years of age are very good, to say the least. Some hiss and boxiness are present throughout, but rarely distract. Likewise, music rises and falls beautifully and with ease, lending itself to the unique qualities of the presentation. Dialogue is clear too, prioritization is fairly flawless, and little warrants complaint.

The Younger Generation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No extras are included.

The Younger Generation 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Younger Generation is one of my favorite discoveries in the Frank Capra at Columbia Collection box set. I was taken with its tale of immigrants struggling to rise above their station, damned by their children, and fighting to hold on to their heritage. I can't recommend the film enough, regardless of how much you enjoy (or don't enjoy) films of the era. Sony's 4K release is excellent as well. Though it lacks HDR and any extras whatsoever, it features a lovely video presentation and a solid lossless mono mix.