My Son John (1952)

Legendary director Leo McCarey (An Affair to Remember) took on this controversial and infamous drama about a conservative religious couple (Helen Hayes, Dean Jagger) that suspects their oldest son to be a communist. The arrogant and intellectual young man (Robert Walker), a worker in a federal agency, returns home from a long absence spouting pro-communism doctrine and deriding the beliefs of capitalism and religion. Things become very serious when an FBI agent (Van Heflin) shows up to tell the horrified parents that their son may be an enemy spy. Robert Walker (Stranger on a Train) died at age 32 due to adverse reaction to prescription drugs and before My Son John production was finished. Leo McCarey received a 1953 Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.