Errol Flynn, Rosalind Russell, Olivia de Havilland and Patric Knowles prove that "Four's a Crowd" in this 1938 comedy directed by Michael Curtiz.
With such a great cast, one would think this is a classic gem. Alas, no. In fact, due to a confusing script, it's in shambles. Fun shambles, but shambles.
Walter Connolly plays millionaire John Dillingwell, Olivia de Havilland is his beautiful albeit dizzy daughter, Rosalind Russell is a reporter, and Patric Knowles, who is dating de Havilland, is Russell's boss. Dillingwell is a private person with no interest in public relations. Russell's boyfriend (Flynn) runs a PR firm and wants to land the Dillingwell account. With some help from the paper, Flynn manages to make Dillingwell the most hated man in America - a man desperately in need of having his image cleaned up. Not that he agrees to it right away.
The inspiration for this story is John D. Rockefeller, the most hated man in America at one time, known for his ruthless business tactics. He hired a publicist and, with the publicist's urging, began to give away his vast fortune consisting of property and money to various charities.
For screwball comedy, "Four's a Crowd" had a lot of competition, which is probably why the powers that be threw everything at it but the kitchen sink. Heiresses - "It Happened One Night," "Love is News," "Libeled Lady," etc. abounded. So did the movies - and they were all better than this one.
There certainly are some fun scenes and some good performances. Flynn had a good flair for comedy, as did de Havilland, though they weren't often cast that way. de Havilland's early career was in fact doing airhead ingénues, such as in "It's Love I'm After" and this one. Russell is terrific as usual, and Knowles acquits himself well.
If only the script had been stronger...it's still fun, though.
