The Four Poster (TFP) is a little known and hard to find film produced by Stanley Kramer early in his career, which was made before he became a more successful movie producer-director. It is based on a play by Jan de Hartog, that was released in the same year that Kramer gave us his celebrated Western masterpiece High Noon. TFP actually exists in three versions: the play as originally presented in London; the film which is based on the London production; and the substantially revised play which later appeared on Broadway while this film was being made.
TFP is a two character story that in eight linked episodes traces the marriage of Abby and John from their wedding night to old age and death. Each episode takes place just in a bedroom, and follows the couple as they adjust to the many problems of married life, having and raising two children, trying to achieve personal and financial success, dealing with infidelity and reconciliation, passing through the many joys and tragedies that are encountered on the road to maturity and decline, and learning to accept the meaning of love and death when in the twilight of life. The London and film versions presented all of this as a rather serious story, while the Broadway version (that starred the married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) was changed to emphasize a more comical tone in the proceedings------and thus avoided the sentimental and mystical references that characterized the other two versions. In addition, the film starred a different real life married couple (Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer). They appeared to be a more glamorous pair than the seemingly commonplace duo of Cronyn and Tandy-----whose projected ordinary lives many thought were quite similar to those of the folks who came to see the Broadway version. However, it must also be mentioned that Tandy originated the role of Blanche Du Boise on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire------and that could hardly be considered as something commonplace.
TFP is one of those plays that probably could never have been made into a financially successful motion picture. The action (such as there is) was quite limited, the physical setting was almost claustrophobic and the marital scenes were so typical and repetitious that they had difficulty sustaining the relatively short film to its inevitable conclusion. What might have worked on the stage with its obviously artificial surroundings became somewhat anachronistic in the more realistic cinematic medium.
What ultimately saved TFP (the film) was its clever use of animation as bridges between the eight episodes. These cartoon segments were able to incorporate changes in time and place that could not be presented in the film because of its structure.
In the end, TFP as a work of art is probably best enjoyed in a theatrical setting with all of its artifices intact. There the ups and downs of married life with Abby and John would likely be most appreciated by an interested audience.
