Four Wives

All of the characters from FOUR DAUGHTERS return in this sequel. Even John Garfield, whose character has departed this mortal vale, and Garfield himself; he shot some ghostly scenes to haunt widowed Priscilla Lane. She's bearing his child, even as good-guy Jeffrey Lynn tries to help her move forward. Eddie Albert is also on hand to play a doctor making mild-mannered moves on Rosemary Lane.

1939 was a year in which the Hollywood majors couldn't seem to do anything wrong. The Depression was easing up, the lessons from conversion to sound were learned, and this Fanny Hurst tear jerker with symphonic music is well directed by Michael Curtiz. If some of the characters, like Dick Foran, seem to be there to fill up the space, well, there are new subplots to explore. It's not to my taste, but there's no denying its competence.

On the strength of an outstanding performance by Priscilla Lane, Four Wives succeeds as a sequel to the popular Four Daughters.

Priscilla Lane gives a performance that any of the more acclaimed actresses of her time would be hard-pressed to match. She does an outstanding job of portraying a woman whose life has been completely turned upside down. How she reconciles the past, which keeps intruding on the present, will determine how well she handles the future.

There is an examination of certain issues in this movie, grief, guilt, depression, and loyalty, for example, that goes a bit deeper than one might expect at first glance. At the core of Four Wives, however, is the stunningly beautiful Priscilla Lane, whose beauty is at least the equal to any of Hollywood's actresses of that era, or any era.

As for the rest of the cast, Jeffrey Lynn does a nice job opposite Miss Lane, and Eddie Albert and Claude Rains both do a fine job in support. And, lest I forget, Priscilla's real life sisters Rosemary and Lola, and the "fourth" Lane sister Gale Page.

After the next sequel, Four Mothers, it's too bad they didn't make one more movie to finish the series. Four Sisters has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Four Wives (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sequel to Four Daughters has father Claude Rains hands full when his daughters (Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Gale Page) are out of the house and married. All except for Ann (P. Lane), who lost her husband at the end of the last film and now tries to start up her relationship with the man (Jeffrey Lynn) she left in the first film. Only problem is she's pregnant by her dead husband. Okay, this sequel actually isn't too bad on a technical level and the performances are all very good but the story really bothered me and kept me from caring too much about the main character Ann. This film goes against her feelings for her husband from the first film so that they can set up the romance here. The father and sisters make long speeches about how she never really loved her husband and this certainly wasn't the case so that's part of the reason this film bothered me. Another point that bothered me is that she was started up a relationship perhaps weeks after her husband died. There's a lot of situations here, which I'm shocked got past the ratings code, although something might have been cut since the version I saw ran 99-minutes, which the IMDb lists another version running 110-minutes.

a silly movie from the 30's that show how much we have changed. Today, no such movie would ever be produced, but then again one never watched a movie from that era for social understanding. the acting is .....well....bad, the plot, convoluted. Mothers having babies, adopting babies, getting bored with adopted babies and giving them again to someone else. But the gowns are gorgeous, so that is important. I have only seen the first two of the series, and am only familiar with one of the actors. this is classic Hollywood, happy stories with Oh so happy endings that bear little resemblance to reality. So if you are bored on a Sunday afternoon, and want to see something frothy and silly, this series is right up your ally. Just don't be surprised if you go into diabetic shock.I guess because they made three of these movies they must have been popular in the 30's. thank God we grew up.

Not having seen the first part of the series, this film came as a surprise on a cable channel. Michael Curtiz directs with his usual flair and the Epsteins, Julius and Philip, wrote the screen play, which is based on a novel by Fanny Hurst.

We are taken to the Lemp household. It's a happy home of some extraordinary musicians and educators, led by the patriarch Adam Lemp, who has the good fortune of having Aunt Etta overseeing everything. At the beginning, we see the four Lemp sisters as they go to accompany Emma to the doctor. It's expected she is pregnant, but no, the big surprise is that Ann is, but the problem is that Mickey Borden, the father, has died recently. Ann has been seeing Felix, a kind man who, as a conductor, was associated to Burden. What to do?

Well, the comedy is a delight. We see all the four Lemp sisters supporting one another in their difficult times. Emma can't conceive and they all rally to her side. Thea and Ben decide to adopt. Kay falls in love with the young Dr. Forrest and finally Ann has the baby prematurely. By the magic of the movies, we get to see the little angel who, surprise, surprise, appears to have conquered the problems she had at birth thanks to the transfusion of Felix's blood and in a matter of days looks as though she was carried full term!

But, never mind, this comedy will charm anyone because the amazing performances Mr. Curtiz got out of the cast. Best of all, Priscilla Lane, who is absolutely marvelous in the film. Rosemary Lane is perfect as Kay, the girl in love with the doctor. Lola Lane, as Thea is good and Gale Page is the fourth Lemp sister, Emma. Claude Rains doesn't have much to do. Eddie Albert as the young doctor is fine, but best of all is Jeffrey Lynn, who as Felix makes it clear he is the man for Ann. May Robson also is fun as Aunt Etta. Frank McHugh and Dick Foran complete the quartet of husbands. John Garfield is seen briefly in a dream-like sequence.

"Four Wives" will warm anyone's heart.