Four Daughters

It isn't hard to see why frequent moviegoers in 1938, wise to the formulas of most movies, would have found FOUR DAUGHTERS a fresh and surprising picture. The story of four musical sisters and their romantic problems begins as conventionally as any Deanna Durbin musical but quickly evolves into an absorbing romantic melodrama.

Director Michael Curtiz keeps all four actresses bubbling sweetly and predictably, but when Jeffrey Lynn enters the picture trouble begins. Though one sister is engaged and another nearly so, all four in some way become smitten by this young musician. Then the script tops itself (and electrified audiences) by introducing a further complication named John Garfield. Cynical, depressive, darkly attractive and clearly a New York 'ethnic' type, Garfield is in every way the opposite of tall, handsome, WASPy Jeffrey Lynn, who in any other picture would probably have made more of an impression. Though friends, the men vie for Priscilla Lane, whose unaffected acting style creates a nice tension with both actors. Believing it best for her sister, Priscilla marries the wrong man, at once confounding and satisfying audience expectations. Halfway through this film you are apt to wonder what will happen next and how events will play out, which is not what you expect from the sunny opening.

Garfield's success overshadowed every other good thing about this film. Clearly Warners' thought they had a successor to Jimmy Cagney. In fact they had the forerunner of Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Montgomery Clift, Brando and James Dean, though Garfield was warmer and more likable than any of those.

This movie was remade in 1955 as a Technicolor musical called YOUNG AT HEART starring Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. Though not a bad idea in theory, the original is a better film.

A slovenly John Garfield tarnishes the rosy glow radiated by this chick flick when he drifts in midway through (like a Noir-character in an Andy Hardy comedy) to provide a welcome antidote to all the nonsense about sisters sharing clothes and gently dissing their old man. This was supposed to be a little something for Michael Curtiz to do between The Adventures of Robin Hood and Angels with Dirty Faces, but he turned it into a box office hit and made a star out of Garfield.

Four Daughters (1938)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

A musician and father (Claude Rains) does his best to raise his four daughters (Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Gale Page) the right way, which he does but things start to go wrong when a rebel musician (John Garfield) enters their house. I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed this film because I was really just expecting a lot of melodrama and sappy scenes but the film became much more than that due to Curtiz's tight direction of the material and a terrific performance by Garfield. The story is certainly mainly for women but Rains and Garfield both make it more entertaining for the men and both of them also give a lot of backbone to the story. Rains is terrific as the old-fashioned father and the four women are also very strong with Priscilla being the real stand out. The supporting cast includes May Robson, Jeffrey Lynn and Dick Foran and all of them are very good. It's easy to see why Garfield received an Oscar nomination and jumped to stardom after this one role because it's one of the most memorable performances from this late 30s period. Garfield brought along a new style of acting and it's still quite refreshing seeing it where it started.

Although a "woman's story," I found this still fairly interesting. It is unusual in that is has three real-life sisters playing sisters in the movie! I am referring to Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane.

Why national critics loved this movie was the presence of bad-boy-rebel John Garfield. In their twisted Liberal-dominated minds, All-American characters are sickening but sour-on- life, poor-attitude types like Garfield played here are people they can identify with. Despite that, this movie still has an overall feeling of goodness, which is why I liked it. Some of the characters may have done stupid things, but they good hearts. Whose heart was bigger than "Ann's" (Priscilla Lane) in here? I agree with the IMDb user comments critic in here who says this is Priscilla's film as much as the beloved (not by me) Garfield's.

With a director the caliber of Michael Curtiz, the film is better than it might have been under someone else. Curtiz made sure no scene, soapy or otherwise, went on too long.

In addition to the Lane sisters and Garfield, we have Claude Rains (who adds much-needed humor to the story), Jeffrey Lynn (the main love interest of the girls), Gale Page, Dick Foran, Frank McHugh and Mae Robson.

Apparently, this movie must have been a hit because there were several spin-offs from it, neither of them approaching this one in content and box-office success.

...usually I find such films icky sweet, but this one I would give an 8/10 if not for one particularly impossible thing we are expected to believe. But I'll get back to that later.

Often I'll run across a film I didn't expect to amount to much and be pleasantly surprised, and this is one of them. Then I see the director is Michael Curtiz who was saddled with directing such diverse films - and quite frankly challenged plots and actors - during his Warner Brothers career, and some of the mystery is unraveled.

The film is about the family of Adam Lemp (Claude Rains), Dean of the Briarwood Music Foundation (nice work if you can get it during the Depression), who apparently makes so much money that he can afford a house that would go for half a million these days, can support four grown daughters, and his sister who never married (May Robson as Aunt Etta). In fact Rains is thirty years younger than Robson, so that would be some age difference for siblings, and what is an esteemed music foundation doing out in Pleasantville, USA?...but I digress.

So the film goes into the relationship between the four sisters - actually three of them ARE sisters - in particular, Emma (Gail Page) and Ann (Priscilla Lane). They vow to be "old maids" together and seem to have a very strong bond. But then enters upbeat composer Felix Deitz (Jeffrey Lynn) into their lives, along with his downbeat friend Mickey Borden (John Garfield), who is doing orchestration for him. That impossible thing we are expected to believe? That Ann falls head over heals for Lynn's character when he projects all of the romantic appeal of a workboot. She seems to feel like Mickey is a work in progress as she tries to lift his IMHO justified downbeat view on life, particularly, his life. So I am expected to believe a vibrant young woman would prefer Lynn's scarecrow like demeanor over the dark brooding Garfield? Well, this was Garfield's first film, so who knew what kind of charisma he would have.

Mickey falls for Ann, Emma falls for Felix (again, why??), and then on the day of her wedding to Felix, Ann finds out Emma loves Felix. Complications ensue.

This film is saved by some really good warm moments between the characters, and Robson always entertains, although it does waste the talents of one of the great actors of the 20th century, Claude Rains. Anybody could have played this part as little as he has to do. It does give you an idea of the kind of burden women had before the 1970s - that it was only acceptable to first live with your parents and then a husband, and if you never married you are forever fifth wheel and housekeeper in your brother's household, and if you temporarily have a career it has to be in something "lady like". How would this film have turned out if the girls had wanted to put on a hard hat and design buildings rather than sing and play instruments? You'll have to wait until the 1970s for THAT kind of film!

Recommended and well acted in spite of it all. And why are the top three billed actors in a film entitled "Four Daughters" all men? Inquiring minds want to know.