Four's a Crowd

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.

Four's a Crowd (Michael Curtiz, 1938) is a really fun screwball comedy that pits a newspaper reporter against millionaire Walter Connolly and his daughter, a la It Happened One Night and Libeled Lady. The first 15 minutes are blisteringly funny. Journo Rosalind Russell schemes to get editor-turned-PR-man Errol Flynn to return to his ailing paper, which the managing director (Patric Knowles) is trying to close down. Flynn agrees, and wages war against Connolly, hoping to turn him into the most-hated man in America, so he can repair his reputation via a publicity campaign. After that, the plotting goes a bit awry, spending quite a bit of time in Connolly's country mansion, where Flynn ends up trying to steal butter whilst mollifying heiress De Havilland and being chased by dogs. Well, I said it went a bit awry. Still, while the screenplay hops from one situation to the next without stopping to consider its internal logic, it moves so fast and so funnily you'll probably be swept along. Flynn and Russell are both near peak form, and they make a delightful team.

Screwball comedy was popular in the late '30s and Warner Bros. made several contributions to this genre. Despite the stellar cast--Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles and Rosalind Russell--this one isn't considered one of the best but it's amusingly played by the four leads.

Errol Flynn is a surprise in a good comic performance--a highlight of which is the scenes where he is pursued by hound dogs snapping at his heels every time de Havilland's father (Walter Connolly) tries driving him off his property. Flynn and Rosalind Russell play a pair of scheming reporters who, along with newspaper boss Patric Knowles, exploit Connolly as "the meanest man in America". Love complications abound when the four snarling couples get into cabs for the finale, with a surprising switcheroo happening before a justice of the peace about to perform the marriage ceremony.

Olivia de Havilland looks gorgeous as the giddy daughter of millionaire Connolly and shows a decided flair for comedy. Likewise, Flynn, Russell and even Patric Knowles (less wooden than usual) appear to be having a great time in their roles.

Amusing frothy comedy with too many complicated schemes going on for almost all of its running time--but worth a peek if you enjoy watching these stars.

Rosalind Russell, ace reporter, is peeved that her newspaper is being shut down by cub publisher Patric Knowles, inexperienced son of the original publisher. Knowles has recently fired crack editor Errol Flynn, who has in turn set himself up as a publicity agent for rich curmudgeons who need good press. Olivia de Havilland, lovely and playful granddaughter of one such grumpy millionaire, is romantically attached to the handsome Knowles—at least for the moment.

The plot of this rapid fire comedy follows our four stars round and round: Russell wants Knowles to save the paper, wants Flynn back on the job. Flynn and Knowles have an old rivalry and delight in scoring off of each other. De Havilland seems happy letting everybody love her for her grandfather's eight million dollars. How will it all shake out?

Walter Connolly pretty much steals the show as the grandfather, a wealthy eccentric whose great passion is the model railroad that dominates his back yard. Melville Cooper is also excellent as Connolly's butler and stationmaster; the two of them in their engineer caps, running the train controls from their crow's nest, are just hilarious.

Out of a great cast, Russell and Connolly are most familiar in this kind of a screwball comedy and probably come across best. Flynn and de Havilland, though, are fun to watch, too—Flynn shows a flair for comic antics like stealing sticks of butter from a dark kitchen, and Olivia looks like she's having a ball as her fun-loving character laughs and whoops it up in a way that the Maid Marian (or Melanie Wilkes!) never would have dreamed of.

Overall, the movie is never dull but never quite takes off—is it the complicated plot that prevents this picture from really hitting full speed? In any case, it's certainly entertaining, thanks to the great cast and solid Warner Bros. production.

Because I found watching 'Four's a Crowd' great entertainment (there were quite a number of scenes where I was laughing out loud) I was wondering why the film never reached the status of a classic screwball comedy - something if not as brilliant as 'My Man Godfrey' (1936) then at least like 'You Can't Take it With You' (1938) or 'Hands Across the Table' (1935). After all, 'Four's a Crowd' has some big stars, with Errrol Flynn demonstrating considerable talent as a comic actor and Olivia de Havilland and Rosalind Russell playing along with verve. Also, there are stalwarts such as Franklin Pangborn and Walter Connolly who normally as good as guarantee success. I have come up with one potential explanation for why the film is more or less forgotten today (30 user reviews as of late April 2022 is not a lot): The greatest screwball comedies all start out from fairly simple situations that lead to logical consequences, and they all focus on relatively few main characters. By contrast, the plot of 'Four's a Crowd' is overly convoluted. There is simply too much going on, with all those intrigues and attempts at double crossing. Also, it is almost an ensemble cast film, with Flynn, Havilland and Russell having practically equal screen time and Patric Knowles not much less. For all that, this is by no means a bad film. If you can spare one and a half hours, there are much worse ways to spend them than watching 'Four's a Crowd'.