Four Daughters

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bill t @Spuzz 12/20/2022 Somewhat soapoperaish melodrama about, yes, 4 daughters / sisters that are of age that they have to make up their mind about their careers and marriage. Some are more successful than others. I found this movie took forever to get to the main plot, before that was neverending character development and hoo-hooing with the other characters and not building up any momentum until the second half, until everyone just suddenly decides and we see everything happen all at once almost. It's not bad, but certainly not the best you can do. See more michael d 12/26/2021 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. See more 11/07/2021 This is a very cute movie. I love the actors and the story was sad but sweet See more 03/08/2021 Four Daughters and its follow-up Daughters Courageous are entertaining domestic drama-musicals that are deftly directed by the great Michael Curtiz and contain entertaining performances by the Lane sisters, particularly the vastly under-appreciated Priscilla Lane. Four Daughters was also the picture that propelled John Garfield's career. See more steve d 07/23/2020 Everyone involved does a great job. See more 12/12/2019 At this point I am mystified by the taste of American audiences during the Great Depression as they loved the vehicles of the infuriating Deanna Durbin and other similarly cloying, precocious child stars. The sisters featured in this film are significantly less vomit inducing than Durbin but they still lack real acting ability and rely on the fact that they each fit into certain stereotypes to carry them along. The film itself has a paper thin plot and somehow stretches it out to 90 minutes as it reaches a level absurdity found only in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). I assumed that any film that was only 90 minutes would be a breeze but unfortunately I was mistaken as I really struggled to get through this film with it's complete lack of substance or originality. Single father Adam Lemp, Claude Rains, is the head of a musical family as he trains his four young daughters into becoming musical talents. His eldest Emma, Gale Page, is the most responsible and pursues a relationship with the older, stable Ben Crowley, Frank McHugh, who bores her but who proves a more appealing option than the unpredictable young Ernest, Dick Foran. Third daughter Kay, Rosemary Lane, is an aspiring singer who eventually experiences success while youngest daughter Ann, Priscilla Lane, is caught up in a love triangle between non-confrontational Felix Deitz, Jeffrey Lynn, and his friend temperamental musician Mickey Borden, John Garfield. She finds herself with Borden but both are miserable when they move to New York City. His angst and concern about his future isolate her from him and his issues and leave her feeling lonely and unable to help him. They return home and learn of Kay's success but conflict arises when the feelings between Ann and Deitz reignite. One of the pleasant surprises of the film was that the girls do not randomly launch into song but have their "musical numbers" justified by the story and are provided with something to do while performing other than staring into the camera. Each of the sisters would also appear to have a decent singing voice as while Rosemary gets the most chance to show off her vocal range the rest of the sisters put in good work. My tolerance for their singing may have been due to the fact that they were not singing opera a la Grace Moore in One Night of Love (1934) or screeching out a tune like Marjorie Reynolds in Holiday Inn (1942) but the fact that I was not in pain seemed like something of a benefit. The singing and dancing still lacked the charm of an Ernst Lubitsch musical from the same time period as Maurice Chevalier is mesmerizing in One Hour with You (1932) while these girls are merely tolerable. It is in the substance of the film that I was lost as there was so little occurring on screen that it was difficult to stay engaged. I do not mind films with limited plot that focus on characters and relationships generally, in fact I tend to love them, but these films require great writing and performances to make them worth watching and this film lacked both. The girls and their coming of age feels rapid as they jump from scene to scene and become completely different people with seemingly no reason as their primary desire is to get married, the only ambition women have in 1930s films. The love triangle in the film also lacked tension as Deitz was such a mushy nothing of a character that he posed no real threat to the combustible Borden throughout most of the film and Lynn failed to generate chemistry with any of the female leads. Only Garfield creates a character worth paying attention to as he is a rebel of sorts but the kind that I hate who has no justification for his angst and spends all of his time lecturing others. When the most interesting character in the film was somebody that I hated it did not bode well for as this is the sort of film that expects to get by on charm and sweetness. If you are looking for a pleasant, undemanding 1930s comedy then this is not the one to revisit as it offers little of value. See more Read all reviews

Four Daughters

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