Four Men and a Prayer

After watching this film, I thought back over its plot and thought that it didn't really hang together, and I suspect that were I to view it again the deficiencies would remain. Despite what his lawyer son thought, the evidence against Colonel Leigh didn't seem to hang together, nor did the way that he was discredited.

The film would have been better without so many comedic moments. The four brothers tumbling over each other when they re-united at the airport was embarrassing, and almost as much so was Barry Fitzgerald as Trooper Mulcahay.

Coincidence was stretched too much by Lynn Cherrington's father turning out to be involved, and there was the curiosity of Cecil Cunningham's brief appearance as Piper, Lynn's companion or aunt. My first impression of her severe features was that she was a baddie but after she'd resignedly accepted that she would have to pack both of them to go to South America she never appeared again.

Plus points were a good cast and the way in which the plot took the actors around the world - with the four brothers and Lynn very fashionably dressed to suit whichever part of it they were in. And there was an interesting depiction of how international telephone calls were carried out in 1938!

Four brothers receive telegrams from their father, telling them he has been dishonourably discharged and bidding them meet him at their home. They arrive to learn that he has the evidence to prove he was framed in his court-martial, but before the end of the evening Father has been murdered in his locked study, and his papers stolen. The four brothers fan out across the globe in search of the four men their father mentioned who might be able to prove his innocence--sort of an inverted version of the Four Feathers.

The brothers, played by George Sanders, David Niven, William Henry, and Richard Greene (who, from a distance, looks oddly like Brendan Fraser), are staunch in support of their dishonored father (played by the only actor who could command unquestioning faith in his military honor: C. Aubrey Smith). In their travels, they are haunted by Greene's irritating American girlfriend, played by Loretta Young as not much more than a series of costume changes (she shows up in some of the oddest hats imaginable, and one fur-trimmed number that makes you wonder if she's a Plushy fetishist--she does make up for it, however, in a lovely gown-to-watch-revolutions-by). Perhaps her most far-fetched moment, however, is her light-hearted banter after an evening of watching a military massacre.

Along the way, the tone of the movie changes almost as often as Young's wardrobe. You think you're in a sort of amateur detective yarn, and suddenly you're watching innocent peasants mowed down by the military. The director, John Ford, is quoted in the AFI Catalog as having said, "I just didn't like the story, or anything about it, so it was a job of work." His lack of passion really shows.

But the chaotic story (filled with pointless red herrings, such as the role Young's father may or may not have played in the evil-doings) does have some wonderful light moments, most of them provided by Niven, who is just delightful throughout: conversing with a boat steward in Donald Duck voices, playing with rubber toys, mocking Henry's incipient whiskers, roughhousing with his brothers when they reunite on a boat dock. These touches make the film less painful than it would be otherwise. The wonderful George Sanders, however, is painfully underutilized.

A lavish production, fast-paced direction, and some exciting action sequences tip the balance in favor of this basically juvenile derring-do in the spirit of GUNGA DIN. On the other hand, there is some offensive stereotyping, lots of flat dialogue, and cartoon-like conceptions of character. The four men are brothers, but act so naively that they seem like twelve-year olds: David Niven gets the brightest moments. While tracking down the enemies of their dear old Dad [the always magisterial C. Aubrey Smith], they are joined by spunky [verging on downright pushy] Loretta Young. She has one costume that can be described as the Grizzly Bear Dress, but she sports some nifty outfits too. They all rush around the globe chasing villains until Loretta's father, a kindly munitions tycoon, helps to resolve the mystery. A more accurate title might be FOUR FEATHERS MEET NANCY DREW.

A lot of players whom you do not associate with John Ford participated in Four Men And A Prayer. The four men are brothers named Leigh who are in all kinds of occupations, but come together to clear the name of dear old dad C. Aubrey Smith. The brothers are George Sanders, David Niven, Richard Greene, and William Henry. Only Henry has any other Ford films listed in his career credits.

Smith has been cashiered out of the army after a lifetime of service in British India and the sons want to clear his name. Smith has been gathering evidence to that affect, but he's been shot and killed and that only makes the sons more determined.

It's to the four corners of the earth that the brothers go. Niven and Greene are in Argentina where there's a revolution fomenting and both get in heat over Loretta Young. Greene and Young knew each other before and both are players. And both get quite a reality jolt during this attempted revolution.

The villains here are arms manufacturers, very popular villains up to the point that Mr. Hitler decided to rearm and then people decided that this crowd did have its uses. The plot is not terribly coherent other than arms dealers will sell to all no matter the political point of view. That they actually encourage both sides in a given situation to start shooting is a point not well made in Four Men And A Prayer or in the Halls of Congress where there were hearings on this subject around the time Four Men And A Prayer came out.

This film is one of John Ford's lesser efforts, but fans of the director will approve.

I don't usually like Loretta Young, so when I say she's the best part of this movie, that should give you a clue of what I really think about it. In Four Men and a Prayer, Loretta is clad in some beautiful clothes, and she seems to be the only one among the cast who put any energy behind her performance. I actually fell asleep twice while trying to watch it.

A respected soldier is court martialed and disgraced, but when his four sons find him dead by a gunshot wound to the head, they don't believe he committed suicide. It's murder! And they already know the suspects, so the four brothers-as well as Loretta Young who has a hopeless crush on one of them-set off to find the truth. George Sanders, William Henry, David Niven, and Richard Greene are the brothers, but they all seem pretty tired. It's easy to imagine every scene was filmed thirty times and that the audience was been treated to the last take. Unless you love Loretta Young, you probably won't want to sit through this pseudo suspense film. And if you do like her, try renting Three Blind Mice or And Now Tomorrow instead.