Quattro figlie

Story about a widowed father (Claude Rains) bringing up his four daughters. Emma (Gale Page) is loved by big hunky Ernest (Dick Foran). Thea (Lola Lane) is romanced by an old but wealthy man. Kay (Rosemary Lane) wants to become a singer. Ann (Priscilla Lane) is a romantic. Drop dead handsome Felix Deitz (Jeffrey Lynn), a business associate of their father, comes to stay with them. All the sisters fall in love with him. Then tough cynical Mickey (John Garfield) enters the picture...

Very entertaining movie was a big hit and nominated for five Academy Awards. It's beautifully directed by Michael Curitz, has a pretty good (if predictable) script and a VERY attractive cast (especially Lynn). Also this was John Garfield's first film and made him a star. This was so popular there were three or four sequels (which I never saw). This is an engrossing, entertaining, big budget soap opera--well worth seeing.

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.

"Four Daughters" introduced John Garfield to audiences, and that is what is remembered most about this film today.

Unlike some actors who appear in several films before their screen image gels, Garfield established his immediately, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and talk of the fates being against him.

It's actually the story of four girls, their widowed musician father (Claude Rains) and their various suitors, one of whom, Felix, is played by handsome Jeffrey Lynn. He's the one they all have a crush on, but he's in love with Buff (Priscilla Lane).

Then she meets ne'er-do-well Mickey Borden, who falls for her as well. When Buff realizes that one of her sisters is in love with Felix, she leaves him at the altar and marries Mickey.

This is a fairly formulaic story given life (and sequels) by the acting. Garfield has already been mentioned, but Priscilla Lane was by far the strongest of the daughters, the most interesting, and the best actress.

Jeffrey Lynn was a fresh and good-looking leading man, and this film got him off on the right foot with Warners. However, true stardom was not to be.

Like many others of the era, he went into the service, and when he came out, he had a Bronze Star but not much of a career. He later went into television and real estate.

Claude Rains is warm and wonderful as the patriarch.

So popular was "Four Daughters" that it inspired "Four Wives" and "Four Mothers," as well as reuniting much of the cast again in "Daughters Courageous" where the actors played different characters.

Very enjoyable, a nice remembrance of simpler and probably happier times, and a chance to see John Garfield in his first film.

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.

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.