Quatro Esposas

Four Wives (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sequel to Four Daughters has father Claude Rains hands full when his daughters (Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Gale Page) are out of the house and married. All except for Ann (P. Lane), who lost her husband at the end of the last film and now tries to start up her relationship with the man (Jeffrey Lynn) she left in the first film. Only problem is she's pregnant by her dead husband. Okay, this sequel actually isn't too bad on a technical level and the performances are all very good but the story really bothered me and kept me from caring too much about the main character Ann. This film goes against her feelings for her husband from the first film so that they can set up the romance here. The father and sisters make long speeches about how she never really loved her husband and this certainly wasn't the case so that's part of the reason this film bothered me. Another point that bothered me is that she was started up a relationship perhaps weeks after her husband died. There's a lot of situations here, which I'm shocked got past the ratings code, although something might have been cut since the version I saw ran 99-minutes, which the IMDb lists another version running 110-minutes.

Four Wives is the first sequel in the saga of the musical Lemp family that Warner Brothers brought to us in Four Daughters. This family film about widower Claude Rains and his four musical and unmarried daughters struck a nice note with the movie going public in 1938 and John Garfield in his screen debut earned himself a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Garfield is back here, but only in flashback to the original film.

The main plot line involves Priscilla Lane who ran off with Garfield leaving Jeffrey Lynn at the altar and in a lurch. Garfield still comes between them and he's left a permanent reminder of his brief marraige to Lane.

The others also having their early marital adjustments, Lola Lane to banker Frank McHugh, Gale Page to Dick Foran and Rosemary Lane still unattached to Priscilla's pediatrician Eddie Albert. Albert seems to fit right in with the general harmony of the group.

One thing with the Lemps they seem to do everything together from playing classical music with their music teacher dad to having babies. The only question left unanswered is will Claude Rains ever have a grandson in this girl's town he's started.

Four Wives is a worthy film, a fine sequel to Four Daughters and Warner Brothers wasn't through with the Lemp family yet as soon enough out came Four Mothers.

Follow-up to Four Daughters is okay but pushes the mawkish sentimentality pretty hard.

Most of the cast perform well. Frank McHugh is most appealing as Lola's flummoxed husband and Priscilla Lane is good in her bruised sadness unable to move on or get over her guilt after her sudden loss in the original. Claude Rains and May Robson add their special brand of enjoyment but really are wasted in small supporting parts.

The one actor who is terrible and throws the whole enterprise off is Jeffrey Lynn, supposedly an ideal man he is attractive but a dull, bland presence and the constant comparison to the magnetic John Garfield who is superimposed throughout only makes him worse. Plus he must be the most unconvincing orchestra conductor ever!

Curtiz gets the job done direction wise but he must have recognized the mediocre quality of the script and just moves the story from point A to point Z with none of the flourish he could infuse into a superior project like The Adventures of Robin Hood.

An air of melancholy runs through FOUR WIVES because Priscilla Lane is still haunted by the memory of her dead husband (John Garfield, seen briefly in a cameo role), while engaged to Jeffrey Lynn who doesn't know she's carrying Garfield's child.

But through all the dramatic twists and turns, the family unit remains strong, supportive and determined to move in the direction of a happy ending for all. Frank McHugh is on hand for some levity, Rosemary Lane makes a very beautiful Kay, Claude Rains is the musician father, and Priscilla Lane and Jeffrey Lynn carry the romantic leads in a pleasant enough manner. Lynn even gets to conduct Max Steiner's stirring "Symphonie Moderne" which wraps up the story with musical finesse.

I actually found Rosemary Lane to be the most natural beauty of the Lane sisters and her acting here is more than competent. But the Warners evidently groomed Priscilla Lane for stardom instead. She gets all the best close-ups, including her hospital scene listening to the radio concert with tearful pride.

It's enjoyable enough without being really special. Julius J. Epstein has written a graceful script and the Steiner score is a gem. Director Michael Curtiz keeps the camera flowing smoothly through many a detailed scene.

On the strength of an outstanding performance by Priscilla Lane, Four Wives succeeds as a sequel to the popular Four Daughters.

Priscilla Lane gives a performance that any of the more acclaimed actresses of her time would be hard-pressed to match. She does an outstanding job of portraying a woman whose life has been completely turned upside down. How she reconciles the past, which keeps intruding on the present, will determine how well she handles the future.

There is an examination of certain issues in this movie, grief, guilt, depression, and loyalty, for example, that goes a bit deeper than one might expect at first glance. At the core of Four Wives, however, is the stunningly beautiful Priscilla Lane, whose beauty is at least the equal to any of Hollywood's actresses of that era, or any era.

As for the rest of the cast, Jeffrey Lynn does a nice job opposite Miss Lane, and Eddie Albert and Claude Rains both do a fine job in support. And, lest I forget, Priscilla's real life sisters Rosemary and Lola, and the "fourth" Lane sister Gale Page.

After the next sequel, Four Mothers, it's too bad they didn't make one more movie to finish the series. Four Sisters has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?