The Four Poster

Who was Jan de Hartog? Whoever he was, he wrote a splendid, perceptive, entertaining play, "The Four Poster," which was a Broadway hit with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (how I'd have loved to have seen them in it), and, during that run from 1951 to 1953, was filmed and released by Stanley Kramer. Two-character plays were rare then, and two-character movies rarer still, but this one survives quite beautifully, preserving de Hartog's clear-eyed, comprehensive views on marriage, ego, womanhood, and creativity. The husband, played a bit stiffly to my eye by Rex Harrison, is a self-centered writer who nonetheless shows great sensitivity to his wife when it's required, and the wife, played beautifully by Lilli Palmer, is a searching individual whose identity is tied up almost exclusively in her marriage. The real-life marriage of this couple was, as other posters have noted, fraught, and the tension plays well into their characterizations. It's cleverly augmented by John Hubley's animated transitional sequences, which are rather brilliantly scored by Dmitri Tiomkin. Musical theater fans will know that the piece was successfully turned into "I Do! I Do!", and they'll be intrigued by the changes librettist Tom Jones made (the characters' names, the somewhat happier ending). I'd tried to track this one down for years and am glad to have finally seen it. It's unique. And it works.

"The Four Poster" is a comedy drama and love story that's based on a successful 1951 Broadway Play of the same title, written by Jan de Hartog. This is a rare film in that it has just two cast members, one set, and incorporates some comical animation in the story. It's the animation that accounts for other people in the lives of John and Abby Edwards. The stage play won Tony Awards as best play and best director. The film received one nomination for an Academy Award and one for a Golden Globe - both being for best cinematography.

Indeed, for a movie with just one set, although with some slight modifications between scenes, the filming of this story was superb and never had one feeling as though he might be watching a stage play. The story covers a 35-year period, from 1890 to 1925, and shows the Edwards from their honeymoon night until John dies after completing the ending to his last novel, while thinking of his departed wife and the various nights depicted in earlier scenes.

The couple go through stages of life, with ups and downs and arguments in the film. But their love endures to the end. It has some good humor, but nothing on the level of much laughter. And there are some sad moments. Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer give good performances in a good film, but there's nothing exceptional for these two superb actors.

Modern audiences, especially the younger folk, may find this quite slow and even boring. But those who have a little life under their belts should enjoy it. Here's the funniest line in the film. John Edwards, "I think I have a fever. Feel my pulse."

Where is this movie today? I have not seen it offered in almost 20 years. All I have is a memory of a marvelous study of a married couples life, all revolving around a four poster bed. This film is a bittersweet fantasy with an ending that would satisfy most closet romanticists. Please, bring this movie back. If anyone knows where to find this movie please let me know. .

The year was 1952. My parents had a date with another couple to see The Four Poster. I don't remember why they decided to take me. When the other couple got into my parents' car they were shocked to see me there. This movie contains adult dialogue - it is no movie for an 11 year old, they complained. My mother's response impressed me: "Either my daughter will understand or she won't. Either way is fine." The result, of course, was that I strained to listen to every word that was uttered by either Rex Harrison or Lilli Palmer, hoping against hope to hear the naughty implications. But darn it, it all sounded innocent to me. Whatever it was that the other couple thought I shouldn't hear, I hadn't!! But despite my youth, I found the movie interesting and well-acted and have never forgotten the images of Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer discussing their marriage while standing next to their four poster bed.

In this filmed version of Jan De Hartog's play, Rex Harrison and wife Lilli Palmer go through life in half a dozen scenes in their bed room. It starts with them newly married, and goes through their hardships, from inveigling a virgin bride into consummation, through death.

Harrison and Miss Palmer were husband and wife when they made this, and it neatly compresses the joy and heartache that a couple goes through. It was later the basis of the Broadway show, I DO, I DO, and Miss Palmer is radiant... and producer Stanley Kramer was taking an awful risk, since Harrison had left Hollywood in disgrace a few years earlier. Always-ambitious director Irving Reis pulls fine performances from his to performers, while the play is opened up by careful camera movement by DP Hal Mohr, and UPA cartoons about the world surrounding the two acting as scene changes. For some reason, they look like they were based on Ronald Searle's cartoons.