GManfred How refreshing it is to see America as it was, once upon a time. A depiction of family life that no longer exists, a design for living that would seem alien in the 21st century. Dressing up for dinner. An entire family with a cultural background. And no one seems to own a car, to say nothing of a television - they gather around the living room radio! Director Michael Curtiz has created a look back at what may be an idealized version of 30's americana and leaves us elated and uplifted, which might have been the point during the depression era. Three of the four Lane sisters are the title characters and get immeasurable help from a stellar supporting cast including Claude Rains, May Robson and Frank McHugh. Long story short, you can't go wrong here. It's an entertaining 90 minutes, taken cum grano salis and allowing for a lapse of 80 years.7/10 - The website no longer prints my star ratings.

wes-connors The musically inclined "Four Daughters" of the title are charmed by the arrival of composer Jeffrey Lynn (as Felix Deitz), who seems most taken with pretty blonde Priscilla Lane (as Ann Lemp). A marriage seems probable, but gruff pianist John Garfield (as Mickey Borden) is also in love with Ms. Lane... Original writer Fannie Hurst's "Sister Act" would have been better a better title as this film is mostly about Lane's "Ann" character, and her courtship by Mr. Lynn and Mr. Garfield. The screenplay is too obvious, but the production really excels in the direction by Michael Curtiz. He gets a responsive cast to convey believable emotions with words, posturing, and fleeting glances; orchestrated to elicit feelings and relationships we've all experienced.******** Four Daughters (8/9/38) Michael Curtiz ~ Priscilla Lane, John Garfield, Jeffrey Lynn, Claude Rains

Michael_Elliott 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.

reelguy2 What starts as a homespun comedy-drama and then halfway turns into a melodrama made a major star of John Garfield - and justly so. But Jeffrey Lynn is not to be dismissed as the object of affection of the four daughters. Lynn is very handsome and is so charming it's easy to believe that all four daughters could fall for him. Although Garfield received most of the kudos, Lynn became a major leading man at Warner Bros. as a result of this film.Michael Curtiz insisted on location shooting for the picnic scene, making it the highlight of the film. Throughout, the craftsmanship is enough to inspire awe. A soap opera by Fanny Hurst has been turned into a cinema masterpiece.