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Claude Rains, May Robson, Priscilla Lane, Lola Lane, Rosemary Lane ... see more see more... , John Garfield , Gale Page , Dick Foran , Jeffrey Lynn , Frank McHugh , Vera Lewis , Tom Dugan , Eddie Acuff , Donald Kerr , Joe Cunningham , Wilfred Lucas

Fannie Hurst's Sister Act was the source for this money-making Warners weeper. The four daughters of the title are played by the Lane Sisters--Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola--and by Gale Page. All are m... read more read more...usical prodigies, and all are daughters of master-musician Claude Rains. To help make ends meet, Rains rents several rooms of his home to boarders--most of whom, thanks to the dictates of the plot, seem to be marriageable men. We're supposed to care the most about the mutual attraction the daughters feel towards handsome Jeffrey Lynn, but the film really belongs to John Garfield, making his movie debut (no, he wasn't in 1933's Footlight Parade) as an embittered piano genius. Garfield has us in the palm of his scruffy hand the moment he begins philosophizing about "the fates:" "So they flipped a coin...heads he's poor, tails he's rich....they flipped a coin--with two heads." Aware that he can bring only unhappiness to Priscilla Lane, the daughter who cares most for him, Garfield obligingly drives into a heavy snowstorm and is killed in an auto accident (but it's not staged as a suicide, lest the Hays Office spank). John Garfield made so powerful an impression in Four Daughters that Warners was compelled to write him into the sequel Four Wives, first as a flashback and then as (implicitly) a ghost. Another film, Daughters Courageous, was hastily constructed using the same cast, but with different character names so as to accommodate a happier denouement for Garfield and Lane. Four Daughters was remade in 1954 as Young at Heart, with Frank Sinatra and Doris Day in the John Garfield and Priscilla Lane roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

80% liked it

354 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Release Date: August 9, 1938

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DVD Release Date: March 25, 1992

Stats: 45 reviews

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Lola Lane Jeffrey Lynn and Priscilla Lane from Four Daughters Jeffrey Lynn John Garfield in Four Daughters John Garfield in Four Daughters
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Flixster Reviews (45)

  • ajv2688
    September 19, 2010
    ajv2688
    For the most part, this movie has a good story, but it has some predictable elements and boring scenes. Overall, an okay movie.
  • jjnxn
    July 27, 2008
    jjnxn
    Quaint is as good a word as any to describe this film, that's not always a bad thing though especially with a cast as good as this. Claude Rains and May Robson keep the schmaltz to a minimum, Priscilla is very pretty and best of all is John Garfield, wonderfully contemporary even... read more in this slice of Americana.
  • addienoir
    April 4, 2008
    addienoir
    John Garfield's debut and from the moment he makes his entrance, wow!
    Interesting story, everybody is great in the movie, james mchugh is of course wonderful as is claude raines, there is some comedy, some romance, drama, some suspense, whatever, but it is Garfield, who is this ... read moremovie. four daughters was suppossed to be the launch for the other male lead, i forgot his name, (jefrrey lynn?), but it didn't happen, instead they ended up redoing alll of the publicity around john garfield because became he so suddenly became extremely popular.
  • Glinda
    January 25, 2008
    Glinda
    When I first started watching this, I thought the plot was going to be so fluffy it wouldn't be worth seeing again, but when John Garfield enters the picture, he really shakes things up! And I think that is when I fell in love with John Garfield.
    The sequel films, Four Wives an... read mored Four Mothers are quite lovely, but they lack the drama that keeps you wanting more.
  • shnybubble
    September 28, 2007
    shnybubble
    most people have seen the remake with Frank Sinatra. I love this original one better and it's a trilogy called: Four Wives and Four Mothers!

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Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy
March 9, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

A typical, sentimental small-town family melodrama of the 1930s, with one exception: John Garfield in a stunning screen debut as a brooding outsider. Full Review

Daniel Eagan
May 12, 2005
Daniel Eagan, Film Journal International

Exemplary Warners hokum about sisters' romances

Steve Crum
October 23, 2004
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan

Rains carries this Warner tugger

Ken Hanke
May 23, 2004
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Superior, slickly made soaper with great stars.

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
February 15, 2004
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies

A surprisingly heartwarming, funny, and sad film that tugs on the heartstrings, but in a way that isn't maudlin or annoying. Full Review

January 10, 2004
Chicago Reader

Click to read the article Full Review

B.R. Crisler
May 21, 2003
B.R. Crisler, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
July 19, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Nell Minow
October 2, 2004
Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

No review available.

Carol Cling
September 3, 2004
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Four Daughters Trivia

  • The life histories of four Asian women and their daughters reflect and guide each other. This is the plot outline for which film?  Answer »
  • Susan Sarandon is the mother of four daughters, in this 1994 movie based on a classic book. Kirstin Dunst plays the youngest daughter, Amy.   Answer »
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