Love for four

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Movie
German title Love for four
Original title Four's a crowd
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length approx. 92 minutes
Rod
Director Michael Curtiz
script Wallace Sullivan ,
Casey Robinson ,
Sig Herzig
production Hal B. Wallis ,
for Warner Brothers
music Eddie Durant ,
Ray Heindorf ,
MK Jerome ,
Heinz Eric Roemheld
camera Ernest Haller
cut Clarence Kolster
occupation

Love for four (Original title: Four's A Crowd ) is an American comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz from 1938. It stars Errol Flynn , Olivia de Havilland , Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles .

action

Patterson ("Pat") Buckley is the young owner of a publishing company and is considering closing a newspaper sheet. Jean, the paper's reporter, protests and suggests Buckley reinstate former editor-in-chief Robert Lansford. But Patterson had fired him himself; Robert ("Bob)" is a hopeless womanizer and now runs another company. Without Buckley's knowledge, she brings Bob back. He only accepts when he learns that Buckley is in a relationship with Lorri Dillingwell. Bob wants to win Lorri's grandfather, millionaire John P. Dillingwell, as a client and therefore comes back to the publisher. He tells Pat that he and Jean are together. Bob portrays John Dillingwell as a misanthropist in order to increase the circulation of the paper, and Lorri ends her relationship with Patterson Buckley.

Now Bob tries to convince John Dillingwell to use the newspaper to improve his image. Dillingwell refuses - he doesn't care about his image. Bob provokes Dillingwell to run toy trains at the millionaire's facility. It is only when Dillingwell realizes that Bob has cheated successfully that he is so enthusiastic that he accepts Bob's suggestions. Patterson thinks Jean is in love with him, and Lorri thinks the same of Bob. Bob and Jean are now a couple. When a Dillingwell affair breaks out, Bob has to prevent Jean from putting it in the newspaper. In the end they become a couple and Lorri and Patterson make up again.

backgrounds

Producer Hal B. Wallis and director Michael Curtiz had already worked together in the same year and filmed the now much better known adventure classic Robin Hood, King of the Vagabonds . In this, the main actors Errol Flynn (Robin Hood), Olivia de Havilland (Lady Marian) and Patric Knowles (Will Scarlet) played together. With Rosalind Russell , an experienced comedy and musical film actress was added, the whole was experienced in this genre. The supporting roles were also filled with experienced character actors such as Walter Connolly and Melville Cooper . The film with screwball elements premiered in autumn 1938 and was first shown on television in Germany in 1977.

Reviews

The reviews of the film were divided. One newspaper wrote that the film was the worst of the year and if not, then only by a hair's breadth. The roles are seen as weak and the main characters would act like "fugitives from the madhouse". At the same time they would also think that they were funny, but that they were by no means. Flynn should only make adventure films and Russell should be convinced that MGM was better for her. Knowles and DeHavilland should be forgiven because they don't know what they're doing anyway.

Other critics used ambiguous terms for the film such as "crazy" and "turbulent". The film has only one goal, namely to make the audience laugh. Cinema praised the dialogues, but they would get tiring for the viewer at the end. What was cheeky back then seems a bit outdated today. The Lexicon of International Films wrote: "Old, sometimes still quite fresh and lively Hollywood comedy about errors and mistakes in the newspaper and millionaire milieu."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Harold W. Cohen: The New Films - 'Four's A Crowd' . In: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , August 31, 1938.
  2. ↑ News of Screen and Talkies: Granada Theater . In: The Daily Times , October 3, 1938.
  3. ↑ Liebe zu viert on cinema.de, accessed on July 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ Love for four at two thousand and one