''Four's a Crowd'' is a 1938 American
screwball comedy film directed by
Michael Curtiz, starring
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian and American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Oliv ...
,
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...
,
Rosalind Russell and
Patric Knowles. The picture was written by
Casey Robinson and
Sig Herzig from a story by Wallace Sullivan. This was the fourth of nine films in which Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland appeared.
Plot
Reporter Jean Christy works for a newspaper in danger of being thrown away by its young owner, Pat Buckley, after Buckley has a falling-out with the editor-in-chief, Robert Lansford. Meanwhile, Lansford hopes to gain tycoon John Dillingwell's business for his
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
firm, and uses his position at Buckley's paper to drum up good press for Dillingwell. In the process, he discovers that Dillingwell's granddaughter Lorri is Buckley's fiancée. Lansford decides to try to charm Lorri, while Christy makes a play for Buckley.
Cast
*
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian and American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Oliv ...
as Robert Kensington "Bob" Lansford
*
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...
as Lorri Dillingwell
*
Rosalind Russell as Jean Christy
*
Patric Knowles as Patterson "Pat" Buckley
*
Walter Connolly as John P. Dillingwell
*
Hugh Herbert as Silas Jenkins, Justice of the Peace
*
Melville Cooper as Bingham, Dillingwell's butler
*
Franklin Pangborn as Preston
*
Herman Bing as Herman, a barber
*
Margaret Hamilton as Amy, Dillingwell's housekeeper
*
Joseph Crehan as Butler Pierce
* Joe Cunningham as Ed Young
*
Gloria Blondell as Gertrude, Lansford's 1st secretary
*
Carole Landis as Myrtle, Lansford's 2nd Secretary
Production
The film began with the working title of "All Rights Reserved",
and was supposedly based on the career of noted public relations man
Ivy Ledbetter Lee, who worked for the
Rockefeller family
The Rockefeller family ( ) is an American Industrial sector, industrial, political, and List of banking families, banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the History of the petroleum industry in th ...
.
[LoBianco, Lorraine]
"Four's a Crowd"
on TCM.com The film's title was changed to ''Four's a Crowd'' in February.
Warner Bros. borrowed Rosalind Russell from
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
for the film.
[, replacing ]Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...
, who wished to take six weeks of a holiday before starting on '' Comet Over Broadway''. William Dieterle
William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...
, originally slated to direct the film,["Notes"]
on TCM.com was also moved to ''Comet Over Broadway'' at the same time.
Edmund Goulding directly turned down directing it, before it was finally assigned to Michael Curtiz.[ Although principal photography went 12 days over the allotted time due to this switching in directors, Curtiz still managed to bring it in $12,000 under budget.]
Release
With the success of '' The Adventures of Robin Hood'', Errol Flynn was concerned about being typecast as a swashbuckler, and convinced Warner Bros. to cast him in other types of films, specifically screwball comedies. However, ''Four's a Crowd'' was not a success at the box office, and encouraged Warner Bros. to keep Flynn in action roles.[Thomas, Tony; Behlmer, Rudy and McCarty, Clifford. ''The Films of Errol Flynn'', Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1969. p.69]
References
External links
*
*
*
Four's a Crowd
at Virtual History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Four's A Crowd
1938 films
Warner Bros. films
1930s English-language films
Films directed by Michael Curtiz
1938 romantic comedy films
Films scored by Heinz Roemheld
American romantic comedy films
American black-and-white films
1930s American films
English-language romantic comedy films