''Four's a Crowd'' is a 1938 American

romantic comedy film Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

directed by

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...

, starring

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-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 time. ...

Rosalind Russell Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, comedienne, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary ''Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the H ...

, and

Patric Knowles Reginald Lawrence Knowles (11 November 1911 – 23 December 1995), better known as Patric Knowles, was an English film actor. Born in Horsforth, West Riding of Yorkshire, he made his film debut in 1932, and played either first or second fi ...

. It was written by

Casey Robinson Kenneth Casey Robinson (October 17, 1903 – December 6, 1979) was an American producer and director of mostly B movies and a screenwriter responsible for some of Bette Davis' most revered films. Film critic Richard Corliss once described him ...

and

Sig Herzig Sig Herzig (July 25, 1897 – March 12, 1985) was an American screenwriter and playwright. Biography Born Siegfried Maurice Herzig in New York City, Herzig began his career as the director of the comedy short ''Husband and Strife'' (1922), ...

from a story by Wallace Sullivan. This was the fourth of nine films that Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland appeared in.

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 (

Walter Connolly Walter Connolly (April 8, 1887 – May 28, 1940) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 50 films between 1914 and 1939. His best known film is ''It Happened One Night'' (1934). Early years Connolly attended St. Xavier Coll ...

) 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. P ...

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

as Robert Kensington "Bob" Lansford *

as Lorri Dillingwell *

as Jean Christy *

as Patterson "Pat" Buckley *

as John P. Dillingwell *

Hugh Herbert Hugh Herbert (August 10, 1885 – March 12, 1952) was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches. Career Born in Binghamton, New York, Herbert attended Cornell Univers ...

as Silas Jenkins, Justice of the Peace *

Melville Cooper George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...

as Bingham, Dillingwell's butler *

Franklin Pangborn Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films '' Interna ...

as Preston *

Herman Bing Herman Bing (March 30, 1889 – January 9, 1947) was a German-American character actor. He acted in more than 120 films and many of his parts were uncredited. Biography Bing was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was son of the opera ...

as Herman, a barber * Margaret Hamilton as Amy, Dillingwell's housekeeper *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as Butler Pierce * Joe Cunningham as Ed Young *

Gloria Blondell Gloria Blondell (August 16, 1915 – March 25, 1986) was a stage, film, and television actress who was the younger sister of actress Joan Blondell. Family She was born into a vaudeville family. Her parents and siblings, Edward Jr. and Joan, wer ...

as Gertrude, Lansford's 1st secretary *

Carole Landis Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 ...

as Myrtle, Lansford's 2nd Secretary

Production

Ivy Ledbetter Lee Ivy Ledbetter Lee (July 16, 1877 – November 9, 1934) was an American publicity expert and a founder of modern public relations. Lee is best known for his public relations work with the Rockefeller Family. His first major client was the Penn ...

, who worked for the

Rockefeller family The Rockefeller family () is an American industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by brothe ...

.LoBianco, Lorraine
"Four's a Crowd"
on

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

The film's title was changed to ''Four's a Crowd'' in February.Schallert, Edwin. "'Manon' Suggested as Crawford Subject: Dick Powell Assigned Hope, Lamour Team Temple Cast Named Comment and Castings" ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' (February 17, 1938) Warner Bros. borrowed Rosalind Russell from

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

for the film.

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 Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

was originally slated to direct the film,"Notes"
on

and

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film ''Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. ...

turned it down, before the studio assigned it to Michael Curtiz. Although principal photography went 12 days over the allotted time, Curtiz still managed to bring it in $12,000 under budget. At the very end of the film, Flynn and De Havilland, normally the happy couple at the end of any film they're in together, start to kiss passionately, only to hear protests from Russell and Knowles, with whose characters they are now involved. The couples switch places, with De Havilland ruefully saying "Bye, Errol."

Release

With the success of ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de H ...

'', 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 Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characterist ...

. 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

Notes

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