Four Men and a Prayer

Moviecut—Four Men and a Prayer

Four Men and a Prayer

This movie was a well written adventure and suspense yarn with a very distinguished cast. However, I feel that the character played by Loretta Young was overemphasized. From the moment that she first enters the story she is in virtually every scene. After awhile it got a bit distracting. She played one of those "won't take no for an answer" types who always gets her way. Despite this annoying characterization, overall i enjoyed the film.

Interesting film for the actors playing three of the brothers and the father and Loretta Young in a more whimsical part than usual for her. We've seen this type character portrayed before - a charmed harum scarum type - but not particularly by her. It features Richard Greene, an actor whose star rose quickly but had a short run. Don't try to follow the action, and see it more than once if you intend to attempt to follow the path leading toward the perpetrator. The arms seller father is a rewarding figure as he turns out a good guy who helps to simplify things, much needed in a complicated and twisted trail. Alan Hale is also in an atypical role as the evil genius. I can see why this one would be diverting at the time of release, but not one with a lasting shelf life, except for completists of a particular actor or stalwart fan.

A very serious plot is thwarted by comedy of all things. Four brothers try to clear the name of their good father who was dishonorably discharged for giving an order which was later found out to be forged by another person. In the midst of all this, the father who is murdered before he can reveal evidence attesting to his innocence, we have some comedy here. When the comedy fades, we have machine gunning killing of many innocent men, women and children in this very uneven plot. Who exactly are the rebels? What is going on here? Alan Hale is just too "light" to be the heavy in the film. Loretta Young, whose father in the film is the president of the gun business and who falls under suspicion, is flighty at best. She gets involved and her involvement gets the guys to suspect her. In the mean time, she loves one of the brothers played by Richard Greene. As the eldest brother, George Sanders is given little to do here and David Niven, another brother, is as stiff as ever.

A lavish production, fast-paced direction, and some exciting action sequences tip the balance in favor of this basically juvenile derring-do in the spirit of GUNGA DIN. On the other hand, there is some offensive stereotyping, lots of flat dialogue, and cartoon-like conceptions of character. The four men are brothers, but act so naively that they seem like twelve-year olds: David Niven gets the brightest moments. While tracking down the enemies of their dear old Dad [the always magisterial C. Aubrey Smith], they are joined by spunky [verging on downright pushy] Loretta Young. She has one costume that can be described as the Grizzly Bear Dress, but she sports some nifty outfits too. They all rush around the globe chasing villains until Loretta's father, a kindly munitions tycoon, helps to resolve the mystery. A more accurate title might be FOUR FEATHERS MEET NANCY DREW.

Four Men and a Prayer (1938) ** 1/2 (out of 4) John Ford directed mystery/comedy has an Army general discharged over false information and later the man turns up murdered. His four sons (played by David Niven, George Sanders, William Henry, Richard Greene) then show up on the scene to try and track down the truth. The story is certainly the weakest part here as it never really becomes too interesting and even at 85-minutes the thing starts to drag after a while. The four actors are very good in their roles especially Niven and top billed Loretta Young is wonderful but her character really wasn't needed in the story. John Carradine also adds nice support in his small role. The cast makes this worth watching at least once. It's also worth noting of some very graphic violence, which includes a bridge full of women and children being cut down by machine guns. There's also a rather amusing Asian stereotype that has him being called Donald Mouse because he speaks like Disney characters.