Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Hot 888 Mama " . . . and your little dog, too!" during her brief scene here in FOUR'S A CROWD, but "M. Hamilton" is clearly auditioning for her star turn as "Elvira Gulch" (aka, The Wicked Witch of the West) for WIZARD OF OZ the following year. As eight million dollar woman "Lorri Dillingwell's" maid "Amy," the prospective Ms. Gulch eyes Lorri's little whitish mutt with an evil intent so obvious that Lorri's suitor "Bob" immediately secures this endangered beta version of "Toto" in the safety of an upright piano cabinet as soon as Elvira leaves the room. Unfortunately, pianos prove to be few and far between in the Land of Oz, forcing Dot & friends toward desperate measures during their later flick. (The shooting script of FOUR'S A CROWD shows this interchange--Amy: "Should I remove your empty ice cream dish?" Lorri: "Please, and take it with you"--did NOT make the film's final cut.)

SimonJack What a wonderful cast this 1938 Warner Brothers film has. It's too bad it didn't have a script to match the 1936 MGM blockbuster that this movie seems to copy. William Powell, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy were the mainliners of "Libeled Lady" of 1936. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles have the similar parts in this film. But the scripts are a huge difference in the two films. The script of "Libeled Lady" is excellent, original and ingenious. The script of "Four's a Crowd" is terrible, and drags the entire film down. There are so many fast scenes, sudden changes, and quick diversions here, that the movie has almost no cohesion. It comes across as a montage of a couple dozen sketches pieced together on film. Most of the reviewers of this movie to date seem to be of the same mind about the incoherence of the plot. I was surprised to find one though, who differed. I note this only because that is one of a few frequent reviewers whom I always look for and whose comments I usually enjoy. I often agree with that reviewer, and even when I don't, I usually learn something new or interesting that I wasn't aware of before. Or, I get a different take that I hadn't considered. But, in this case, that reviewer thought this film to be better than the 1936 movie. The screenplay here lacks any funny dialog. The film is all situational, and much of the humor is lost because of the fast, disconnected pace. Unless Warner Brothers thought people would consider the repetitive deceptions by Errol Flynn's character, Bob Lansford, to be humorous. My rating of six stars for this film is based solely on the performances of the cast. All are quite good. Flynn's comedic situations are very amusing, and this film clearly shows that he can do comedy routines – if not comedy dialog. Russell and Knowles are very good. Walter Connolly, who frequently plays these types of roles, I think excels as the cantankerous J.P. Dillingwell, who relishes being regarded as the most hated man in America. And, Olivia de Havilland is exceptional in her role. She sparkles as Lorri Dillingwell, and shows that she can match the best of comical females as a ditzy dame. For the life of me, I can't understand why one or two people might think she was wasted in tackling such an unusually different role. I think it further proves her depth and ability as an actress. Comedies often include nonsensical stuff. But we audiences need to be able to follow the details in order to appreciate and enjoy the humor. Here's an example, toward the end of the movie, of how this movie losses viewers. Lansford asks Jean Christy (played by Russell) if she would marry Patterson Buckley (played by Knowles) if she could. She says something like "you can bet I would." So, Lansford tells her to tell Buckley that he, Lansford is in love with her. He says that Buckley will then propose to her. Later she does that and sure enough, Buckley proposes. She is floored and comments on Lansford as a genius psychologist. Later, the two couples are together and go to a justice of the peace to get married – Bob to Lorri and Jean to Buckley. Some slightly humorous confusion takes place with the foursome and the JP and his wife. Then the foursome simply change partners and Bob and Jean wed, and Lorri and Buckley wed. So, Jean didn't want to marry Buckley after all – but Bob instead? Were these the right matches, or weren't they? Or, maybe that's supposed to be part of the humor?

bkoganbing What Louis B. Mayer could do Jack Warner could do better at his studio. Two years before in 1936 MGM came out with one of the best screwball comedies of the decade in Libeled Lady, so essentially using the same formula of four stars with different pairings throughout the film, Warner produced Four's A Crowd and his four stars here are Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Rosalind Russell, and Patric Knowles. Jack even got Walter Connolly to play the same kind of millionaire father in his film and the setting is once again a newspaper.It's new publisher is the rich and proper Patric Knowles and he's got Rosalind Russell on his staff as a reporter in what was a harbinger of her role in His Girl Friday. In comes an old friend to Knowles office played by Errol Flynn who has the reputation of being the best publicity agent in the world. Flynn's on a crusade to land Walter Connolly as a client, one of the richest men in the world who shuns publicity. Hey, every millionaire isn't Donald Trump. As it happens Knowles is going out with Connolly's granddaughter Olivia DeHavilland. If you are familiar with Libeled Lady you can take it from there.Just because Four's A Crowd is an imitation doesn't mean it's not a good imitation. The four stars are all in their salad years and give a good account of themselves. Errol Flynn showed a gift for light comedy that was not too often used by Warner Brothers as his public preferred him with sword in hand. Of all the eight films he did with Olivia DeHavilland this is the only one they did modern dress and it's probably unfortunately the least known. And at time when all Jack Warner wanted from DeHavilland was to look pretty and be supportive of the hero, she got her innings here giving such folks as Myrna Loy and Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert her version of the screwball heiress which saturated films of the Thirties.I also have no doubt that Columbia got Rosalind Russell to play Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday on the strength of her performance in Four's A Crowd. Doing Craig's Wife at Columbia also on a loan out from MGM, Roz made her bones in dramatic parts, in this one she first reveals her gift for comedy. The following year Louis B. Mayer cast her in the third lead in The Women and Rosalind Russell was a certified movie star.Walter Connolly's millionaire role is virtually identical to the one from Libeled Lady. In that film his hobby is fishing, here it's electric trains and he's got a train set spread that any kid would envy. The single most hilarious scene in Libeled Lady is William Powell trying to fish for the first time. Here it's Errol Flynn feigning an interest in electric trains and having Connolly's dogs set upon him.One really ought to view Libeled Lady and Four's A Crowd back to back and see which you think is the funnier. We'll have different schools of thought emerging.

yarborough Four's a Crowd is a silly, goofy, and at times hard to follow comedy with the all-star duo of Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland. The film at times is funny and boring. There is a lot of telephone conversations featured in the film and it gets kind of tiring after awhile. Errol Flynn is at his goofiest in this role. This role is unlike his others in past roles. Roles such as Robin Hood, Captain Blood, and The Charge of the Light Brigade, where in those roles he plays jolly, kind, respected people. In Four's a Crowd he's a crude, annoying, and pushy person. Even Olivia deHavilland's role is different from her past ones. In this movie she's downright annoying and childish. She was 22 at the time and she acts like a 15 year old. The script of this movie is rather poor and includes segments in the film that have "been there, done that" written all over. This could of been a great and funny movie if there was a stronger script and director. Michael Curtiz doesn't have to direct every film Errol Flynn was in. There more actors to work with, then just Errol. I perfer Roual Walsh and William Kieghley's work with Errol Flynn than Kurtiz's. *1/2 out of ****