Four Daughters

Four Daughters
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Produced by	Hal B. Wallis
Written by	Lawrence Kimble Thyra Samter Winslow
Screenplay by	Lenore J. Coffee Julius J. Epstein
Based on	Sister Act by Fannie Hurst
Starring	Priscilla Lane Rosemary Lane Lola Lane Gale Page Claude Rains John Garfield
Music by	Max Steiner
Cinematography	Ernest Haller
Edited by	Ralph Dawson
Production company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	August 9, 1938 (1938-08-09) (USA)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Four Daughters is a 1938 musical drama film that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a cynical young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives. The movie stars the Lane Sisters (Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, and Lola Lane), and features Gale Page, Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, John Garfield and Dick Foran. The three Lanes were sisters and members of a family singing trio.

The film was written by Lenore J. Coffee and Julius J. Epstein, adapted from the Fannie Hurst novel Sister Act, and was directed by Michael Curtiz. The movie's success led to two sequels with more or less the same cast: Four Wives and Four Mothers.

Plot

The Lemp sisters, Emma (Gale Page), Thea (Lola Lane), Kay (Rosemary Lane), and Ann (Priscilla Lane) are prodigies in a musical family headed by their father, Adam (Claude Rains). The Lemps also run a boarding house, and among the tenants is Felix Deitz (Jeffrey Lynn), a young composer whom the four daughters want to attract.

Emma, the oldest daughter, is the object of affection of a neighbor, Ernest (Dick Foran), but she rebuffs his attentions. Thea, a pianist and the second eldest, is courted by wealthy Ben Crowley (Frank McHugh), another neighbor, but she is not sure she loves him. Kay, the third daughter, is a talented singer and has a chance at a music school scholarship but doesn't want to leave home. The youngest daughter is Ann, a violinist. Mickey (John Garfield), an orchestral arranger and friend of Felix, falls for Ann, but Felix also has had his eyes on her and proposes marriage.

Cast

	Priscilla Lane as Ann Lemp	70px	John Garfield as Mickey Borden
	Rosemary Lane as Kay Lemp	70px	Jeffrey Lynn as Felix Deitz
	Lola Lane as Thea Lemp	70px	May Robson as Aunt Etta
	Gale Page as Emma Lemp		Frank McHugh as Ben Crowley
	Claude Rains as Adam Lemp		Dick Foran as Ernest Talbot

Academy Awards

Nominations

• Outstanding Production: Warner Bros.-First National
• Best Directing: Michael Curtiz
• Best Sound Recording: Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role: John Garfield
• Best Writing (Screenplay): Julius J. Epstein, Lenore Coffee

Four Daughters film series

Four Daughters is the first in a series of four films by Warner Bros. featuring the Lane Sisters and the other cast members. It was followed by 1939's Daughters Courageous, also directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Claude Rains and John Garfield, though it is a story about a different family. However, the storyline of Four Daughters and the Lemp family is continued in the 1940 film, Four Wives, and 1941's Four Mothers.

Remake

Four Daughters was remade in 1954 as Young at Heart starring Frank Sinatra and Doris Day.

External links

• Four Daughters at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Four Daughters at IMDb
• Four Daughters at AllMovie
• Four Daughters at the TCM Movie Database