TheLittleSongbird 'Four's a Crowd' could have been a great film, and should have been a great film. With a cast like Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland and Rosalind Russell and a director like Michael Curtiz, 'Four's a Crowd' promised much.While not a terrible film, far from it, the promise wasn't completely lived up to due to try-too-hard execution. There are strengths in 'Four's a Crowd'. It looks good, very nicely shot in black and white and attractively mounted. The music suits well and pleasant to hear in its own right. The script does have its funny moments, especially in the first fifteen minutes and the ending's a good surprise.Most of the cast do a good job. Flynn does show a charismatic, witty and easy-going flair for comedy, while Russell blisters in her best moments. Walter Connolly is amusingly eccentric, and Patric Knowles looks more comfortable than usual.Less good is De Havilland, who is cast against type as a ditz and is all childish annoyance and no charm. Curtiz's direction is uneven, good in some of his direction of the actors and in the first fifteen minutes but tends to lose control when the film gets busier.The script's humour doesn't come consistently and lacks bite, due to being over-stuffed and over-cooked, a few parts a little repetitive. The story is too busy and has too many complicated schemes, hindered even further by the hurriedly frenetic pacing which makes the busiest moments borderline confused.Overall, watchable and most of the cast do well but too over-stuffed and over-complicated, hence what was meant by try-too-hard execution. 6/10 Bethany Cox

mmallon4 Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Rosalind Russell in a screwball comedy? These are the kinds of cast ensembles which unleash the inner fan boy in me. Errol Flynn rarely got the chance in his career to perform comedy and here he proves he was cable of doing Cary Grant-esque comedy on the same level as well, Cary Grant. Sadly Four's a Crowd's lack of box office success prevented Warner Bros from putting him in more comedies. Although The Women is seen as the film which launched Rosalind Russell as a fast talking comedic actress, Four's a Crowd is the first film in which she plays such a character and her first turn as the working career woman (or "newspaper man" as she refers to herself here) which became synonymous with with shades of Hildy Johnson coming through. She takes full advantage of the role, stealing the show with her impeccable timing which reportedly made Olivia de Havilland envious. De Havilland though is tasked with playing a dim witted character which she performs without coming off as annoying as such characters can easily be.Four's a Crowd owes a certain debt to Libeled Lady featuring some similar plot trends and themes with its slam on the upper classes, the socialite lifestyle and the desperate lengths newspapers will go to in order to get a story. Even the opening title sequence is taken from Libeled Lady in which the cast do the same arm in arm walk but is full of moments of inspired zaniness to distinguish itself. The model train sequence which lasts for 16 minutes had to have come from creative minds; plus what's funnier in an innocent, cute kind of way than grown men playing with model trains. However there is one moment in Fours a Crowd which is one of the most bizarre gags I've ever seen in a film in which after escaping from a pack of guard dogs to the other side of a gate, he grabs one of the dog's legs and bites it. I still don't know how to react to it, weather I should laugh or be horrified or both! The plot gets very confusing very fast but in a good way culminating in a finale in which Errol gets the wrong girl at the end! Although the manner in which this happens is screwball antics at its finest.

Richard Burin Four's a Crowd (Michael Curtiz, 1938) is a really fun screwball comedy that pits a newspaper reporter against millionaire Walter Connolly and his daughter, a la It Happened One Night and Libeled Lady. The first 15 minutes are blisteringly funny. Journo Rosalind Russell schemes to get editor-turned-PR-man Errol Flynn to return to his ailing paper, which the managing director (Patric Knowles) is trying to close down. Flynn agrees, and wages war against Connolly, hoping to turn him into the most-hated man in America, so he can repair his reputation via a publicity campaign. After that, the plotting goes a bit awry, spending quite a bit of time in Connolly's country mansion, where Flynn ends up trying to steal butter whilst mollifying heiress De Havilland and being chased by dogs. Well, I said it went a bit awry. Still, while the screenplay hops from one situation to the next without stopping to consider its internal logic, it moves so fast and so funnily you'll probably be swept along. Flynn and Russell are both near peak form, and they make a delightful team.

Merizzlefoshizle I am a little bias to anything in the classic era of film and by classic era I mean anything from 1930 to 1948. But this movie is a real treasure. Not only do you have the irreplaceable team of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in Four's a Crowd, there is a bonus of Rosalind Russell.Mr. Flynn plays a different role than we usually see him in. He is still ever so charming but this time he has traded his sword for a desk. Miss De Havilland refreshes us with a comedic role. Anyone who says this limits her acting ability is completely wrong. Comedy requires a certain amount of skill and she nails her role. Roz Russell fulfills in her character everything her followers like to see her as, a witty newspaper woman. Of course she is capable of playing other parts well but she plays these woman the best. Walter Connolly plays the high-strung,stubborn patriarch like always. In the End the all get married to each other (there's another guy) but you'll have to watch it to see whom to who.