Four Men and a Prayer

United States

1938

85 Min

Black and White

1.37:1

English

Currently 2.6/5 Stars.
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SCR Richard Sherman, Sonya Levien, Walter Ferris, David Garth, William Faulkner

CAST Loretta Young, Richard Greene, George Sanders, David Niven, C. Aubrey Smith, J. Edward Bromberg, William Henry, John Carradine, Alan Hale, Reginald Denny, Berton Churchill, Barry Fitzgerald, Claude King, Cecil Cunningham, Frank Dawson, John Sutton, Lina Basquette, Frank Baker, William Stack, Harry Hayden, Will Stanton, Winter Hall, John Graham Spacey, C. Montague Shaw

PROD DES Bernard Herzbrun, Rudolph Sternad

Synopsis

In India Col. Loring Leigh (C. Aubrey Smith) is tried for a massacre after a gate is left unguarded, and he is discharged. He sends cables to his sons Rodney Leigh (William Henry), lawyer Wyatt Leigh (George Sanders), womanizer Christopher Leigh (David Niven), and diplomat Geoffrey Leigh (Richard Greene). Wyatt says the evidence is against him; but their father says a munitions syndicate sold weapons to the revolt. The four hear a shot and find their father dead with his papers missing. Wyatt suspects murder, but it is called suicide. Geoff finds Lynn Cherrington (Loretta Young) also came from Washington. Captain Drake calls Geoff and says he is being followed. Geoff finds Drake dead in a taxi. Lynn learns that Geoff is going to Buenos Aires and plans to beat him there.

Wyatt and Rodney investigate in India, and trooper Mulcahay (Barry Fitzgeral) is shot in the arm. Rodney finds a pistol with the name chiseled off, and Wyatt calls Geoff about the gun. On a yacht Lynn cajoles Douglas Loveland (Reginald Denny). Geoff objects, and Lynn quarrels with him. On an island, where guns supply a revolt, Lynn and Loveland follow General Torres (J. Edward Bromberg) to the guns and rebels. General Sebastian (John Carradine) takes Torres to a wall and has him shot. Rebels shout and are massacred with machine guns, but Lynn and Loveland escape. A man appeals to Loveland, who denies knowing him. Geoff intervenes and is put in jail with the man who tells Geoff of the arms deals. Lynn gets them out; Geoff says he was jealous and is in love with her. Geoff and Chris realize that Atlas Arms sold guns in both places. They accuse Loveland of perjury against their father. Loveland admits forging the order but is killed before he can say who killed their father. —Movie Mirror

Director

John Ford

Maine-born John Ford (born Sean Aloysius O’Fearna) originally went to Hollywood in the shadow of his older brother, Francis, an actor/writer/director who had worked on Broadway. Originally a laborer, propman’s assistant, and occasional stuntman for his brother, he rose to became an assistant director and supporting actor before turning to directing in 1917. Ford became best known for his Westerns, of which he made dozens through the 1920s, but he didn’t achieve status as a major director until the mid-‘30s, when his films for RKO (The Lost Patrol 1934, The Informer 1935), 20th Century Fox (Young Mr. Lincoln 1939, The Grapes of Wrath 1940), and Walter Wanger (Stagecoach 1939), won over the public, the critics, and earned various Oscars and Academy nominations. His 1940s films included one military-produced documentary co-directed by Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland, December 7th (1943), which creaks badly today (especially compared with… read more

Maine-born John Ford (born Sean Aloysius O’Fearna) originally went to Hollywood in the shadow of his older brother, Francis, an actor/writer/director who had worked on Broadway. Originally a laborer, propman’s assistant, and occasional stuntman for his brother, he rose to became an assistant director and supporting actor before turning to directing in 1917. Ford became best known for his Westerns, of which he made dozens through the 1920s, but he didn’t achieve status as a major director until the mid-‘30s, when his films for RKO (The Lost Patrol 1934, The Informer 1935), 20th Century Fox (Young Mr. Lincoln 1939, The Grapes of Wrath 1940), and Walter Wanger (Stagecoach 1939), won over the public, the critics, and earned various Oscars and Academy nominations. His 1940s films included one military-produced documentary co-directed by Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland, December 7th (1943), which creaks badly today (especially compared with Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series); a major war film (They Were Expendable ¹⁹⁴⁵); the historically-based drama My Darling Clementine (1946); and the “cavalry trilogy” of Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Rio Grande (1950), each of which starred John Wayne. My Darling Clementine and the cavalry trilogy contain some of the most powerful images of the American West ever shot, and are considered definitive examples of the Western.

Ford also had a weakness for Irish and Gaelic subject matter, in which a great degree of sentimentality was evident, most notably How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952), which was his most personal film, and one of his most popular. It also earned more Oscars and nominations than any other movie ever produced at Republic Pictures. Poor health dogged Ford’s career during the 1950s, but he still managed to create The Sun Shines Bright (1953) — one of his favorite films, dealing with politics and race relations in the 19th century South — Mogambo (1953), and The Searchers (1956), which is considered one of the most powerful Western dramas ever made. The Horse Soldiers (1959) showed some of Ford’s flair, but was marred by production problems, and Ford later directed the John Wayne/Harry Morgan section of How the West Was Won (1963). His concern with social justice, which manifested itself in The Sun Shines Bright also became more evident during the early ‘60s, in films such as Sergeant Rutledge (1960), _Donovan’s Reef_ (1963), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), all of which sought to address problems of racial prejudice.

Ford was the recipient of the first Life Achievement Award bestowed by the American Film Institute, and was the subject of Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary, Directed by John Ford (1971). He died in 1973. —AllMovie guide

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