Four Men and a Prayer
Directed by John Ford
Written by Richard Sherman, Sonya Levien, et al
1938/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] I love making pictures but I don’t like talking about them. — John Ford[/box]
This is not one of the films that made John Ford an auteur.
In India, Col. Loring Leigh (C. Aubrey Smith) is accused of issuing an order that led a squadron of men to their deaths. He is found guilty and dishonorably discharged. Leigh gathers his four sons around him in England to start an investigation to prove his innocence. Before they can start, Leigh is mysteriously shot and all his papers stolen. Although the coroner rules Leigh’s death a suicide, the sons are convinced it was murder and scatter to the four corners of the earth to apprehend the culprit. I won’t give anything away but it all has something to do with arms dealing – a hot topic in 1938. With George Sanders and David Niven as two of the sons, Loretta Young as the diplomat son’s girlfriend, Alan Hale as an arms merchant, and John Carradine as a Latin American general.
Another “OK” movie from the bottom of my 1938 To Watch list that didn’t really grab me. All the performances are good though Loretta Young got on my nerves more than she usually does.
