Directed by:
William KeighleyCinematography:
Charles RosherComposer:
Heinz RoemheldCast:
Claude Rains, Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Gale Page, Jeffrey Lynn, Eddie Albert, May Robson, Frank McHugh, Dick Foran, Vera Lewis, Frank Reicher (more)Plots(1)
Four Mothers was the last of three films inspired by Fannie Hurst's sentimental novel Sister Act. As in the earlier Four Daughters and Four Wives, the quartet of heroines-Ann, Kay, Thea and Emma Lemp-are enacted by real-life siblings Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane, and by Gale Page as the fourth sister. As the film opens, all four daughters are happily married, and three are mothers. The girls return to the home of their musician-father Adam Lemp (Claude Rains) for a family reunion, whereupon Thea's husband Ben Crowley (Frank McHugh) inveigles the family and the rest of the community into investing in a "land boom." A disastrous hurricane wipes out everyone's hopes-and their bank accounts-but things begin to look up a bit in the final reel. As a bonus, the previously barren fourth daughter Emma announces that she has finally become pregnant (thereby justifying the title). Like its predecessors, Four Mothers is expertly produced, directed and acting, but the franchise was beginning to wear out its welcome. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Claude Rains
UK
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Casablanca (1942)
Priscilla Lane
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Saboteur (1942)
Rosemary Lane
USA
Best movies:
The Oklahoma Kid (1939)
The Return of Doctor X (1939)
Lola Lane
USA
Best movies:
Marked Woman (1937)
Gale Page
USA
Best movies:
They Drive by Night (1940)
Jeffrey Lynn
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
BUtterfield 8 (1960)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Eddie Albert
USA
Best movies:
Roman Holiday (1953)
The Longest Day (1962)
You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)
May Robson
Australia
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
Frank McHugh
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Dodge City (1939)
Dick Foran
USA
Best movies:
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Black Legion (1937)
Fort Apache (1948)
Vera Lewis
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
King Kong (1933)
Frank Reicher
German Empire
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Jack Mower
USA
Best movies:
Miracle of Fatima (1952)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Irving Bacon
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
James Flavin
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Frank Ferguson
USA
Best movies:
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Dick Elliott
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Charles Trowbridge
Mexico
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Captains Courageous (1937)
Ralph Sanford
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Country (1958)
The Heiress (1949)
Paul Maxey
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Big Heat (1953)