Loretta Young

Richard Greene

George Sanders

David Niven

C. Aubrey Smith

William Henry

Berton Churchill

Alan Hale

J. Edward Bromberg

Reginald Denny

Barry Fitzgerald

John Carradine

Cecil Cunningham

John Sutton

Frank Dawson

Harry Hayden

Claude King

Lina Basquette

Frank Baker

William Stack

Ruth Clifford

Martín Garralaga

Brandon Hurst

Noble Johnson

Frank Lackteen

Robert Lowery

Frank Malatesta

Chris-Pin Martin

Cyril McLaglen

Paul McVey

Pat Moriarity

Vesey O'Davoren

Manuel París

George Regas

Tom Ricketts

Will Stanton

Winter Hall

John Graham Spacey

Richard Sherman

Sonya Levien

Walter Ferris

John Ford

Madge Boyd

Sam Kaufman

Royer

Adventure

Mystery

Four Men and a Prayer

20th Century Fox

United States of America

CinemaSerf

"Col Leigh" (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) summons his four sons to their family home to inform them that he has been dishonourably discharged from the British Army. In disbelief, the family convenes and the old gent insists on his innocence and says he has the proof. They all go to change for dinner but before they can meet again, a gunshot shatters the peace of their stately home and the colonel is dead. The older brother, barrister "Wyatt" (George Sanders) quickly concludes this was murder and together with his brothers "Geoff" (Richard Greene), "Chris" (David Niven) and the enthusiastic young "Rodney" (William Henry) sets out on an adventure that takes them from Britain to India, Argentina and Egypt on the trail of some illicit gun-runners and would-be revolutionaries. "Geoff", meantime is keen on the feisty and determined "Lynn" (Loretta Young) who, having been stood up by him twice, decides to rather usefully embroil herself in the family mystery too. At times, this is quite a tautly directed story of machiavellian proportions, but for the most part it's a rather disappointingly meandering drama that can't quite decide what it's trying to be. John Ford has assembled a strong supporting cast - Reginald Denny and Alan Hale feature amongst them - but there is just far too much verbiage and not enough action before an ending that is remarkably rushed and really rather weak. It's my kind of film and I did quite enjoy it - I just don't know that I'll ever remember it.

English