Daughters Courageous | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
Screenplay by | Julius J. Epstein Philip G. Epstein |
Based on | Fly Away Home 1935 play by Dorothy Bennett Irving White |
Produced by | Henry Blanke Hal B. Wallis |
Starring | John Garfield Claude Rains Jeffrey Lynn Fay Bainter |
Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
Edited by | Ralph Dawson |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Daughters Courageous is a 1939 American drama film starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn and featuring the Lane Sisters: Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla. Based on the play Fly Away Home by Dorothy Bennett and Irving White, the film was directed by Michael Curtiz. It was released by Warner Bros. on June 23, 1939.
Charismatic Jim Masters returns home to Carmel, California, after a globe-roaming 20-year absence to find that his wife, Nancy, is about to marry Sam Sloane, a dull pillar of the local community. The four Masters daughters are also upset that their irresponsible father has re-entered their lives after so long away. Meanwhile, the youngest, Buff, has grown cold on her playwright boyfriend and is drawn to malcontent Gabriel Lopez, whose irrepressible wanderlust reminds Jim Masters of himself.
Both women must choose between passion and stability. Each opts for a security.
Daughters Courageous was made as a stand-alone film, and its characters do not appear in any other film. However, it has much in common with the "Four Daughters" film series of that era, with the same director, largely the same cast (including the Lane sisters) and many similarities in subject matter. The series consists of 1938's Four Daughters , the 1939 film Four Wives , and 1941's Four Mothers .
Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called the film " a thoroughly pleasant entertainment—howbeit reminiscent—with a thoroughly pleasant cast to grace it." [1] Variety wrote: "Few of the situations can stand up under too close scrutiny, but the flavor of the film as a whole is entertaining, amusing, and occasionally emotional." [2] Harrison's Reports called it "Good entertainment ... Although it is not as impressive as 'Four Daughters,' it nevertheless holds one's attention well, since one is in sympathy with all the characters." [3] Film Daily called it "A production with a high voltage of sentimental of romantic appeal" with a "super-duper" cast. [4] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that Garfield added "a touch of color or adventuresome liveliness" to help along the story, but found "a quantity of bungalow patter that wears one down at times" and "a slight dullness" to the picture. [5]
Warner Archive released the film on DVD on August 1, 2011. The film was also released by Warner Archive in the "Four Daughters Movie Series Collection".
Four Daughters is a 1938 American romance film that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a charming young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives. His cynical, bitter musician friend comes to help orchestrate his latest composition and complicates matters even more. The movie stars the Lane Sisters and Gale Page, and features Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, John Garfield, and Dick Foran. The three Lanes were sisters and members of a family singing trio.
Test Pilot is a 1938 American drama film directed by Victor Fleming, starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, and featuring Lionel Barrymore. The Oscar-nominated film tells the story of a daredevil test pilot (Gable), his wife (Loy), and his best friend (Tracy).
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 American romantic drama film starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman, the film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. The film is also noted for being the first film ever shown at the Cannes Film Festival before the rest of the festival was cancelled due to the start of World War II.
The Lane Sisters were a family of American singers and actresses. The sisters were Leota Lane, Lola Lane, Rosemary Lane and Priscilla Lane.
Juarez is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, John Huston, and Wolfgang Reinhardt is based on the 1934 biography The Phantom Crown by Bertita Harding and the 1925 play Juarez and Maximilian by Franz Werfel.
Jeffrey Lynn was an American stage-screen actor and film producer who worked primarily through the Golden Age of Hollywood establishing himself as one of the premier talents of his time. Throughout his acting career, both on stage and in film, he was typecast as "the attractive, reliable love interest of the heroine," or "the tall, stalwart hero."
Captains Courageous is a 1937 American adventure drama film starring Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore and Melvyn Douglas. Based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, the film had its world premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Directed by Victor Fleming, it was produced by Louis D. Lighton and made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Filmed in black and white, Captains Courageous was advertised by MGM as a coming-of-age classic with exciting action sequences.
The Oklahoma Kid is a 1939 Western film starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. The film was directed for Warner Bros. by Lloyd Bacon. Cagney plays an adventurous gunslinger in a broad-brimmed cowboy hat while Bogart portrays his black-clad and viciously villainous nemesis. The film is often remembered for Cagney's character rubbing the thumb and forefinger of his hand together and exulting, "Feel that air!"
Brother Rat is a 1938 American comedy drama film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley, and starring Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman, and Wayne Morris.
The Prince and the Pauper is a 1937 film adaptation of the 1881 novel of the same name by Mark Twain. It starred Errol Flynn, twins Billy and Bobby Mauch in the title roles, and Claude Rains and has been described as "a kids' fantasy."
Dust Be My Destiny is a 1939 American drama film starring John Garfield as a man who gets into trouble after being sentenced to a work farm.
Hollywood Hotel is a 1937 American romantic musical comedy film, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Hugh Herbert, Ted Healy, Glenda Farrell and Johnnie Davis, featuring Alan Mowbray and Mabel Todd, and with Allyn Joslyn, Grant Mitchell and Edgar Kennedy.
Four Wives is a 1939 American drama film starring the Lane Sisters and Gale Page. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and is based on the story "Sister Act" by Fannie Hurst. The supporting cast features Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, Eddie Albert, Frank McHugh and Dick Foran. The picture is a sequel to Four Daughters (1938) and was followed by Four Mothers (1941). Four Wives was released by Warner Bros. on December 25, 1939.
Rosemary Lane was an American actress and singer. She is known for her performances with Lola and Priscilla as the Lane Sisters and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in the 1930s, and for her film career in the 1930s to 1940s.
Saturday's Children is a 1940 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring John Garfield, Anne Shirley, and Claude Rains. It is a third-time remake of the original Maxwell Anderson play with a previous version released in 1935 under the title Maybe It's Love.
Four Mothers is a 1941 American drama film and sequel to Four Daughters (1938) and Four Wives (1939). The film stars Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn, May Robson and featuring the Lane Sisters: Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane. It was directed by William Keighley and is based on the story "Sister Act" by Fannie Hurst. The film was released by Warner Bros. on January 4, 1941. The Lane sisters appeared in all three films and also appeared together in the 1939 film Daughters Courageous.
Priscilla Lane was an American actress, and the youngest sibling in the Lane Sisters' family of singers and actresses. She is best remembered for her roles in the films The Roaring Twenties (1939) co-starring with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart; Saboteur (1942), an Alfred Hitchcock film in which she plays the heroine; and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), in which she portrays Cary Grant's fiancée and bride.
Three Cheers for the Irish is a 1940 comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon, written by Richard Macaulay and Jerry Wald, and starring Priscilla Lane, Thomas Mitchell and Dennis Morgan. The supporting cast features Virginia Grey, Alan Hale, Sr. and William Lundigan. The plot involves a veteran police officer (Mitchell) forced into retirement only to learn that his replacement (Morgan), whom he detests, is romancing his daughter (Lane). The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 16, 1940.
Blackwell's Island is a 1939 American crime drama film directed by William C. McGann and written by Crane Wilbur. The film stars John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell, Victor Jory, Stanley Fields and Morgan Conway. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 25, 1939.
Lola Lane was an American actress and one of the Lane Sisters with her sisters Leota, Rosemary, and Priscilla Lane. She appeared on Broadway and in films from the 1920s to 1940s.