Daughters Courageous (1939) User Reviews (20)

Some Great Character Actors Make This Work

[Handlinghandel · 5/10 · 16 April 2006]

This is an odd digression from the series begun with "Four Daughters." Claude Rains has left the Lane sisters and their mother. She is about to remarry. John Garfield reappears and Pricilla Lane is drawn to his bad-boy ways.

I found the mother, Fay Bainter, the most poignant player. Bainter is always touching. She is given many close-ups -- which allow us to see her beautiful eyes. They are amazingly warm. I have a similar fondness for Bealah Bondi. She isn't in this -- but May Robson, another real charmer is. She plays the family housekeeper.

Bainter's beau is played beautifully by the versatile Donald Crisp. He gives a fine performance as a stuffy but goodhearted man.

And of course there is Rains. I suppose he was too major a star to be called a character actor. But was he a romantic lead? He was extraordinarily versatile and seemingly incapable of turning in a bad performance.

One of a series of Lane Sisters soaps

[yardbirdsraveup · 8/10 · 10 June 2007]

Daughters Courageous is actually the second of a four-movie soap series produced by Warner Brothers and all directed by Michael Curtiz. Curtiz, a Hungarian immigrant, was best known for his direction of the early Errol Flynn swashbucklers that graced the silver screen from 1935 to 1941. At any rate, Daughters Courageous employs the same cast of characters from the first and last two movies, Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, and Gale Page play the sisters. Claude Rains, in this particular movie, plays the father who left home nineteen years before. Dick Foran and Frank McHugh play supporting roles as boyfriends and then there's Jeffrey Lynne who broke into films only two years before in a Warner's short feature.

The success of Four Daughters the previous year (it had been nominated for several Oscars) prompted Warner Brothers to do a sequel. The only problem they had was that their new sensation, John Garfield, was written off the script of Four Daughters (in that film he had committed suicide from an automobile crash). So, Warners was in a quandary about how to bring Garfield back to life! The problem was solved when Daughters Courageous went into production. It was actually the same cast as Four Daughters, but they portrayed a different family that was vacationing at the beach. Faye Bainter played a single parent (a daring role in 1939 during the Production Code era) supporting her four daughters with the income she makes through her dress designing business. Garfield plays a neer-do-well who has no future. He captures the heart of the youngest sister, Priscilla Lane and the romance goes as far as an elopement attempt (Lane eloped with Garfield in the first film too).

The film is brilliantly directed and flows along steadily from beginning to end. In my opinion, it is the best of the four films made by Warners. Four Daughters is available on VHS. However, this film is not. If you have the chance to see this film on TCM, make sure to copy it on VHS or DVD.

Fly Away Home

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 12 June 2012]

With John Garfield making a sensational debut in Four Daughters with an Oscar nomination there was quite the demand for a sequel. But sad to say Garfield died in Four Daughters.

Jack Warner remedied that with acquiring a play by Dorothy Bennett that ran 247 performances during the 1935 season on Broadway called Fly Away Home. It's the story of a family on the eve of the matriarch's second marriage to a respectable businessman. Out of the blue comes the first husband who left years ago and would like to reclaim his place as head of the family. He starts working a charm offensive to do just that.

Nearly the whole cast of Four Daughters slip into parts that were rewritten for them as the Masters family in Fly Away Home is not all girls. The Lane Sisters and Gale Page are the daughters again and Fay Bainter is their mother and Donald Crisp the businessman she is scheduled to marry. Bainter and Crisp are new to the ensemble.

Claude Rains is the patriarch, not the music master of Four Daughters, but the confirmed vagabond who left his family. He finds a kindred soul in John Garfield who has sparked an interest from Priscilla Lane away from playwright Jeffrey Lynn and toward himself.

If you know what happened in Four Daughters you know what happens here in terms of the pairing ups.

Rains is the best one in this cast by far. You'd go just about anywhere and do anything for him, he's got such charm and apparent knowledge of the world. In the end though he realizes he can be a bad influence as well as a good one.

The same standard for Four Daughters is maintained for Daughter's Courageous.

A sort of remake

[jjnxn-1 · 7/10 · 12 June 2012]

This is more of a reworking of the previous big hit Four Daughters than an actual remake. Not as good as the original film it is still entertaining and helped by the addition of old pros Donald Crisp and the great Fay Bainter fresh off her Oscar win for Jezebel.

Garfield just as he did in the original film jumps off the screen with a charisma and sexuality the other performers just can't match. He and Claude Rains, whose character from the first film undergoes the greatest change, strike up a good rapport as two wandering spirits.

The entire cast from the first film is back in this with May Robson pushed into the background unfortunately and all the girls having less defined personalities. Priscilla still gets the featured spot and interacts well with John Garfield but the others are background dressing more or less. The one thing this has in its favor over the original is the lack of emphasis on both Jeffrey Lynn and that blank slate Dick Foran since both are such vapid screen presences that any spotlighting of them is wasted film.

Who would choose Donald Crisp over Claude Rains?

[generalusgrant · 8/10 · 22 April 2008]

This is a an enjoyable, though somewhat dated film, enlivened by the masterful presence of Claude Rains. He completely steals the film, even when surrounded by a solid supporting cast including Bainter and Frank McHugh. But the production code of the era demanded that any character who was "morally tainted" would be made to pay for it eventually in the movie. Warners made no exception here, even though the ending is plausible and frankly, ludicrous.

The plot can be swiftly summarized: Claude Rains suffers from wanderlust and abandons his wife and four daughters. He wanders the globe for 19 years and then returns to his family. Bainter is all set to marry the insipid, puffy Donald Crisp and the daughters hate their wayward father. However, within a week, Rains' legendary charm wins over the whole family, including his ex-wife. It's just absurd to think that Bainter would marry Donald Crisp when Claude Rains, oozing charm from every pore, is sleeping on the sofa downstairs. In any normal normal, Bainter would throw herself in Rains' arms and remain there for all eternity. Watch the last 20 minutes of this soaper and gag at Warners attempt to teach moral lessons.

Despite the ridiculously contrived ending, most of the movie is quite enjoyable and worth a watch.

Best of the Lane sisters movies!

[B&W-2 · 10/10 · 6 April 1999]

I must disagree with the previous comment. This is not merely a rehash of "The Four Daughters"! While I enjoyed the former very much, I find the dialogue in "Daughters Courageous" much snappier and the characters more believable. From idyllic upstate New York, to an almost seamy California bordertown, there is a world of difference here! I suppose Garfield is an acquired taste, but I find him compelling as the Mexican layabout (maybe because I'm a layabout myself). In addition, this film gets more milage out of the luminous Priscilla Lane than the other films (she is clearly THE female star of this film). She and Garfield made a great pair, for further evidence see "Dust Be My Destiny".

Very engaging.

[Hermit C-2 · 8/10 · 13 December 2001]

This is the first of the "Four Daughters" series that I've ever seen, or was even aware of. Judging by this film, it's a wonder that they don't have a better reputation than they do. This movie is very engaging and entertaining throughout. The story may be a little too by-the-numbers, but the likability of the three Lane sisters plus one helps to overcome that mild complaint easily. The dialog is as snappy as that of a contemporary sitcom and the direction is fresh and forward-looking for a film over sixty years old. Claude Rains shines in his role. This also marks the first time I've understood why John Garfield commands the devoted following he has. "Daughters Courageous" should be enjoyed by anyone who likes the older Hollywood films and will likely appeal to a significant percentage of younger viewers if they give it a chance.

The resumé of the kind of values the dream factory encouraged.

[piapia · 6/10 · 25 April 1999]

This merely acceptable movie depicts the kind of moral and social values Hollywood was encouraging during the aftermath of the depression. The "Daughters" series had better production values and less clowning than the Andy Hardy ones. But Daughters Courageous manages to present the family values as terrible dull. As dull as the daughters' beaux. The picture itself is nothing. The four daughters are as interchangeable as the pieces of an Erector set. The only positive features are John Garfield and Claude Rains. Garfield caused the picture to be made, and repeated unashamedly his character of Four Daughters, with less redeeming features. His performance had the high standard to be expected of him. But the real star of the picture is Rains. His part is not very well written; the Epsteins and Michael Curtiz forgot to explain him and his motivations. But what an actor! He gives life to the picture, makes you love one of the most despicable characters in movie history, and you go all the way with him even if you know that he is poison to the whole life of his former wife and former(?) daughters. One cannot root for the sort of dull life Fay Bainter, Donald Crisp, the daughters and the daughters' beaux embodiy. But you cannot root either for the kind of social irresponsibility Rains and Garfield represent. But, anyhow, the picture is very entertaining and Priscilla Lane was adorable.

To redeem or not redeem? That is the question.

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 3 December 2011]

Clearly, this B picture was designed to appeal to MGM's younger audience of the time. In it, four "of age" sisters (played by the 3 Lane Sisters and Gale Page) are living with their mother (the venerable Fay Bainter). Mom is engaged to be married to a local businessman (another venerable character actor -- Donald Crisp) when all of a sudden husband # 1 (the also venerable Cluade Rains) reappears after having deserted the family twenty years earlier. Meanwhile, one daughter falls in love with a drifter-type -- John Garfield. And then the family -- and the movie -- get into trouble as the script attempts to rehabilitate Claude Rains and put a positive face on John Garfield. But how exactly do you rehabilitate a father that deserts his family for two decades and a drifter with an attitude against society? In my view, despite whatever qualities they may have, you don't.

And then, just when you think things are going to go in the wrong direction, the key characters step up and take responsibility for their actions. Rains and Garfield leaves town, Bainter marries Crisp, and normality returns.

Not surprisingly, the finest acting in the film is by Fay Bainter, who never failed to please in any film she ever appeared in. Donald Crisp deftly plays the slightly out-of-place new husband-to-be; and likewise...how often did Crisp ever disappoint in a film? Claude Rains is excellent as the father, but he shouldn't make his character too sympathetic, and he doesn't. May Robson is funny and excellent as the housekeeper.

You'll enjoy this film, although it may not be one for your DVD collection.

Marital courage

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 19 December 2019]

It is impossible to resist a cast as great as the one in 'Daughters Courageous', part of a film series that also was made up of 'Four Daughters', 'Four Wives' and 'Four Mothers'. Of which it is the second (unofficial) one. Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, May Robson and Priscilla Lane are reasons enough to see any film on their own, so seeing them together as part of the same cast further made me excited and likely make anybody excited.

'Daughters Courageous' could have been better than it was and it has its faults, but it was also very well played and enjoyable. The entertainment and charm factors high on the most part. Compared to the other 'Four...' films, 'Daughters Courageous' isn't as good as 'Four Daughters', which delivered on almost everything apart from more development for some characters needed and one rushed subplot. It is on the same level as the solid 'Wives', which had most of the same good things with a couple of improvements and a couple of disappointments. It is also though better than 'Mothers', which was a disappointment while still watchable.

Will start with what could have been done better. Again, only found Ann properly developed of the sisters (although they are all likeable still) and generally the character writing had a lot of rushed or out-of-the-blue decision-making that didn't make sense, or at least one doesn't buy.

John Garfield to me lost the spark that he had in 'Four Daughters', he made such a big impression in that film but here what made his performance in that work so well is missing here. He was bitter but also eloquent before, here he was just mean-spirited.

However, the cast do a great job here and extract as much as they can out of their flawed character writing. Lane is charming, while Rains manages to bring likeability and dignity to a problematic character (one where one questions his motives and constantly is feeling that things don't add up). Robson brings a smile to the face, while Bainter is touching as the film's most sympathetic character. Crisp shows a stuffy exterior but deep down he shows a good heart, a kind of role that played to Crisp's strengths.

Again, 'Daughters Courageous' is well made and photographed, never elaborate but never static-looking either. Curtiz's direction is distinguished and the music score is sumptuous but never too overwrought. The script is gently amusing and sincere and the story may have felt rushed and underdeveloped (as well as lacked originality) but it is very charming, human and a relaxing watch.

On the whole, quite good but not great. 7/10

Excellent writing

[jrite22 · 8/10 · 2 January 2015]

Other reviewers commented on the fine acting, casting, directing and plot as they should. I praise also the terrific screenplay, which reminded me at times of a Shakespearean romantic comedy. The dialog is fitting for the characters, who are educated Americans of the mid 20th century, none of them destined for greatness, but for the lives of average Americans, which is what most Americans hope for. The script was adept at bringing out the emotions of the characters and the interactions of family life. It was especially apropos for the two divergent wanderers, one inexperienced and the other worldly wise and jaded, but not without empathy for the other characters who need the family and what that means for many people. Well written.

"Ever see so much Hate in one Universe?" . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 5 March 2021]

. . . Gabriel asks forlornly early on during his DAUGHTERS COURAGEOUS ordeal. This line was written specifically for Gabriel's Real Life avatar by the prophetic prognosticators of the always eponymous Warner Bros. to warn him that J. Edgar Hooker (aka, Mary Pink-Slip) would soon be plotting to rub him out through his Fiendish Bio-terror Insurgency "special agents." The Warner seers gave Gabriel's colleague (ROBIN HOOD) many similar lines of cautionary dialog spread across several flicks, but after Ms. Silk-Slip viewed CUBAN REBEL GIRLS he immediately sent a squad of assassins to slay the notoriously incautious ROBIN. As the perfidious Pachyderm Political Party Judge Henry intones here, "(Gabriel) may NOT be a criminal, but he's a Menace to Society. DAUGHTERS COURAGEOUS reminds viewers that if they haven't signed on the dotted line with Old Scratch, the Pachyderms are bound to be stampeding now to stamp them into jelly, like doomed Gabriel and Robin.

daughters courageous

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 1 March 2021]

I sympathize with Claude Rains' wayward dad. If I had fathered four perkily obnoxious children like the Lane Sisters plus Page I'd take a twenty year hiatus too.

Like Four Daughters in a parallel universe...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 23 October 2020]

... because you've got the same cast, but Four Daughters was John Garfield's film debut, causing an ending that prevented him from being in any sequels.

I liked the film and the performances, but the whole thing just seems odd when you compare it to the previous film. And actually, this film just takes the cast from Four Daughters and puts them in an entirely different plot, taken from a play. In this one, Claude Rains is the father who deserted his family twenty years before and just shows up, not the masterful musician. The mother is alive, and left to raise her daughters alone after dad's desertion. And yet the daughters can't help but eventually warm to dad. Who can resist Claude Rains after all? Even as a cad he is charming. And yet dad's timing couldn't be worse, because mom is about to be remarried to a respectable businessman who is not going anywhere. Another complication - dad was declared dead years ago, but now here he is alive, nullifying that declaration.

This time, though, Priscilla Lane is drawn to ...Gabriel Lopez??? ( I think the name Mickey Borden was more up Garfield's alley) rather than just marrying him as a way of being self sacrificing, and bland Jeffrey Lynn is correctly the suitor who is putting her feet to sleep. May Robson is just the housekeeper here not the elderly relative. You have to remember Ms. Robson is 81 by the time this film is made, and yet she is so energetic.

I'd recommend it. Oddly enough the actual sequels to "Four Daughters" - "Four Wives" and "Four Mothers" were made after this film that had no relation to the actual film trilogy.

Don't watch it twice!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 26 February 2018]

The skill with which director Michael Curtiz has transmuted the familiar ingredients of the standard tear-jerker (abandoned mother with 4 daughters, a suitor she doesn't love but who is rich enough to take care of them, a daughter who falls for the village no-good) into an engrossing, seemingly naturalistic drama, is nothing short of a revelation. Of course, he has drawn superlative performances from his cast: Rains, who makes a wonderful entrance, delightfully, sardonically casual, gives one of his greatest. Only John Garfield fails to give his characterisation much interest. Max Steiner's music score also helps. But all this would be nought without the literate, smoothly characterised, pungently dialogued script penned by the Epstein twins of later Casablanca fame. Above all, I love the uncompromising conclusion, which makes absolutely no concessions to box-office taste.

Daughters Courageous didn't impress so much on a second viewing. Fay Bainter's strained, over-acted and unbeautiful performance was one of the main defects (some more attractive and personable actress was required for what is actually the film's central role). The other principal characters are better cast. In fact Rains is ideal. Garfield, while tending to underplay the cynicism a bit, and Miss Priscilla Lane, tending to overplay the sweetness, are also well cast. Priscilla and Lola are just figures in the background, as is Dick Foran, while Frank McHugh provides some unconvincing and unlikely comic relief (his role also requires him to be a romantic figure - that is what is so unconvincing). Donald Crisp is okay, but the role seems made to order for Herbert Marshall. As the Bainter character herself comments, the dialogue does tend to be flip, - it is often amusing, but it is hard to take it seriously. The superlative photography, especially the location scenes (between the trees overlooking the water) which have a real lyrical quality, and the music score are major assets, as is the skilled film editing. The direction is not especially striking but has confidence and assured craftsmanship.

Do you, Claude Rains, take this man, John Garfield...

[Irie212 · 3/10 · 5 September 2009]

Perhaps the oddest fact about this movie is that it's an alternate-world sequel: An entirely new plot has been constructed around the same six basic characters from "Four Daughters" (1938). But while that movie was nominated for several Oscars, and was remade in 1954 as "Young at Heart" (Doris Day, Frank Sinatra), this sequel is so lame it made me reconsider the original, not to its advantage.

Claude Rains, Fay Bainter, and Donald Crisp were capable of saving just about any film, but even though they ganged up on this one, it was hopeless, not least because the movie's arteries are again clogged with the frothy Lane sisters and three feeble counterparts (Dick Foran, Frank McHugh, Jeffrey Lynn).

In the thankless role of a father who returns years after deserting wife (Bainter) and their frothy daughters, Papa Rains is so charming that he manages to make believable their ludicrously swift forgiveness of him. But Mama and her goody-eight-shoes girls would forgive him, or anyone, of anything. Every character in the movie is wearisomely benevolent. Even the bad boys — Rains and John Garfield — have hearts of gold.

Well, maybe not gold, since metals don't break as easily as these hearts. When blonde daughter (Priscilla L.) falls for Garfield, Mama convinces Papa that the only decent thing for him to do is: First, send boyfriend Garfield packing; and second, abandon his family again. Huh?? After they've just welcomed Papa back and forgiven him?? But guess what? Papa Rains does it, and so does Garfield, dumping Blondie without so much as slap on her bum.

Unhappy ending? Clearly it's not meant to be. Marriage is supposed to be the happy ending, right? And we're buried in nuptials or the promise thereof: Blondie winds up with one of the milksops (I don't even remember which one). Mama Bainter and fiancée Crisp tie a pretty frayed knot. The only fun pair-up, though, is hardly a nuptial, and hardly admirable in the real world: Bad Boys Rains and Garfield wind up together at the train station, setting off as con men teamed up to rip off the world. (They start with a bookish fellow traveler-- he's wearing glasses-- who nevertheless believes he's buying a whale tooth from Moby Dick. Hollywood never misses a chance to dis' book smarts and respect street smarts.)

So the film ends with Garfield and Rains eloping. And why not? They're the most romantic couple in the whole movie.

It's got John Garfield in the film...could he be playing a zombie?!

[MartinHafer · 3/10 · 27 October 2010]

In the previous year, Warner Brothers made the very successful "Four Daughters"...so successful that they made this sort-of follow-up film! Now at first I didn't know that they'd completely messed with the plot and was worried--after all, I saw that it starred John Garfield and he clearly died at the end of "Four Daughters"!! Could his character be a zombie? No, it's just that the studio threw all continuity into the toilet!! Now the loving father is NOT the loving father but a deadbeat dad who has been gone for years. And, now their dead mother (!!) is taking care of the four sisters--because she certainly WAS dead in the first film! I really wish they'd just started off with a new story, as all this was confusing. Some characters (like for fours sisters, the boyfriends and the Aunt--who is now just a maid) were returning from the first film, some were not. And, oddly, the location changed and the sisters are no longer so musically inclined!! Confusing, confusing, confusing!!! And, I am sure audiences at the time must have thought the same thing. Despite all my obvious confusion (after all, I'd just seen the previous film that same evening), I stuck with it.

The film begins with Priscilla meeting an extremely annoying man (Garfield) who just seems like a user and jerk. In the previous film, he was brooding and negative. Here, he is more like a bum. Why, once again, Priscilla's character is attracted to him is confusing--and a bad message to the women in the audience.

Next, in the completely re-written home you learn that the mother (Fay Bainter) is going to get remarried to a nice, responsible man (Donald Crisp). However, completely unexpectedly, Bainter's first husband (Claude Rains) just shows up--after having disappeared 20 years earlier! Oddly, while the welcome is not warm, no one asks him where the heck he's been all this time! It was sad, really, seeing this as in the first film Rains played a marvelous father--here he is a manipulative slug. And, confusing once again, he slowly wins back his daughters' love one at a time--after all, he's inexplicably such a nice guy. It's all too easy, if you ask me. How can such a selfish lout suddenly become this sweet guy?! Now, had he sprung a trap in the end and somehow cheated the family out of their home or something, then this sort of plot would have made sense! The bottom line with this film is that although the acting was very good, the film had a nice Warner Brothers polish and there were enjoyable parts to the script, the characters and continuity never made sense. Overall, the film is confusing and dumb...how could the studio have gotten it so wrong?!

By the way, a more direct sequel to "Four Daughters" came out shortly AFTER "Daughters Courageous"! "Four Wives" picks up, sort of, after the first film with the same musical family from the 1938 film.

Not one of the Ten Worst movies ever, but ...

[Dick-42 · 1/10 · 13 November 1998]

This extraneous aside from the Four Daughters series is said to have been made by popular demand, and to have defied the rule that sequels or spin-offs are never up to par. I don't know about the first part of that, but I strongly disagree with the latter conclusion.

The Four Daughters/Wives/Mothers series ranged from "not-too-bad" to "really-quite-bad" (4 to 2 on the IMDb scale). This entry was far below the abysmal standard set by the others. They should have left Garfield dead instead of resurrecting and renaming him. He was the worst feature of the previous films and perfected his obnoxious character in this one. Rains was as close as anyone (except cook/housekeeper Robson) got to being a sympathetic character in Daughters Courageous, and he barely rises above detestable. Even his noble gesture at the end doesn't salvage his role or the film.

The Movie Wants Us to Forgive Garfield for Abandoning Family

[tr-83495 · 5/10 · 17 June 2019]

All the sympathy seems to be directed at Garfield, the scoundrel who abandoned his young wife with four infant daughters to raise by herself, and never even sent her an alimony check to help with the expense of raising them.

No amount of so-called "charm" could make up for this deceit. In real life, a woman so disrespected would not open her door to her ex-husband and allow all this to happen. But wait -- this is a movie, and we must do ridiculous things or we don't have a plot.

Some have commented on the great writing. This, however, is a huge plot discrepancy that ruins all enjoyment of the movie. How can you morally sympathize with a man who has willingly done these things? If you do, what does that make you?

***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 6 September 2017]

I was all set to rate this excellent film **** but due to the writing of the end of the story, I found this to be a major disappointment and therefore dropped one-star from my ultimate rating.

The ending to me was the personification of the status quo in society.

When Claude Rains suddenly reappears to Faye Bainter and their 4 daughters after abandoning them 20 years before, you have immediate disdain for his character.

He suffered from the wandering lust, not with other women, but as a care-free adventurer ready to tour the world.

Through his actions at home, his children grow to love and respect him, but to Bainter and her new beau of 12 years, Donald Crisp, who is she is about to marry, he poses a definite threat.

This almost passes on to the next generation as one of the daughters falls for rebel John Garfield, who epitomizes a care free, if not necessarily an honest life style.

Rejected at the end, both guys team up and leave. The ending was gut-wrenching, the performances were fabulous, especially that of May Robson, as the maid, and Rains and Garfield as the two very unconventional men. Priscilla Lane does well here and Donald Crisp, as Bainter's suitor and ultimate second husband, is a conventional man.

Sorry that I couldn't give this outstanding film **** but the end's writing makes me stick to my principles.