Four Mothers (1941)

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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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Complete Cast:

Director(s):

William Keighley

Writer(s):

Fannie Hurst, Stephen Morehouse Avery

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