FOUR’S A CROWD (1938)

Change of pace from period swashbuckling for Errol Flynn (still quite early in his career and just off ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD/’38), a contemporary slapsticky rom-com quadrille that sees Flynn and co-stars Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell and  postremus inter pares Patric Knowles mixing it up in love & newsprint.  Knowles the young newspaper owner who needs Public Relations frenemy Flynn to get his paper up on its feet and back in the streets; Russell the crack reporter who needs the paper to publish her stuff; de Havilland the fetching granddaughter of mega-rich Walter Connolly, Flynn’s dream account.  Let the chases, reversals of fortune and toy train races begin.  To it’s credit, the film, directed by Michael Curtiz, is less loud and frenetic and than most Warners comedies, it even keeps you guessing who’ll end up with whom and largely refrains from using the background score as a covert laugh track.    If only it were as funny as it thinks it is.  The film improves in the second half when it stops pushing so hard for laughs, but this merely lets you see that the story doesn’t add up.  The main storyline less about the newspaper than Flynn’s attempt to turn Connolly’s miserly millionaire into a public pussy cat of philanthropy.  And while it’s a kick to watch Flynn doing most of his own slapstick falls, final results don’t exceed ‘meh.’

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  The All-Star newspaper rom-com quartet to check out is LIBELED LADY/’36 (Powell, Loy, Tracy, Harlow).  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/libeled-lady-1936.html