Daughters Courageous (1939)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Dorothy Bennett (play)
Julius J. Epstein (writer)

Release Date:

22 July 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Four Courageous Daughters . . . and a brave mother . . . together they faced life . . . living each other's joys . . . suffering each other's sorrows !

Plot:

Nan Masters, a single mother living with her four marriageable daughters, plans to marry Sam Sloane...

Plot Keywords:

Wedding | Billiard Parlor | Beautiful Woman | Family Relationships | Elopement

Cast

John Garfield	...	Gabriel Lopez
Claude Rains	...	Jim Masters
Jeffrey Lynn	...	John S. 'Johnny' Heming
Fay Bainter	...	Nancy 'Nan' Masters
Donald Crisp	...	Samuel 'Sam' Sloane
May Robson	...	Penny, the Housekeeper
Frank McHugh	...	George
Dick Foran	...	Eddie Moore
Priscilla Lane	...	Buff Masters
Rosemary Lane	...	Tinka Masters
Lola Lane	...	Linda Masters
Gale Page	...	Cora Masters
George Humbert	...	Manuel Lopez
Berton Churchill	...	Judge Henry Hornsby

Also Known As:

A Family Affair
American Family
Family Reunion

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #5223)

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

The play "Fly Away Home" (on which this film was based) opened in New York on 15 January 1935.

Movie Connections:

Version of Always in My Heart (1942)

Soundtrack:

They Say

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

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.