Director John Ford often falls down when his story needs humor, and there was one scene that was just too broad, a bar-room fight that Ford ought to know well, even as early as 1938.Generally, though, Ford's work was quite good in "Four Men and a Prayer," but he did have one of his best casts to direct.Loretta Young does much more than just look pretty: She has a somewhat whimsical part and handles it beautifully.Most of her fellow major characters were part of Hollywood's "English Colony," appropriate for the roles.Also present is Berton Churchill, in one of his best roles, getting to be downright sympathetic for a change.There is a wide geographical setting, India, Argentina, Washington, D.C., as well as England, Egypt, and a ship at sea.The script by Richard Sherman, Sonya Levien, and Walter Ferris, based on a novel by David Garth, is often clever, with frequently entertaining dialogue very well delivered.This was on On Demand with the Time Warner Cable company and I saw it on 5 July 2015. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in a good story, which has an important message about arms merchants and military adventurers, and with an interest in superior actors and acting.

A very serious plot is thwarted by comedy of all things. Four brothers try to clear the name of their good father who was dishonorably discharged for giving an order which was later found out to be forged by another person.In the midst of all this, the father who is murdered before he can reveal evidence attesting to his innocence, we have some comedy here. When the comedy fades, we have machine gunning killing of many innocent men, women and children in this very uneven plot. Who exactly are the rebels? What is going on here?Alan Hale is just too "light" to be the heavy in the film. Loretta Young, whose father in the film is the president of the gun business and who falls under suspicion, is flighty at best. She gets involved and her involvement gets the guys to suspect her. In the mean time, she loves one of the brothers played by Richard Greene. As the eldest brother, George Sanders is given little to do here and David Niven, another brother, is as stiff as ever.

Interesting film for the actors playing three of the brothers and the father and Loretta Young in a more whimsical part than usual for her. We've seen this type character portrayed before - a charmed harum scarum type - but not particularly by her. It features Richard Greene, an actor whose star rose quickly but had a short run. Don't try to follow the action, and see it more than once if you intend to attempt to follow the path leading toward the perpetrator. The arms seller father is a rewarding figure as he turns out a good guy who helps to simplify things, much needed in a complicated and twisted trail. Alan Hale is also in an atypical role as the evil genius. I can see why this one would be diverting at the time of release, but not one with a lasting shelf life, except for completists of a particular actor or stalwart fan.

Richard Greene, David Niven, George Sanders and William Henry are the four men part of "Four Men and a Prayer," a 1938 John Ford film also starring Loretta Young. Frankly I felt as if I came in at the middle of this film, though I saw the whole thing - but I never actually did figure out the plot. The boys' father (C. Aubrey Smith) has been dishonorably discharged from the army and telegraphs each son that he wants to meet them at the family manse. The discharge was unfair - he was set up - now, I'm guessing here but it had something to do with illegal arms. His sons want to help him, but moments later, he is murdered in his study and his papers stolen. Taking what info they have, they split up and travel to India, South America and Egypt to find the people their father mentioned who can help clear his name. Loretta Young, who plays Greene's madcap girlfriend, chases him shamelessly in a variety of outfits.I still can't decide if there was too little or too much fooling around by the brothers. For me the comic stuff never does come off, Niven being the exception. The acting, however, is good. Richard Greene might have been Tyrone Power's only rival at 20th Century Fox, except that he returned to England in 1940 to enter the service. This was his first film under contract to Fox. He was very handsome with a nice screen persona; baby boomers may remember him as television's "Robin Hood." Loretta Young is dazzlingly beautiful - I actually didn't find her annoying as she seemed to fit right into the frenetic energy of the film. Sanders and Niven turned in their usual fine performances.There's a nice turn by Lina Basquette, too, as a foreign woman with information. For those who don't know Lina, well, she was a silent screen star and half-sister of dancer Marge Champion. She was married to Sam Warner; after his death, the Warners took her child from her and made sure she never worked again. She eventually went to the dogs - literally - by becoming a breeder and judge at the Westminster Dog Show. In a New Yorker Profile done in the 1990s, she claimed to have been propositioned by Hitler and said she had done work as a spy during World War II. She also declared Eric Braeden of "The Young and the Restless" her favorite actor and ended up meeting him. She appeared at Cinecom when she was in her late 80s, and the audience, used to seeing elderly actresses in wheelchairs, was shocked at the end of "The Younger Generation," one of her early films, when she didn't walk - but ran onto the stage, looking incredible, to answer questions.For me, Lina's appearance as Ahnee is actually the high point of "Four Men and a Prayer," featuring some very attractive people in a half-comedy/half-drama and a confusing plot. Thankfully, Ford didn't stick with this genre.