Today, it seems that Hollywood is always turning to movies from a few or several decades ago for story material. This inspires much criticism from audience members who have begun to suspect that writers don’t have any original ideas. It’s especially frustrating because these remakes inevitably are far inferior to their predecessors, lacking the substance and artistic quality which made the originals great.
During the Golden Era of Hollywood (1934–1954), films avoided prurience, profanity, and vulgarity as banned by the Motion Picture Production Code, and embraced traditional values instead. This resulted in 20 years of artistic masterpieces that are still cherished for their entertainment value.
Several stories were adapted to film twice during the Code years. In these cases, a successful romantic comedy from the 1930s was remade as a musical about 15 years later in the 1950s. These two films have high artistic and moral standards: “Four Daughters” (1938) and “Young at Heart” (1954).
A Drama and Musical
“Four Daughters,” a romantic drama made by Warner Bros., was based on Fannie Hurst’s 1937 story “Sister Act.” Michael Curtiz directed and Hal B. Wallis produced the film. It’s a tender story about a musical family that includes the four daughters of Adam Lemp (Claude Rains). The movie was especially poignant because three of the four sisters were played by the real-life Lane sisters, Priscilla, Rosemary, and Lola. Gale Page played the fourth sister, since the oldest Lane sister, Leota, was in New York, not Hollywood. Mickey Borden (John Garfield), Felix Deitz (Jeffrey Lynn), Ernest Talbot (Dick Foran), and Ben Crowley (Frank McHugh) are the sisters’ beaux.
“Young at Heart” was a Warner Bros. musical remake of “Four Daughters,” which had been successful enough to inspire two sequels, “Four Wives” (1939) and “Four Mothers” (1941), and a reteaming with virtually the same cast, “Daughters Courageous” (1939). The remake was directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Henry Blanke, with Liam O’Brien’s credit for “adaptation” being the only writing credit besides the two 1938 screenwriters, Lenore J. Coffee and Julius J. Epstein. The four Lemp sisters became the three Tuttle sisters, daughters of Gregory (Robert Keith), and they were played by Doris Day, Dorothy Malone, and Elisabeth Fraser. The four men in their lives are Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra), Alex Burke (Gig Young), Robert Neary (Alan Hale Jr.), and Ernest Nichols (Lonny Chapman).
The sequence of events in these two movies is very similar. Much of the dialogue was reused verbatim. The sisters’ characters and relationships, however, are different. In the original film, all four sisters seem almost equally important at the beginning, before the youngest, Ann (Priscilla Lane), emerges as the main character. The remake cut the fourth sister, Kay (Rosemary Lane), who doesn’t end up with a love interest in the original, instead focusing on the youngest, Laurie (Day), from the beginning.
In both movies, the oldest daughter is a harpist, but the character of the 1938’s second-eldest, pianist Thea (Lola Lane), corresponds with the 1954 film’s eldest, Fran (Malone). Likewise, sensitive Emma (Page), the original’s eldest, became the remake’s middle sister, violinist Amy. While Ann plays the violin, Laurie plays the piano and sings, taking over the musical talents of Kay, the character not included, who was an ambitious singer. Laurie and Kay’s relationship became the strongest sibling bond, whereas all the Lemp sisters were quite close.
Similarities and Differences
The two movies are based on the same story. A group of musical daughters live with their widowed father, a music professor, and spinster aunt (May Robson/Ethel Barrymore). The family enjoys music together and each other’s company. But the peaceful family life is disrupted by the arrival of a charming, charismatic young composer, Felix/Alex, who moves into all the sisters’ hearts as well as the guest room. The older sisters have other beaux, but the handsome stranger takes a liking to the youngest, Ann/Laurie, who is unattached.One day, the stranger’s bitter young pianist friend comes over to help with some musical arrangements. Ann/Laurie is impressed with his talent but frustrated by his negative attitude, which she tries to change. The family welcomes him, and he also falls in love with the youngest daughter. Although she plans to marry Felix/Alex, she decides to elope with the pianist instead when he tells her that he loves her madly, while Emma/Amy adores the composer. However, the older sister ends up engaged to Ernest, the average fellow who has long loved her, leaving everyone wondering whether she would have been better off marrying the successful composer instead of the depressed, failing pianist.
Although the remake is technically a musical while the original isn’t, music plays an important role in both films. The musical focus of the original is more classical, whereas the remake features popular tunes. All the original’s music is in-context, with the Lemp family joyously playing chamber music together. For instance, Kay sings Franz Schubert’s “Serenade” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “On Wings of Song.”
The remake is a jukebox musical with singing by Sinatra and Day. It features standards by Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin for him and some new songs for Day. Day sings a Ray Heindorf arrangement of Mendelssohn’s “On Wings of Song” retitled “Till My Love Comes Back to Me” as a nod to the original. The title song was not written for the movie; this Johnny Richards and Carolyn Leigh ballad was a huge hit for Sinatra in late 1953, placing #2 on the charts, so it was used in the opening and closing credits and lent the film its name.
Young Love
After “Young at Heart” was released, the Motion Picture Herald declared that the title was a misnomer “because the accent is on the trials of youth and not on those of the young at heart.” While I see this reviewer’s point, I think the title is very appropriate when you compare the movie with “Four Daughters.” The stars in the remake were significantly older than their counterparts in the original, and as a result, the characters seem like they’re “young at heart” rather than young in age.Priscilla Lane was 23 and only in her second year of filmmaking, while Doris Day was 32 and had already been a movie star for six years. John Garfield, 25, made his film debut as Mickey Borden, but 39-year-old Frank Sinatra was a big singing star who was making a movie comeback with a new image after four years of personal and professional troubles. Jeffrey Lynn was 29, but Gig Young was 41 and looking a bit worn from alcoholism.
In “Four Daughters,” Ann’s romance with composer Felix is very promising, so viewers get the impression that she marries Mickey as much out of pity as love. No matter how hard she tries to lift him up, it becomes tragically clear that her love can’t save him from himself. He ends up killing himself as a noble gesture of self-sacrifice, and the film ends with the suggestion that she will eventually marry Felix.
In “Young at Heart,” you know from the beginning that Gig Young’s Alex, who flirts more with all the sisters, won’t be Laurie’s leading man. Barney has been beat up by life, but he probably wasn’t as bitter when he was young. Thus, it’s easier to feel hope for him in the end, as he survives his suicide attempt and finds meaning in his life through his wife and newborn son.
Both films are enjoyable for different reasons.
