The Four Poster (1952) User Reviews

A good bedroom story that covers 35 years

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 29 March 2022]

"The Four Poster" is a comedy drama and love story that's based on a successful 1951 Broadway Play of the same title, written by Jan de Hartog. This is a rare film in that it has just two cast members, one set, and incorporates some comical animation in the story. It's the animation that accounts for other people in the lives of John and Abby Edwards. The stage play won Tony Awards as best play and best director. The film received one nomination for an Academy Award and one for a Golden Globe - both being for best cinematography.

Indeed, for a movie with just one set, although with some slight modifications between scenes, the filming of this story was superb and never had one feeling as though he might be watching a stage play. The story covers a 35-year period, from 1890 to 1925, and shows the Edwards from their honeymoon night until John dies after completing the ending to his last novel, while thinking of his departed wife and the various nights depicted in earlier scenes.

The couple go through stages of life, with ups and downs and arguments in the film. But their love endures to the end. It has some good humor, but nothing on the level of much laughter. And there are some sad moments. Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer give good performances in a good film, but there's nothing exceptional for these two superb actors.

Modern audiences, especially the younger folk, may find this quite slow and even boring. But those who have a little life under their belts should enjoy it. Here's the funniest line in the film. John Edwards, "I think I have a fever. Feel my pulse."

Married Life with Abby and John!

[malvernp · 6/10 · 11 June 2023]

The Four Poster (TFP) is a little known and hard to find film produced by Stanley Kramer early in his career, which was made before he became a more successful movie producer-director. It is based on a play by Jan de Hartog, that was released in the same year that Kramer gave us his celebrated Western masterpiece High Noon. TFP actually exists in three versions: the play as originally presented in London; the film which is based on the London production; and the substantially revised play which later appeared on Broadway while this film was being made.

TFP is a two character story that in eight linked episodes traces the marriage of Abby and John from their wedding night to old age and death. Each episode takes place just in a bedroom, and follows the couple as they adjust to the many problems of married life, having and raising two children, trying to achieve personal and financial success, dealing with infidelity and reconciliation, passing through the many joys and tragedies that are encountered on the road to maturity and decline, and learning to accept the meaning of love and death when in the twilight of life. The London and film versions presented all of this as a rather serious story, while the Broadway version (that starred the married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) was changed to emphasize a more comical tone in the proceedings------and thus avoided the sentimental and mystical references that characterized the other two versions. In addition, the film starred a different real life married couple (Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer). They appeared to be a more glamorous pair than the seemingly commonplace duo of Cronyn and Tandy-----whose projected ordinary lives many thought were quite similar to those of the folks who came to see the Broadway version. However, it must also be mentioned that Tandy originated the role of Blanche Du Boise on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire------and that could hardly be considered as something commonplace.

TFP is one of those plays that probably could never have been made into a financially successful motion picture. The action (such as there is) was quite limited, the physical setting was almost claustrophobic and the marital scenes were so typical and repetitious that they had difficulty sustaining the relatively short film to its inevitable conclusion. What might have worked on the stage with its obviously artificial surroundings became somewhat anachronistic in the more realistic cinematic medium.

What ultimately saved TFP (the film) was its clever use of animation as bridges between the eight episodes. These cartoon segments were able to incorporate changes in time and place that could not be presented in the film because of its structure.

In the end, TFP as a work of art is probably best enjoyed in a theatrical setting with all of its artifices intact. There the ups and downs of married life with Abby and John would likely be most appreciated by an interested audience.

The writing

[marcslope · 7/10 · 15 January 2019]

Who was Jan de Hartog? Whoever he was, he wrote a splendid, perceptive, entertaining play, "The Four Poster," which was a Broadway hit with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (how I'd have loved to have seen them in it), and, during that run from 1951 to 1953, was filmed and released by Stanley Kramer. Two-character plays were rare then, and two-character movies rarer still, but this one survives quite beautifully, preserving de Hartog's clear-eyed, comprehensive views on marriage, ego, womanhood, and creativity. The husband, played a bit stiffly to my eye by Rex Harrison, is a self-centered writer who nonetheless shows great sensitivity to his wife when it's required, and the wife, played beautifully by Lilli Palmer, is a searching individual whose identity is tied up almost exclusively in her marriage. The real-life marriage of this couple was, as other posters have noted, fraught, and the tension plays well into their characterizations. It's cleverly augmented by John Hubley's animated transitional sequences, which are rather brilliantly scored by Dmitri Tiomkin. Musical theater fans will know that the piece was successfully turned into "I Do! I Do!", and they'll be intrigued by the changes librettist Tom Jones made (the characters' names, the somewhat happier ending). I'd tried to track this one down for years and am glad to have finally seen it. It's unique. And it works.

Precious Memories.

[jhgreenwood · 20 April 2002]

I saw "The Four Poster" when I was in the military service during the Korean war, in 1952 or 1953. It is the most memorable movie I have ever seen. No nudity! No violence! No gore! No high speed chases. But after nearly 50 years, it still stands out in my memory. From the very beginning, where the newly married couple start their married life together, thru the death of their son in the war, to the death of the wife, leaving the husband all alone. Ending with his death, and than their beginning eternity together. It is a story that nearly every married couple can relate to as they travel the road of life together. I too have attempted to obtain a copy of the movie, but it must be out of existence now. WHAT A SHAME!!!

My presence shocked my parents' friends because I was only 11.

[ttor · 10/10 · 15 October 2001]

The year was 1952. My parents had a date with another couple to see The Four Poster. I don't remember why they decided to take me. When the other couple got into my parents' car they were shocked to see me there. This movie contains adult dialogue - it is no movie for an 11 year old, they complained. My mother's response impressed me: "Either my daughter will understand or she won't. Either way is fine." The result, of course, was that I strained to listen to every word that was uttered by either Rex Harrison or Lilli Palmer, hoping against hope to hear the naughty implications. But darn it, it all sounded innocent to me. Whatever it was that the other couple thought I shouldn't hear, I hadn't!! But despite my youth, I found the movie interesting and well-acted and have never forgotten the images of Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer discussing their marriage while standing next to their four poster bed.

I'm sorry, the only film I hated

[claudio-81 · 1/10 · 2 September 2007]

This was the only film that made me leave the movie theater during the session, by being definitively bored. It was by 1957, I was 11 and lived in a small town where I used to see all kind of films, 4 or 5 films a week, enjoying from USA musicals and westerns, Mexican and dramas to Italian neo realism and french sex ones. I remember that, no matter Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer were respected actors, the film was to much static and absolutely theatrical, with endless dialogues. 50 years late, I read these much favorable and sensitive comments about it and become very very curious to see it again, as an aged man and yet a great fan of the movie art.

Borderline fantasy, bittersweet study of different phases of a married couples life.

[twocents · 9/10 · 19 August 1999]

Where is this movie today? I have not seen it offered in almost 20 years. All I have is a memory of a marvelous study of a married couples life, all revolving around a four poster bed. This film is a bittersweet fantasy with an ending that would satisfy most closet romanticists. Please, bring this movie back. If anyone knows where to find this movie please let me know. .

The animation makes it brilliant.

[msa-3 · 16 July 2000]

This filmed version of the theatrical, 2-person play was brought to life by the animation. The stunt behind the play was that a married couple entered a bedroom with a four poster bed. Through a number of scenes, they live out their entire married life. The film cleverly used animation by John Hubley to open up the play and go out into the world. The animation was profound and moving (perhaps even more so than the live action), its design was new and brilliant, and its execution was superior to almost anything on the animation circuit at the time. (So superior was it, that some animators in Zagreb, Yugoslavia confiscated a print circulating there and studied it for weeks, running the animation sequences over and over. The end result was the creation of the Zagreb animation studio.) The film is out of circulation. You can't get it on video and you don't see it in retrospective screenings. Perhaps someone will get a print on the market. If they do, animation lovers should see it for historical context. They should also see it to learn what animators did with animation 50 years ago and are not doing now.

A glamorous acting duo find their forte in stage-to-screen tour de force

[francisclough · 9/10 · 14 June 2008]

The Four Poster(1952)is a warm,witty,and wise play chronicling a marriage, from "I do" to "til death do us part", from the candlelit late-Victorian years through the late nineteen-thirties. The Stanley Kramer-produced movie version of the Jan de Hartog stage success utilizes the gifted, Academy-award winning cinematographer Hal Mohr (A Midsummer Night's Dream, WarnerBros. 1935) to create a frequently non-static fluidity to the mies-en-scene (the overall "look") of the necessarily stage-bound piece (the closeups are luminous). The scintillating score by the virtuoso Dimitri Tiomkin perfectly captures the changes of the characters' moods and attitudes as each of them grow and evolve - both as individuals and as a couple - through each succeeding decade of their life together. The music also helps work against staginess, literally sweeping up and propelling forward the film's pace, briskly and jubilantly. In fact, Tiomkin's screen credit "Music Composed and Directed by Dimitri Tiomkin" is entirely appropriate, for he is as much to be credited with producing a movie that moves as are producer Kramer and director Irving Reis (best-remembered film The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer starring Cary Grant). An additional innovation was the use of the famed U.P.A. cartoon studio's (Gerald McBoing-Boing their signature character) animation sequences between acts to delineate the couple's lives outside the confines of their bedroom as time moves on. The results are delightful and often poignant. Lastly, and best of all, are the shining brilliance of the performances of (at the time) real-life married couple Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. They had been brought to Hollywood together after their British film success The Rake's Progress (U.S.A. title The Notorious Gentleman), with Mr. Harrison signed by Twentieth Century-Fox and Miss Palmer by Warner Bros. After each had enjoyed a rising success at their respective studios - Harrison especially in movies such as Anna and the King of Siam and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - everything came to a screeching halt in 1948 after the suicide note written by actress Carole Landis implicating Harrison in an affair. Miss Palmer's decision to stand by her husband had them both deemed persona non grata and returned to England for work in the theatre and one oddly-autobiographical movie about marital infidelity, The Long Dark Hall in 1951. Stanley Kramer's desire to cast them in The Four Poster brought them back to Hollywood the following year, at last for a vehicle tailor-made and perfectly suited to each actor's respective gifts. Harrison is at his peak here: dashing and debonair, temperamental, sometimes foolish and childish, others compassionate and knowing. Palmer had never before and would never again be given a role in a Hollywood film that so completely utilized her versatility and enormous strengths. As the wife she is girlish and sophisticated, vibrant and ebullient, supportive yet never docile, fiery and earthy and warm and ever-hopeful for life's blessings. Miss Palmer's radiant beauty is seen to best advantage here in a performance that is quite simply sublime, and for which she was awarded the Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival for the year 1953 (Academy Award consideration should also have been hers but shamefully was not). One can sense in these two superb performances a lot of catharsis: the trials of their exile and the tensions of their personal relationship being diverted and channeled into those of their characters' situations. The Four Poster was acclaimed critically but sadly was a box-office failure, perhaps its sophisticated, innovative presentation a little ahead of its time. Yet happily for viewers today the movie is at the very least a filmed record of two glowing performances by two great stars, whose middling success overall as an acting couple would be eclipsed by later individual stage and screen successes. And this film can be seen as a reminder of what dynamic star charisma and sheer acting presence used to be.

Poignant, Moving, So very human

[wrouzer · 10/10 · 11 May 2002]

I saw this movie as a very young man. I saw it only once. And I've never forgotten it. It represents, to me, a template of life that speaks of all the joy and all the sorrow of life and of all the reasons that it is worth living.

If this movie were to be made available, it is one that I would gladly add to my private library and feel priviledged to be able to share it again.

Movies can affect your life!

[sylhp65 · 10/10 · 4 September 2000]

This movie has been impossible to find and I would so much like to see it again. It left an indelible impression about marriage and love. And it took some time to realize that this movie after all is a Movie! Now I would like to view it as an adult. One can be influenced by this media if experienced at the right time of life.

They don't make them like this anymore!

[ron-weston · 10/10 · 20 June 2006]

I was only 22, and saw this picture exactly once, about 40 years ago. It was a most memorable experience. As you can see from the credits, it only had two people in it and was about marriage. It was timeless and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering the married state. The lessons and principles have never (and please God) will never change. Marriage is about loving and caring for your spouse, through thick and thin. Sure, you may have arguments and disagreements, but in the end, love conquers all. Several years ago, they came out with a new Broadway play called "I Do, I Do." As soon as I saw it, I said, "Why, that reminds me of the Four Poster." I was very happy to read on the Cast recording jacket that the play was based on the movie, The Four Poster. So as they say, "Try it. You'll like it." You will not regret having watched it; it is a classic.

A New Look at an Old Favorite

[psadek-496-994449 · 10/10 · 18 November 2018]

It has been quite a few decades since I had last seen "The Four Poster." In that time, I grew up, got married, and saw the musical adaptation, "I Do! I Do!"--which has its own beauty. But there is something special about this movie, which was originally released a few days before I was born.

I found a copy of "The Four Poster"! The print from which it was struck was in less-than-pristine condition, but it was certainly watchable. My life has changed considerably since I last saw this little gem: After nearly 39 years of marriage, my wife passed away, and I have been a widower for almost two years now.

Young people are unlikely to "get it." For myself, I recognized bits and pieces of my own marriage--and even some individual conversations. "The Four Poster" is a lovely study of a husband and wife, from their wedding night up to the very end--which, the ending title card points out, is actually a beginning.

If one is a person of faith, "The Four Poster" will be easier to understand. But what will make it more comprehensible is having lived a few decades of marriage to a person whom one deeply loves.

I liked it when I saw it many years ago. Now, I feel as if I've "lived" much of it.

If you didn't like it, wait a few years, and give it another chance!

A old classic but very memorable film for me

[meezer3 · 9/10 · 29 June 2015]

I first saw this film years ago, when rather young. Those were the days of black and white productions and severe censorship. But movies back then, to me, had substance and didn't rely on special effects, violence or sex to sell them. This movie made a very lasting impression on me. I have never forgotten it and have even searched for years for a copy of the film to see again.

It was the life journey of a married couple, and it only took place in one room...their bedroom. Each scene was separated by years, and each was a poignant moment in their lives together. Young love, loss, betrayal, and finally loneness and death. It was in many ways sad but the ending was up lifting.

Rex Harrison was wonderful in this old film.

Just wish I could find a copy of it to keep. At this stage of my own married life (50 years) I understand it so much better, but as a young girl it taught me many things about the trials of keeping lasting relationships together.