Adam Had Four Sons [1941]

In early 1905, French governess Emilie Gallatin (Ingrid Bergman) is hired to care of a luxurious family mansion and the four sons of wealthy Adam Stoddard (Warner Baxter) and his wife, Molly Stoddard (Fay Wray). Things couldn't be more perfect, until 1907, when first Molly dies, then the stock market crashes, wiping out the Stoddards' fortune, and Emilie is forced to return to France. The parting is difficult, for the teenage boys--Jack Stoddard (Billy Ray), David Stoddard (Steven Muller), Chris Stoddard (Wallace Chadwell), and Phillip Stoddard (Bobby Walberg)--had grown to depend on Emilie more after the loss of their mother, and Emilie had fallen in love with Adam. Seven years later, just before the beginning of World War I, the family's fortunes have improved, and Adam insists that Emilie return and stay on as part of the family--preserving her from the foreseeable fates of war. The four boys, all adults by now--Jack (Richard Denning), David ('Johnny Downs (I)'), Chris Stoddard (Robert Shaw), and Phillip Stoddard ('Charles Lind')--all serve in the military. Meanwhile, second son David brings home his carefree, gold-digging wife Hester (Susan Hayward), who moves into the family home while David is away at war. She degrades Emilies, cons Adam into believing that she is a sweet young thing, and attempts to seduce her brother-in-law Jack, who will have nothing to do with her. One night, the father sees a silhouette of the supposed lovers, but before he can identify them, Emilie enters the room from another door and pretends that she was the one with Jack. This cover-up strains Emilie's relationships with the boys and Adam and makes her an easy target for that guttersnipe Hester. The internecine war between the governess and Hester culminates in an out-and-out brawl. Adam unwittingly sides with Hester, who showers crocodile tears on his shoulder (a telling close-up reveals her wicked smile over his shoulder) while he comforts her. Hester's malicious personality is revealed to Adam's visiting cousin Phillippa (Helen Westley), and Hester is exposed as an uncontrollable vixen.