# 4 Devils

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{{Short description|1928 film by F. W. Murnau}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = 4 Devils
| image          = 4 Devils (1928) poster.jpg
| caption        = Poster
| director       = [F. W. Murnau](/source/F._W._Murnau)
| producer       = [William Fox](/source/William_Fox_(producer))
| writer         = [Carl Mayer](/source/Carl_Mayer)
| screenplay     = 
| story          = 
| based_on       = {{based on|"Les Quatre Diables"|[Herman Bang](/source/Herman_Bang)}}
| starring       = [Janet Gaynor](/source/Janet_Gaynor)<br>[Charles Morton](/source/Charles_Morton_(actor))<br>[Mary Duncan](/source/Mary_Duncan)<br>[Barry Norton](/source/Barry_Norton)
| narrator       = 
| music          = [Ernö Rapée](/source/Ern%C3%B6_Rap%C3%A9e)<br>[Lew Pollack](/source/Lew_Pollack)
| cinematography = L. William O'Connell<br>[Ernest Palmer](/source/Ernest_Palmer_(American_cinematographer))
| editing        = 
| studio         = [William Fox Studio](/source/Fox_Film_Corporation)
| distributor    = [Fox Film Corporation](/source/Fox_Film_Corporation)
| released       = {{Film date|1928|10|3|Synchronzied Version|1929|06|15|Part-Talkie Version}}
| runtime        = 100 minutes (Part-Talkie Version)<br>97 minutes (Synchronized Version)
| country        = United States
| language       = [Sound film](/source/Sound_film) (Synchronized) <br>English [Intertitle](/source/Intertitle)s
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}
[[File:4 Devils ad in The Film Daily, Jan-Jun 1929 (page 1452 crop).jpg|thumb|347x347px|4 Devils ad in ''[The Film Daily](/source/The_Film_Daily)'', 1929]]
'''''4 Devils''''' (also known as '''''Four Devils''''') is a [lost](/source/Lost_film) 1928 American synchronized [sound](/source/sound_film) [drama film](/source/drama_film) directed by German director [F. W. Murnau](/source/F._W._Murnau) and starring [Janet Gaynor](/source/Janet_Gaynor).<ref>{{Cite web |date= |others= |title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Four Devils |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5445/default.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321051405/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5445/default.html |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2025-08-12 |website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20141225003106/http://www.thegreatstars.com/lost_film_wanted.htm ''Four Devils'' at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted]}}(Wayback Machine)</ref> While the 1928 version of the film had no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the [sound-on-film](/source/sound-on-film) [movietone](/source/Movietone_sound_system) process. The synchronized version had only a limited release. The film was withdrawn to add talking sequences and the final [part-talkie](/source/Part-Talkie) version was released to theatres in June 1929. Both versions appear to be lost.

==Plot==
In the grim world of small-time circus life, two young boys, Charles and Adolf, are brought to the cruel, drunken circus owner Cecchi by an elderly woman who can no longer care for them. Their father, she says, had been an acrobat, and she hopes Cecchi will train them. Under Cecchi’s harsh regime they are joined by two little girls, Marion and Louise, who are cared for by a kindly, aging clown. Seeing the children’s potential, the old clown eventually rescues all four from Cecchi’s brutality, taking them under his wing.

Over the years, the quartet become expert trapeze artists. Billed as The Four Devils, they perform death-defying acts with flawless skill and a bond born of shared hardship. By the time they reach Paris and join the prestigious Cirque Olympia, Charles and Marion are engaged, and Adolf and Louise are also sweethearts. Their foster father has retired from the ring, living comfortably on the earnings of his beloved protégés.

But into this harmony comes The Lady, a wealthy, cosmopolitan seductress with a taste for dangerous liaisons. Fascinated by the handsome Charles, she uses her charm, her eyes, and her wealth to lure him away from Marion. Charles, flattered and intoxicated, begins visiting her apartment regularly, neglecting both his fiancée and his place in the troupe.

Marion, devoted and trusting, begins to notice his absence. Her heartbreak deepens when she confirms his visits to The Lady. She tries to follow him but cannot win him back. The emotional strain begins to affect her concentration in their high-risk work. Meanwhile, The Lady, though coldly amused by her rival, treats the affair as a passing diversion.

As the season draws to a close, the Cirque Olympia plans a spectacular finale: the Leap of Death, performed without a safety net. On the climactic night, Charles tells Marion he still loves her and intends to return to her. But during the performance, Marion sees The Lady seated in the audience. Her strength falters; her despair overwhelms her. She misses her grip and plunges toward the sawdust. The act is halted as Charles and the others rush to her side.

Marion survives the fall, and Charles, shaken by the near-tragedy, renounces The Lady. After Marion recovers, she and Charles leave the circus world behind, planning a new life together.

==Cast==
* [Janet Gaynor](/source/Janet_Gaynor) as Marion
** [Anne Shirley](/source/Anne_Shirley_(actress)) as Marion as a girl (billed as Dawn O'Day)
* [Mary Duncan](/source/Mary_Duncan) as The Lady
* [Anders Randolf](/source/Anders_Randolf) as Cecchi
* [Barry Norton](/source/Barry_Norton) as Adolf
** [Philippe De Lacy](/source/Philippe_De_Lacy) as Adolf as a child
* [Charles Morton](/source/Charles_Morton_(actor)) as Charles
** Jack Parker as Charles as a child
* [André Cheron](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Cheron_(actor)) as Old Roue
* [George Davis](/source/George_Davis_(actor)) as Mean Clown
* [Nancy Drexel](/source/Nancy_Drexel) as Louise
** [Anita Louise](/source/Anita_Louise) as Louise as a child
* Wesley Lake as Old Clown
* [J. Farrell MacDonald](/source/J._Farrell_MacDonald) as The Clown
* [Claire McDowell](/source/Claire_McDowell) as Woman

==Music==
The film featured two theme songs titled  "Marion" and "Destiny" which were both composed by Erno Rapee and Lew Pollack.

==Production==
''4 Devils'' was released by [Fox Film Corporation](/source/Fox_Film_Corporation) and was produced by [William Fox](/source/William_Fox_(producer)), who had hired Murnau to come to the United States. It was initially released without dialogue with a synchronised music score and sound effects in October 1928,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FourDevils1928.html|title=4 Devils|date=May 21, 2012|website=SilentEra.com}}</ref> and grossed $100,000 in New York City, but because of the talkie picture craze, Fox pulled it from distribution and ordered sound to be added.<ref>Eyman, Scott. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930. Simon and Schuster, New York: 1997.</ref> A 25% talking version, incorporating "synchronised sound effects, music and dialogue sequences", was made without Murnau's cooperation.<ref name=DK>{{cite web |url=https://www.lost-films.eu/films/show/id/41 |title=Lost Films: 4 Devils |publisher=[Deutsche Kinemathek](/source/Deutsche_Kinemathek) |access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref>

==Preservation status==
No copies of either version of the film are known to exist, and ''4 Devils'' remains among the most sought after [lost film](/source/lost_film)s of the early sound era. Details of the movie can be found on the [DVD](/source/DVD) for ''[Sunrise](/source/Sunrise%3A_A_Song_of_Two_Humans)'',<ref name=DK/> released by Fox as part of their 20th Century Fox Studio Classics collection.
thumb|Janet Gaynor and Charles Morton
Film historian and collector [William K. Everson](/source/William_K._Everson) stated that the only surviving print was lost by actress [Mary Duncan](/source/Mary_Duncan), who had borrowed it from Fox Studios.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FourDevils1928.html |title=4 Devils |publisher=silentera.com}}</ref> Martin Koerber, curator of [Deutsche Kinemathek](/source/Deutsche_Kinemathek), is more hopeful, writing that the print was given to Duncan, and that her heirs, if any, may yet have it.<ref name=DK/>

In 2003 the documentary short ''Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film'' by film historian Janet Bergstrom was released, showing a reconstruction using stills, drawings, sketches and script drafts.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bergstrom |first=Janet |title=Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film |type=Documentary, Short |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466467/ |access-date=2024-02-25 |others=Janet Gaynor |publisher=Fox Film Corporation}}</ref>

==Other adaptations==
The source novella by [Herman Bang](/source/Herman_Bang) was first adapted into film in 1911<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/film/en/13304.aspx?id=13304 |title=DE FIRE DJÆVLE |publisher=Danish Film institute}}</ref> by [Robert Dinesen](/source/Robert_Dinesen) and [Alfred Lind](/source/Alfred_Lind), and finally in 1985 by [Anders Refn](/source/Anders_Refn). The screenplay for the 1928 film was novelized by [Guy Fowler](/source/Guy_Fowler) and published that year by [Grosset & Dunlap](/source/Grosset_%26_Dunlap) as a hardcover [photoplay (movie tie-in) edition](/source/Photoplay_edition).

==See also==
* [List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)](/source/List_of_early_sound_feature_films_(1926%E2%80%931929))

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{IMDb title|0018907}}
* [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/film/3892/4-devils ''4 Devils''] at Virtual History

{{F. W. Murnau}}

Category:1928 films
Category:1928 drama films
Category:Fox Film films
Category:American silent feature films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Circus films
Category:1928 English-language films
Category:Films about orphans
Category:Films based on works by Herman Bang
Category:Films based on Danish novels
Category:Films directed by F. W. Murnau
Category:Films produced by William Fox
Category:Transitional sound drama films
Category:Films with screenplays by Carl Mayer
Category:Films with screenplays by Berthold Viertel
Category:Remakes of American films
Category:1928 lost films
Category:Early sound films
Category:1928 American films
Category:English-language drama films
Category:Synchronized sound films
Category:American remakes of Danish films
Category:Part-talkie films
Category:Lost American silent drama films

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [4 Devils](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Devils) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Devils?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.