Life with Father (1947)

So I've decided to do another old favorite of mine today.  I don't remember how I discovered this film, TCM probably, but I've loved it for years.  I bought the book at the swap meet the other day and in all probability, it's infinitely better than the movie, so before I go and ruin one of my favorite movies for myself, I'm going to review it.

Life with Father is based on a play by the same name, so the film version is very stage-y.  There isn't a lot of action so this isn't a good pick for someone who demands a lot of sex/explosions/guns from their movies.  If you like sophisticated comedy, read on.  Life with Father is like the shitmydadsays of the 1930's.   It's mostly from the perspective of Clarence Day Jr. and relates stories of growing up with his eccentric stockbroker father in 1890's New York City.

Life with Father stars William Powell in the title role, who is probably the most amazing actor of all time.  Check him out in My Man Godfrey and The Thin Man if you want to see him being super amazing.  Also starring is the lovely Irene Dunne.  The rest of the cast is a bunch of nobodies, except for a very young Elizabeth Taylor. 

So Clarence Day Sr. is a man who likes everything to be just so. He is eternally frustrated that his housekeeping staff, his cook, his wife, his children, his milkman, his creditors, his mailman and New York taxi drivers just fail to get it. 

The Day Family.  just-so

In a nutshell:  Mrs. Day's cousin comes to visit, which annoys Mr. Day.  She brings a young lady with her, Mary Skinner (Elizabeth Taylor) and she begins a flirtation with Clarence Jr., which annoys Mr. Day.  Junior and Mary discover that their love can never be because she is a Methodist and he is an Episcopalian so she begins prodding into Mr. Day's religious history, which annoys Mr. Day.  Mrs. Day discovers that Mr. Day was never baptized and so she begins panicking that her marriage is invalid and that her husband won't be going to heaven, which annoys Mr. Day.  And So On...

Hordes of Gypsies

It's the scenes and the dialogue that are funny, not so much the action itself.

This scene reminds me a lot of Justin Halpern's dad:  Mr. and Mrs. Day are having an argument over a bill from a department store. 

Mrs. -- I try to keep down expenses.  You know yourself Cousin Phoebe spends twice as much as we do.
Mr. -- Don't talk to me about your Cousin Phoebe!
Mrs. -- You talk about your own relatives enough.
Mr. -- That's not fair, Vinnie.  When I talk about my relatives, I criticize them.

And then there is the sub-story of Junior's flirtation with Mary Skinner.  It's horribly awkward, but charming.  And then Mr. Day gives Junior what is probably the best "facts of life" talk in the history of cinema. 

I've never seen the play version, but from what I've heard, it's better than the film because, of course, the censors had their way with it.  The last line is meant to be, "I'm going to be baptized, dammit!" but the "dammit" had to be omitted.  Directors, writers and actors back then had to be a lot more creative and subtle in how they told their risque jokes.  Pay attention when you watch old movies, sometimes an actors choice of words or gesture will seem a bit dirty, chances are, it's completely intentional.  Life with Father is full of them.

You Remind me of a Man.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947):  Shirley Temple in a love triangle with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy.  Sold.

yup.

So Richard Nugent (Grant) is some kind of artist who has a tendency to get into trouble when he goes out drinking.  In the beginning of the film, we see Nugent in court with some nightclub hussies, a bouncer and his lawyer, sorting out a bar room brawl.  Presiding over this case is Judge Margaret Turner (Loy), smooth operator, but a little too uptight.  She could use a little Dick Nugent.

The Honorable Judge Turner

Later that day, RN gives a lecture at the local high school where he meets Susan Turner (Temple), Judge Turner's orphan baby sister.  Though she's got a steady her own age, Jerry White, Susan is enamored with Nugent, doing everything in her power to get him alone.  He does everything in his power to get her to leave him alone, especially after he finds out that she is the Judge's sister.  Eventually she invites herself into his apartment while he's not there, falls asleep while waiting for him, and then the whole thing turns into Lolita.  The Judge dies while hysterically running out into traffic and then Nugent takes the young Susan on a nice long road trip during which he licks her eyeball to dislodge an eyelash.

Just kidding.  Susan's family is pretty pissed about it and ready to charge Richard with endangering a minor and god knows what else.  But then their meddlesome uncle, whose name I can't recall so we'll call him Uncle Psychologist steps in.  He realizes that Richard is innocent and that his going to jail will only make a martyr of him in Susan's eyes.  He suggests they date, gets Judge Turner into the idea and so the hilarity begins.  Nugent is dragged along on some juvenile dates with Susan.  It's fun to watch Cary Grant have an ice cream soda with a bunch of teenagers after a basketball game.  Eventually, he figures out the way to drop Susan is to imitate a teenage boy.  They have this charming exchange:

Hey!  You remind me of a man.

What man?

Man with the power.

What power?

Power of hoodoo.

Hoodoo?

You do.

Do What?

Remind me of a man.

What man?

And so on....

And we thought the never ending song was clever.

The immature schtick backfires.  Susan loves it.  Nugent takes Susan and her family to a community picnic in Jerry's jalopy.  He signs up for a bunch of competitions, sack races and such and loses every single one to Judge Turner's love interest, Tommy Chamberlain (Douchebag.) (played by Rudy Vallee)  Except for the last event, an obstacle course, where Susan bribes Jerry and the HS basketball team to throw the race so that Nugent wins.  That part is weird because Jerry and the team weren't even at the picnic and I can't figure out how she orchestrated that without a cell phone.  I suppose it will remain a mystery.  

At the end of the day, Margaret Turner realizes that Nugent has been made a fool of long enough and decides to go on a date with him to let him off the hook.  He takes her to his favorite nightclub where they drink and dance and totally forget to talk about the Susan problem.  There, they run into one of the hussies from the beginning of the movie who behaves obnoxiously.  And then Susan shows up and catches her sister out on a date with her man.  "A woman scorned is a fury!" she says.  (lulz)  And then Jerry shows up and tells Susan he's been drafted.  And then craziness happens, characteristic of a screwball comedy and then everyone dukes it out and leaves Richard Nugent with the tab. 

More stuff happens, and then Meddlesome Uncle Psychologist gets involved with Margaret's love life, somehow manages to get Richard and both sisters on a plane to Africa.  Oh Humbert Humbert you sly old fox. 

No.  Just kidding again.  The real ending is pretty obvious.

Besides the brilliant casting, this is a fun movie.  It gives a good glimpse into the young lives of the Silent Generation, who apparently had clever sayings like, "Mellow Greetings, Yookie Dookie!" and "I don't dig ya chick!" and "I'm an old pepper shaker."  I have no idea what any of that means, but apparently they are fun things to say if you're trying to freak out old people.