This should be the name of the most recent film I have watched and did not like, but instead it was named, "Life With Father." Based on the longest running non-musical Broadway play ever, this picture stars William Powell, Irene Dunne, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Irene is the wife, she has 4 boys, and William Powell is the dad with a stick up his ass. He yells at himself, at others, at the maid. He is tight with a capitol T with money, he hates visitors, and thinks religion is stupid, but he is going to heaven.
He makes his kid eat oatmeal and bosses everyone around. Irene invites her cousin and lady friend for a visit and tries to hide it from her husband. Surprisingly, she still likes him. William finds out and is obliging, but only after yelling at Irene. The lady friend is Elizabeth Taylor and she has the hots for older son Clarence Jr.
Liz and young Clarence start to canoodle and play instruments together. Liz asks father at din din if he was baptized Methodist or Episcopalian since after 4 hours she is already making wedding plans in her head. News breaks that father has never been baptized at all and that he doesn't want to! Irene is pissed.
The rest of the film is about father refusing to get baptized while Irene insists he will go to hell and how she isn't even sure if they are legally married in the church. After manipulation and a lot of whining from his family, father must decide how he is going to put a stop to this nonsense or if he should just give in.
One funny scene is when Clarence Jr and Liz are flirting and she sits on his lap. Clarence freaks out when he notices his "man parts" shifting, and scared Liz away. Ha!
This film was...dare I say it...boring. I know, I just called an oldie boring, but it was! Does anyone even like this film? I want opinions people!
6 comments:
I love this film, lol! It's been a long-standing family favorite. Maybe because the characters...erm...character...is real-to-life in my family, but we all think it's hilarious! The book is better, though. Read it and you'll understand all the seemingly inconsequential little bits they put into the film.
The only bad thing I can think of is that this was my first time seeing William Powell in a film, and because of that I had rather an aversion to him until I actually watched some of his other films. It's too bad you didn't like this one, but different opinions make life interesting. ;)
"She was sitting on father's *trousers*!" lol
I wrote a whole comment and then it disappeared! AAAARRGH! I actually like this one too. I've always been a fan of movies like this that are an over-simplified, romanticized, slice of fake life. Sometimes I just don't want to think too hard (okay, all the time). Also, I could watch Powell and Dunne read the phonebook and be still be interested.
I'll have to see this again. I saw it a long, long time ago (when AMC still showed the kind of stuff they show on TCM now) and remember liking it, but I'm dyed-in-the-wool William Powell fan, so it might have been that. Exactly the opposite of your first commentor, ha! It takes all kinds.
Well I guess I am out numbered on this one! I am also a fan of William, and Irene, and Liz, but this one just didn't do it for me. But like Lisa says, it takes all kinds!
Egad! I love this movie! I wished it would go on and on I so fell in love with the Days. It's a satirical comedy that playfully pokes fun of Mr. Day and his pet peeves and I think both Powell and Dunne pull it off marvelously.
I love this movie! William Powell and Irene Dunne are so great in it! and you know she really the one who runs that house!
Post a Comment