Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

I have to admit, I have been preoccupied watching re run after re run of Downton Abby. Once you get up in that show it's hard to get out! I did manage to squeeze in one of my favorite Cary Grant films, "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House". My Hollywood boyfriend stars in this adorable flick with Myrna Loy and Melvin Douglas.

Cary plays Mr. Blandings, or Jim to his wife Muriel, who is played beautifully by Myrna. Jim is in the ad trade and they live with their two opinionated daughters in a tiny apartment in New York City. Oh, they also have a maid and a bird. Talk about cramped!

Love the art deco bathroom sconce!

Muriel gets the idea to redecorate which gets Jim into thinking about moving to the country. Bff Bill, who has a hand in everything and is Muriel's ex college beau, joins along. 

The house is in shambles, a real "fixer upper" but the Blandings see potential and decide without any inspections to splurge and buy the "historical" property. 

Right away Jim tells them they have made a mistake. The house needs new everything and Jim over payed. But the couple is in love with the house and hire inspectors to assess the damage. 

After the inspectors tell them to tear it down, they get to work on a new floor plan. 

They get way over excited and way over budget. Muriel insists on a flower room! Each imagine what their dream house would 

look like. 

Here is Muriel's:

A bit over the top Muriel?  Here is Jim's: 

Here is reality:

As the house progresses and Jim's check book gets thinner, problems arise involving just about everything. Jim needs a new Wham ham slogan or he is dust at work. Muriel gets friendlier with Bill, the daughters get snooty with their homework, and every possible issue comes up with building the new house. 

Finally the house is done. Or...almost done. But will their marriage survive the hassles of it all?  

Irene Dunne was set to play the female lead since Grant and her where always a blockbuster match. But she was busy. I think Myrna ended up the right choice in the end.

There are so many cute scenes in this film. The bathroom door always locking people in, the drilling for water scene, the part where Jim finds the bill for Muriel's secret add-on flower room that was vetoed due to budgets. The 1986 "remake" of this film, "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks is also wonderful, and I rarely say that about a remake. Both films have great characters and make me laugh. But with Cary Grant in one of them, you know which one is my favorite.