Cubussoli
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Fluentiama
Perfect cast and a good story
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
cmayerle-41064
Really, it is. It's quick, clever and cute with great acting and directing. This is what movies were before over-reliance on CGI, over-the-top action ridiculous plot necessitated by one sequel/remake/comic book movie after another.Is this the greatest movie ever? No, not even close. It is very loveable, though.
HotToastyRag
The story of daddy's little girl leaving the nest never gets old. If you like that classic theme, go out and rent Hobson's Choice. Charles Laughton plays the overbearing father of three daughters, all of whom are extremely anxious to marry and leave. Daphne Anderson is paired with Richard Wattis, Prunella Scales with Derek Blomfield, and Brenda De Banzie wins the prize with John Mills. But Papa Laughton isn't about to let them go without a fight, and in true British fashion-propriety at all costs and dry humor thrown in for the fun of it-the family battles it out.While it's very obvious the film was based off a play, it isn't overly wordy or boring like some plays are. Parts of it are pretty funny, if you like British humor, and it's always fun to see Charles Laughton transform for a role. Check out this family comedy and see if you like it!
evanston_dad
A delight of a film, and a reminder that David Lean excelled as much at small, intimate stories as he did sweeping epics.Charles Laughton plays a drunken widower who tries, without success, to dominate his three daughters. He's written off the oldest as a candidate for marriage, and takes for granted that she will assume the place of her mother in caring for him. But she has different plans, practically takes Laughton's wunderkind but timid employee (John Mills) hostage, tells him they're going to get married and sets up a shoe making business with him. Mills resists a little bit at first, but warms up to her and her plan and by the end has become the man she saw in him all along.Laughton, I regret to say, grows pretty tiresome before the movie is over. His stumbling drunken antics and rages aren't as funny as he and Lean think they are, and I sort of sighed inwardly whenever the story reverted to him. But the film more than makes up for what Laughton's story and character are lacking in the story of his daughter (played wonderfully by Barbara de Banzie) and Mills. The way their relationship evolves is a marvel of writing, directing and acting, and it's tremendously sweet. De Banzie somehow makes us love her battle axe of a character, and the character itself is a wonderful creation -- a woman who's strong in ways that matter and deeply kind, able to care for everyone in her life and draw out the best in them while the whole time making it look like she just wants to have her own way.A real treat.Grade: A
mark.waltz
The premise of this intelligent comedy of manners, or in Laughton's case, the lack of them, is the decision of his often sloshed character, to be the one to choose a husband for each of his four daughters. That's if they don't outwit him first. A series of witty vignettes shows how each of them do just that with Laughton getting into trouble along the way.Laughton creates most of the laughs, whether falling drunk into an open storage cellar, seeing the reflection of one of the prospective sons-in- laws in the mirror or discovering his liquor cabinet emptied much to his horror. The sight of the portly Laughton dealing with a chain attached to his crotch then flat on his back with his feet tangled is a sight to behold. An excellent supporting cast surrounds him, including John Mills as a milquetoast assistant and Helen Haye as an imperious customer. Director David Lean, most famous for huge epics, proves that he is just as adept at intimate stories as well.
