Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

gkeith_1 Wife portrayed as totally dumb. She had no job. She had control over no money. She almost said her husband was the smartest, and that she was stupid. Archie and Edith.Husband didn't want her to spend one dollar to hear a speech from a modern woman who would be discussing women's situation in the eighteen eighties.Good acting. I am giving it eight out of ten because of the portrayal of attitudes of the time. This is a wealthy family, of white WASPS who are Episcopalian mostly church goers. A friend is Methodist, in whose church there are slight Protestant Christian differences from the Episcopalians.Elizabeth Taylor gets third billing. She is ridiculed by other reviewers here, but I think she did very well. Her character is forward for a female of the time, and her romantic interest is naïve and selfish. He is trying to emulate the personality of his curmudgeon of a father; the father of this film.Irene Dunne was a great singer; witness her voice in Show Boat or was it dubbed? She hums a few bars here, at least in the version I saw.Powell was not just Nick Charles. He was also Florenz Ziegfeld. He was also Godfrey in My Man Godfrey, in which he is a bum who becomes a butler; he is the Forgotten Man of the Great Depression.Here, he is the cantankerous curmudgeon, the name of which I have mentioned several times. He does not respect women, and he talks down to them. He teaches his sons that women are ignorant, backward crybabies who would never carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.White WASPS are the main characters. They are the elite. Irish women, or even recent immigrants, are portrayed as airheads who cannot carry trays as maids, who have nothing is their ditzy little heads.ZaSu Pitts does a turn here, of a cousin. She is not her usual comedic self. She is more droll and lifeless than I have seen her in other performances.Martin Milner as a young lad is interesting. He later appeared in the Adam Twelve TV series, as a police officer.Do not call this film dated. It was made after World War Two, when the world was crying for sweet nostalgia, a world of Gilded Age niceties and cooks and housemaids. The audience was tired of movies about killing and fighting.The long running play on which this film is based ran from pre World War Two to afterward, actually starting in the later years of the Great Depression. The play and film must have both been uplifting to audiences during dark and gloomy times.Eight out of ten.

Syl William Powell plays Clarence Day, a successful New York City banker, with a huge home on Park Avenue in Manhattan in the 1880s. His wife, Binnie, is played by the wonderful Irene Dunne. Dame Elizabeth Taylor has a supporting role as the girl, Mary Skinner, from the country who comes visiting the city with Binnie's Cousin Cora. The film has dated issues. Anyway, Clarence and Binnie have four sons each with a different and unique personality. Too bad, we didn't get to see more of the youngest. Anyway, Clarence is an overpowering figure in the household enough to scare the latest maid away. They have a revolving list of maids but housekeeper Margaret is there in charge. Most of the scenes take place in the Day home. A revelation is made that stuns Binnie and the family about their patriarch. Anyway, Elizabeth Taylor's early performance is noted here. While she's there, it's really William Powell and Irene Dunne, early Hollywood heavyweights, that bring this play to life in film.

wes-connors In 1883 New York, bombastic Madison Avenue patriarch William Powell (as Clarence "Clare" Day) scares off a succession of servants chosen by his sweet-natured wife, Irene Dunne (as Vinnie). Mr. Powell directs Ms. Dunne to run the house like a business, but his bark is worse than his bite. The couple is raising four red-haired sons - violinist Jimmy Lydon (as Clarence Jr.) is getting ready for Yale, girl-conscious Martin Milner (as John) dabbles with electricity, baseball fan Johnny Calkins (as Whitney) is practicing for his confirmation, and youngest Derek Scott (as Harlan) is confused about his dog's gender.Dunne gets the home ready for a visit from favorite cousin Zasu Pitts (as Cora Cartwright) and her beautiful teenage ward, Elizabeth Taylor (as Mary Skinner). Ms. Taylor becomes a romantic interest for Mr. Lydon, who wasn't sure he liked girls before her arrival. But, the cute young couple may be compromised by religion - Lydon is Episcopalian while Taylor is Methodist.Additionally, Powell, who dislikes house-guests, reveals a family secret - he was never baptized. Dunne wants the situation remedied, fearing God may deny her husband entry to Heaven. But, Powell believes God would make an exception in his case.The above cast, including Edmund Gwenn (as Reverend Lloyd), play their Christian manners and customs beautifully, under expert direction from Michael Curtiz. Powell was "Oscar" nominated for "Best Actor" of the year and won the "New York Film Critics" award (with his then current "The Senator Was Indiscreet" mentioned as a secondary concern). In the "Film Daily" poll, Mr. Curtiz' direction was the year's sixth best. Producer Robert Buckner, Dunne, Lyndon, debuting Milner, musician Max Steiner, and the set decoration are also award-worthy. Writer Donald Ogden Stewart adapted the long-running stage play well."Life with Father" was once more highly regarded, and may yet come back into favor. Its datedness, often stated as a deterrent, is entirely appropriate. And, it does seem to go on just a little too long, but it's still a classic period piece.Unfortunately, (Powell as) Day's famous line, "I'm going to be baptized, damn it!" was bastardized to simply "I'm going to be baptized." With modern technology being what it is, the stinging "…damn it!" should be digitally reinstated.********* Life with Father (8/14/47) Michael Curtiz ~ William Powell, Irene Dunne, Jimmy Lydon, Elizabeth Taylor

writers_reign On a superficial level - and come to think of it there isn't really a deeper one - this is Meet Me In St Louis without the songs and the story tilted towards the parents rather than the children. On the other hand Sally Benson's reminiscences of her life in turn of the century St Louis ran in the New Yorker sans words and music much as Clarence Day's hard-cover reminiscences of his own parents so the comparison holds. The forties were particularly rich in this kind of nostalgia and also included I Remember Mama. All require a certain amount of good will if one is to view them today but those who are able to surrender to the charm on display will be rewarded with a good old-fashioned wallow in a world without angst where a feisty heroine was a shot in the arm that wasn't addictive. Irene Dunne plays against Powell as well as Myrna Loy and trivia buffs will welcome the chance to catch Martin Milner in his debut. A decent print and we'd be off to the races.