Father Knows Best...Or Does He?
This weekend's review: Life With Father.
A movie entitled Life With Father is probably going to go one of two directions; either it’s a lighthearted comedy or a serious drama with the father in question being abusive. This particular movie went the comedy route, which was my preferred option. Unfortunately, it was a very hit and miss comedy.
The story focuses on the Day family, with patriarch Clarence, or Clare (William Powell) ruling the roost and liking everything just so. Then the family gets a visit from their cousin Cora (Zasu Pitts), who brings pretty young girl Mary Skinner (Elizabeth Taylor) along. This innocuous event sets off two sources of conflict-eldest son Clarence Jr. (Jimmy Lydon) is smitten with Mary but has no idea what to do about it, and a discussion over dinner reveals that Clare, who doesn’t put much faith in religion anyway, has never been baptized. This scandalizes his wife Vinnie (Irene Dunne), who refuses to let the matter drop, to Clare’s consternation. Throw in three other sons and their misadventures, and you have what’s clearly supposed to be a lighthearted family comedy. The problem is, the cast and crew have trouble making it come out that way at times.
To be fair, the movie gets off to a good start where we just hear about Clare’s eccentricities before we actually see him, and even then we see his shadow and hear his voice before we get a proper glimpse of him. Once he is onscreen, though, instead of coming across as an odd but good-natured man, he mostly feels like he’d be exhausting to be around, and Dunne’s line deliveries as Vinnie tries to discuss things with Clare only support that feeling. It makes you wonder why she puts up with him, and while later scenes do show him caring for his wife and children, the first impression lingers and casts a bit of a pall over the character. Which is a shame, because Powell is overall giving a good performance and is mostly amusing to watch. He just had stretches where he came across as overbearing, and not in an entertaining to watch way.
Then there’s the religious aspect of the movie. Back in the 1890’s and in 1947 when the movie was made, religion was a much more important part of life, so I can completely understand Vinnie’s annoyance that Clare doesn’t take religion very seriously. That being said, most viewers nowadays are more likely to be on Clare’s side and may find the scenes featuring religion or discussions of baptism to be a little much. On the other hand, Clare doesn’t exactly acquit himself either, since he refuses to kneel in prayer and overall behaves as disrespectfully as he can get away with when it comes to church matters. Even if you don’t believe in religion, the least you can do is behave respectfully if you find yourself in a church. In short, it’s a plot point that might not work for modern viewers, for a variety of reasons.
There’s some other oddities, too. While Vinnie is obviously supposed to be the more levelheaded one, some of her justifications for purchases paint her as scatterbrained at best, so I wound up feeling as ambivalent about her as I did about Clare. There are two separate setups involving a rubber tree and a homemade burglar alarm that don’t really get a proper payoff, which aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things but can still be disappointing. And there’s a weird moment when Clarence Jr. is given a suit cut down from one of Clare’s old suits, then declares that he feels like he has to act like his father whenever he wears it, which leads to some issues between him and Mary. It’s obviously supposed to be a humorous beat, but it’s presented in such a way that you almost feel like you need to take it seriously. Drop that idea in a movie with supernatural elements and it would fit right in with minimal changes. It was so baffling to me that it wound up being one of the more memorable elements of the movie. Though that obviously doesn’t say great things about either that idea or the movie as a whole.
While the actors are generally pretty fun and charismatic and the sets and costumes are nice, the plot and inconsistent character moments make me reluctant to recommend this one. Unlike most of my other non-recommendations, though, this is very much a “judge it for yourself” movie, where elements I didn’t enjoy may not bother you. So despite my own misgivings, check it out if it sounds interesting to you. As Douglas Adams said, it’s mostly harmless; it just didn’t fully click with me.
A movie entitled Life With Father is probably going to go one of two directions; either it’s a lighthearted comedy or a serious drama with the father in question being abusive. This particular movie went the comedy route, which was my preferred option. Unfortunately, it was a very hit and miss comedy.
The story focuses on the Day family, with patriarch Clarence, or Clare (William Powell) ruling the roost and liking everything just so. Then the family gets a visit from their cousin Cora (Zasu Pitts), who brings pretty young girl Mary Skinner (Elizabeth Taylor) along. This innocuous event sets off two sources of conflict-eldest son Clarence Jr. (Jimmy Lydon) is smitten with Mary but has no idea what to do about it, and a discussion over dinner reveals that Clare, who doesn’t put much faith in religion anyway, has never been baptized. This scandalizes his wife Vinnie (Irene Dunne), who refuses to let the matter drop, to Clare’s consternation. Throw in three other sons and their misadventures, and you have what’s clearly supposed to be a lighthearted family comedy. The problem is, the cast and crew have trouble making it come out that way at times.
To be fair, the movie gets off to a good start where we just hear about Clare’s eccentricities before we actually see him, and even then we see his shadow and hear his voice before we get a proper glimpse of him. Once he is onscreen, though, instead of coming across as an odd but good-natured man, he mostly feels like he’d be exhausting to be around, and Dunne’s line deliveries as Vinnie tries to discuss things with Clare only support that feeling. It makes you wonder why she puts up with him, and while later scenes do show him caring for his wife and children, the first impression lingers and casts a bit of a pall over the character. Which is a shame, because Powell is overall giving a good performance and is mostly amusing to watch. He just had stretches where he came across as overbearing, and not in an entertaining to watch way.
Then there’s the religious aspect of the movie. Back in the 1890’s and in 1947 when the movie was made, religion was a much more important part of life, so I can completely understand Vinnie’s annoyance that Clare doesn’t take religion very seriously. That being said, most viewers nowadays are more likely to be on Clare’s side and may find the scenes featuring religion or discussions of baptism to be a little much. On the other hand, Clare doesn’t exactly acquit himself either, since he refuses to kneel in prayer and overall behaves as disrespectfully as he can get away with when it comes to church matters. Even if you don’t believe in religion, the least you can do is behave respectfully if you find yourself in a church. In short, it’s a plot point that might not work for modern viewers, for a variety of reasons.
There’s some other oddities, too. While Vinnie is obviously supposed to be the more levelheaded one, some of her justifications for purchases paint her as scatterbrained at best, so I wound up feeling as ambivalent about her as I did about Clare. There are two separate setups involving a rubber tree and a homemade burglar alarm that don’t really get a proper payoff, which aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things but can still be disappointing. And there’s a weird moment when Clarence Jr. is given a suit cut down from one of Clare’s old suits, then declares that he feels like he has to act like his father whenever he wears it, which leads to some issues between him and Mary. It’s obviously supposed to be a humorous beat, but it’s presented in such a way that you almost feel like you need to take it seriously. Drop that idea in a movie with supernatural elements and it would fit right in with minimal changes. It was so baffling to me that it wound up being one of the more memorable elements of the movie. Though that obviously doesn’t say great things about either that idea or the movie as a whole.
While the actors are generally pretty fun and charismatic and the sets and costumes are nice, the plot and inconsistent character moments make me reluctant to recommend this one. Unlike most of my other non-recommendations, though, this is very much a “judge it for yourself” movie, where elements I didn’t enjoy may not bother you. So despite my own misgivings, check it out if it sounds interesting to you. As Douglas Adams said, it’s mostly harmless; it just didn’t fully click with me.