Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House Reviews

     Dapper advertising man Jim Blandings (Cary Grant) and his wife (Myra Loy), live in a nice building apartment in Manhattan. Life can’t get any better but the place is getting too crowded with their two daughters growing up fast. So, they decided to build a dream house outside the city and this is where all the fun begins.

     The movie is a nostalgic look at the typical classic American family: with Father, the hardworking provider and Mother, the practical voice of the family. Their clash of ideas sets the tone to this delightful, fast-talking comedy of manners set inside the household.

     Cary Grant’s many comedic talents adjusts naturally to the father figure, the kind you could talk back to without getting in trouble. Loy, is of course, already Hollywood’s best on-screen mother. Their pairing (their first and only one as a married couple) do wonders to each others' personalities. But it’s the presence of the third wheel that makes it more interesting and its in the person of the family friend cum lawyer played by Melvyn Douglas. The suave leading man takes a back seat, but not that very far. As Cole, the family counsel, he pops out almost immediately whenever the couple couldn’t come up to an agreement, affording them the break to a stalemate. He’s like a genie who had escaped from his bottle. Uncle to the children and legally debonair.

     Director H.C. Potter’s other movies to his credit are mostly dramas and musicals, thus making a comedy with such actors used to working with the screwball greats like Leo McCarey and “Thin Man” helmer W.S. Van Dyke, benefited from the funny script by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama.

     Grant will go on to make other movies with him as the lovable father, notably “Houseboat” in 1958 with Sophia Loren, “Mr. Blandings” however, remains something special as it is his last movie with Loy, and they only made three movies together.