Mon père et nous

I have always liked this movie.

Clarence Day was the son of Clarence Day Sr. and Vinnie Day. His childhood (with three brothers) was a privileged one, as his father was a successful broker in New York City during the Gilded Age. Day became a humorist and autobiographer, writing three books that remain very entertaining: GOD AND MY FATHER, LIFE WITH FATHER, and LIFE WITH MOTHER. Day died in the 1930s, but a play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse was produced from the books entitled LIFE WITH FATHER. It played for nearly a dozen years or so, and for many years had the record of Broadway performances before the coming of the super musical hits from OKLAHOMA onward.

LIFE WITH FATHER is set in 1885 (the historical reference that sets this date is the rant by Mr. Day at the newspaper, where he refers to the then Mayor of New York, "Honest Hugh Grant" and Tammany Boss Richard Croker). The story line is actually quite straightforward - the senior Day (William Powell) faces the daily problems of his household, thinking he is running things but constantly being out-witted by his dearly loved wife Vinnie (Irene Dunne) who insists on having an ugly ceramic pug dog for awhile. Accidentally Mr. Day reveals that his free-thinking parents have never had him baptized, and this horrifies his wife and their local minister (Edmund Gwenn). Being a man in his late forties now, Powell thinks it is absolutely foolish to make him get baptized now. In the meantime his oldest son Clarence (Jimmy Lyden) has met with the first love interest of his life (his mother's cousin, young Elizabeth Taylor). Clarence's brother John, who is interested in science (he has wired up the parlor to cause a bell to go off, that confuses Mr. Day no end), has gotten involved selling a patent medicine. This will have ill-effects on Mrs. Day and Mr. Day, culminating in an oath that Mr. Day will end up regretting. Finally there are some marvelous examples of home economics from Mrs. Day that baffle and confuse Mr. Day no end - watch how she takes back the pug dog (which was charged) and gets a "free suit" for Clarence ("THEY DON"T GIVE AWAY FREE SUITS!", Mr. Day insists.]

I doubt, unfortunately, that a book, play, or movie like LIFE WITH FATHER would last today. And I think we are the poorer for that. It is of a long dead world, with a fierce devotion to order and stratified social life in our homes and in our cities and nation. But it was not without it's charms. Catch the sweetest moment in this wonderful movie, when Mr. Day and Vinnie are singing "Sweet Marie" together in their parlor, on a summer afternoon.

I have been a tremendous fan of this movie for many years. I discovered the movie version after I had seen a local stage production and it was an excellent transfer of the play to the screen. Until recently I had only seen it on TV first in black and white years ago and then in color on TCM. I like it so well I bought two of the DVD versions (I won't mention which) and as other reviewers have said they were horrible with washed out color, grainy images and sound that was not synchronized and barely understandable. I guess this is all you can reasonably expect for a movie that has some how slipped into the public domain and for which there is not much demand. However, while searching on Amazon I discovered a review for a new digitally remastered DVD that supposedly fixed all those problems. I ordered a copy and the review was correct. There is now an excellent DVD available from DigiComTV BarCode # 885444062681.

As an adult, Clarence Day Jr. (1874-1935) joined his well-known father on Wall Street--but developed a form of arthritis that left him a semi-invalid. Shortly before his death he published LIFE WITH FATHER, a humorous memoir of his Victorian childhood; sadly, he did not live to see its great success. A best seller, the novel was adapted to the stage in 1939 by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Warner Bro.s bought the film rights, agreeing to wait until the show finished its Broadway run; as it happened the studio had a long wait, for the play went on to become one of Broadway's longest running shows, playing almost eight years.

In acquiring the rights, Warner Bro.s also gave Clarence Day's widow and playwrights Lindsay and Crouse substantial power over the film version. Censorship issues of the day prevented an absolute translation of the script to the screen, but on the whole the script survived the transformation extremely well, and fueled by a host of flawless performances and remarkably fine production values LIFE WITH FATHER became as memorable on screen as it was on stage.

Clarence Day is an eccentric man, absolutely certain that he alone is correct in all decisions, and eternally running afoul of wife Vinnie's scatterbrained logic, his four sons, visiting relatives, and terrified servants. When a conversation reveals that he has never been baptized, Mr. Day laughs the matter off--but Vinnie is determined that he will be baptized whether he likes it or not. Comic battle-lines are drawn, and the result is a hilariously amusing portrait of Victorian manners and attitudes about everything from religion to the place of women in the world.

The performances are superlative. This would prove to be among the last great roles for both William Powell and Irene Dunne, who play Clarence and Vinnie Day, and to describe their work as flawless is actually an understatement: we completely believe in them from start to finish. The same is true of the cast in general, which includes a remarkably beautiful Elizabeth Taylor; legendary comic ZaSu Pitt; and even a very young Martin Milner. The costuming and sets also capture the look and feel of the era in remarkable fashion. The film is perfectly executed from start to finish.

But you might as well throw your money away than buy any of the releases presently available on VHS and DVD. There is not a one of them worth a dime: the color is atrocious, the sound is horrific, and the picture so blurry that the only thing you'll get for your money is a headache--and this has been true of every factory release I've seen to date.

It is a terrible shame that such a fine, indeed such a great film has been so incredibly neglected. Fortunately for all concerned, LIFE WITH FATHER continues to turn up on television fairly often. Until there is a restored release, don't buy a VHS or a DVD: tape it from television instead, for I can almost guarantee that the version you find there will be superior.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Life With Father, the story of an eccentric, excitable 1880s gentleman and his continually exasperating family is the perfect showcase for the under-appreciated talents of William Powell. Powell, best know for his work with Myrna Loy in the "Thin Man" series of films. Powell uses every second of this plum role to display his charming style and verbal acuity.

The story is simple: Powell and his wife, played by Irene Dunne, face a series of calamities, some serious and some ridiculous, mostly brought on by their four rambunctious, red-headed sons. After a visiting cousin brings along fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, events are put into motion which threaten to turn Powell's neatly-ordered world upside down.

The performances are uniformly fine, and Powell and Dunne are absolutely sterling. A supporting cast that includes Zasu Pitts, Edmund Gwenn and early appearances from Martin Milner and Elizabeth Taylor round out the picture quite well. If there is anything to detract from the complete enjoyment of the film, it is Taylor's performance, which can get grating, but hey, she's just a kid, and when you look at her, you can already see the amazing beauty still to come. The exceptional visual style of the film makes you long for the day when people rode in horse-carts to Delmonico's for dinner.

Watch for some classic dialogue between Powell and Dunne over the cost of a new coffee pot, between Powell and his son about "the facts of life where women are concerned," and the nonsensical wordplay over the return of a Porcelain Pug-Dog.

Once again Michael Curtiz demonstrated his bewildering versatility by moving from black & white noirs to this nostalgic Technicolor whimsy whose success doubtless led a couple of years later to the superior 'Cheaper by the Dozen', in which the wife was appropriately played by Myrna Loy, for whom Irene Dunne here provides a most satisfactory substitute as Mrs William Powell.

Even more than Mr Gilbreth in the latter film the title character is really just a pompous boor whose supposed charm largely resides in the fact that he's played by Bill Powell; and it's a shame we don't see more of Heather Wilde as the short-lasting maid Annie who carries the first twenty minutes before quitting in tears, never to return.