Grand méchant loup appelle

"Father Goose" is not my pick for the best Cary Grant flick (I think that's "Operation Petticoat", if you exclude his collaborations with Hitchcock), but it's a pleasant--if a little overlong--movie that works very well as light entertainment. The dialogue is superb, containing some really witty remarks and delightful exchanges. And it is fun to see Grant playing a sullen boozer--quite an exceptional role for him.

It appears that many reviewers on IMDb want to consider Father Goose as a minor feature, lacking the sophistication of better comedies. I think it is worthy of a listing toward the top flight of comedic endeavor. What makes a "good comedy" after all? Can you comment on a more important event than WW 2 and attitudes towards it? Can you have a more able actor and supporting cast? Was the initial attack on the South Seas and attempts to defend more important than later efforts? Is the true story of humanity with all weaknessness, better expressed in any other WW2 movie? I think Father Goose is a first class movie in Script and performance. Why say it is less because it doesn't appear to address PC issues? I love this movie.

This film is lots of fun and goes down smooth. Grant is classic as the grizzled boozer who plays look-out for the Allies and a gaggle of young lassies. It is one of the more well-executed romantic comedies (that's how I would classify it, anyway) and the tension of the final scenes is excellent considering the difficulty of weaving in such weighty material to an otherwise farcical film. Nobody does those twisted-lip facial expressions of exasperation better than Grant.

I will always remember a certain Sunday in lil ole Luverne, Alabama, having a great time with my family watching trusty TBS (the way it used to be). It's not the greatest movie ever, but it is a fine choice for a lazy afternoon or light evening fun. I give it a 7/10 and it might deserve higher marks. Break out the Orville Reddenbocker, and follow with an "Operation Petticoat" chaser.

No this is not one of the greatest comedies of all time, but it is one of Grant's best comedic performances. He is at the very top of his game. Every movement, every gesture is well nigh perfect. It looks effortless on his part but it is all well thought out. Grant doesn't so much steal his scenes as make all the other actors seem funnier. The usually pleasant Leslie Caron rises to nearly Audrey Hepburn status in his presence.

Film historian David Thomson called Cary Grant the finest actor in Hollywood history and Time critic Richard Schickel once called him "a technician of genius". Watch Grant closely in this film and see why.

There just isn't much that can be better on a dreary day than to sit down and enjoy Cary Grant. Add to that Leslie Caron, and you have a formula for a comedy that will entertain the most curmudgeonly person.

This war comedy won one Oscar and was nominated for two more. It was, without a doubt, the best comedy of the year. Grant and Caron had a magic together that could have fueled many more movies. I am so glad that he hung around to do this, his penultimate film in a career that spanned 30 years.

With a supporting cast of seven or eight female schoolgirls, the laughs were continual. A great film for the time, and one that is worth watching over and over.