Vita col padre

Life With Father is one of my favorite movies. How could you possibly go wrong with two legends of the Silver Screen, William Powell and Irene Dunn, and the wonderful ZaSu Pitts! I love everything about this movie...the time period of the early 1900's New York, the sets and costumes, the interweaving story lines, the acting, the charm and sweetness...I wish this movie could have had a sequel...William Powell and Irene Dunn are absolutely brilliant in this movie. Thank you Clarence Day, Jr. for sharing this wonderful story...

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.

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LIFE WITH FATHER is set in 1885 (the historical reference that sets this date is the rant by Mr.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 saw this film - once again on the indispensable American Movie Classics Channel - for the first time recently and it has quickly become one of my favorites. It perfectly captures the flavor of Clarence Day's books and draws us completely into the era and into this particular New York brownstone. This was my first viewing of William Powell in what was surely his quintessential role; his work is superb, as is the marvelous chemistry between him and Irene Dunne as his "dear Vinnie". The source of the movie was Clarence Day Jr's three books - "Life With Father", "Life with Mother", and "God and My Father" - which recollect his growing up in late 19th century New York in the well-to-do household of his irascible, catankerous, but ultimately loving father Clarence Sr. As the books are mere strung-together pastiches, it must have been a challenge to assemble them into a coherent whole with a story line. Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse succeeded, in the play on which the film is based, and screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart transferred it to celluloid very nicely. A wonderful character study, and a beautiful snapshot of life in late 19th century New York. Viewers who enjoy it are well-advised to find the books on which they are based (the library is your best bet; the books have gone out of print since their best-seller days long ago). At the conclusion, one hates to have the movie end; you want to spend just another day or two in the Day household.

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.