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| Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House |
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  (6/10)
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Runtime: 94 m |
| Public Rating: 9.62 (8 votes) |
Director: H. C. Potter |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy |
Year: 1948 |
| Writer(s): Norman Panama |
| Reviewed by: Goatdog |
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In the years after World War II, Americans moved into the country by the millions, creating the largest suburban exodus in this century. They wanted to escape the cramped, dirty cities. They also were drawn by the American Dream of a little house of one's own, preferably out in the country, preferably built exactly to one's specifications, and preferably containing all the niceties of city life, without the urban crowding. This film, released right in the middle of this exodus, happily lampoons this national craze, showing how difficult and often funny people's efforts to live "the quiet life" actually were. The film served as the inspiration for the 1986 Tom Hanks/Shelly Long comedy "The Money Pit," but there are fewer similarities than one would anticipate.
Mr. Blandings is an advertising executive played by Cary Grant in one of his finest comedic performances. The first ten minutes of the film show him trying to negotiate his family's two bedroom, one bath apartment in Manhattan. He has to fight for time in the shower, has difficulty finding his socks in the limited storage space of his only closet, and daily cuts his chin as he attempts to shave with his wife (Myrna Loy) negotiating for space in front of the mirror. He is fed up, and his fed-upness leads to squabbles with his wife, played by Myrna Loy as the perfect straight man to Grant's antics.
One day, she shows up with plans for remodeling the apartment, plans which will cost $7000. He explodes, shouting that they could afford a new house for that amount of money. Against the advice of their friend and lawyer Bill (Melvyn Douglas), they travel to Connecticut where the real estate agent sells them the proverbial white elephant: an ancient house without a right angle in the place and a sagging foundation. They call in several architects about remodeling the place, but everyone tells them to tear it down and start over. Inexplicably, they agree to this plan when presented by Sims, an eager architect who advises them to build a new house on the site of the old one. The pitfalls that await the new house-builders provide a solid hour of laughs, including Bill's penchant for getting stuck in a closet, Blandings' ill-advised attempt to give the construction workers instructions, and his growing suspicion that his wife and Bill have a thing going.
Those of you who know Grant from his suave, sophisticated roles in various Hitchcock films are missing out on a major area of his talent. I would argue that he was more natural doing comedies like this film or Bringing Up Baby than in the matinee idol roles. He has perfect comic timing and an amazing ability to contort his body in hilarious bits of physical comedy. Apparently, he started out as a sort of acrobat in vaudeville shows, and his training must have stuck with him.
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