Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House ***** (1948, Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas) – Classic Film Review 1227

Ideally cast, screwball comedy legends Cary Grant and Myrna Loy prove a dream team here in 1948, giving among their most delicious ever screen performances as Jim and Muriel Blandings.

They’re a couple of New York-dwelling townies living in a tiny apartment who decide to move to the country. But they are ducks out of water when they head out with an ill-conceived plan to rebuild the ramshackle new house they’ve just bought there. Naturally, whatever could go awry soon does.

Melvyn Douglas’s smooth portrayal as Bill Cole, the family attorney and pal who tells the story, is a big asset, while H C Potter’s direction seems quite effortless and polished. And of course the success starts with Norman Panama and Melvin Frank’s warm-hearted  and often hilarious screenplay (adapted from Eric Hodgins’s now long-forgotten novel).

But it’s ultimately the Grant and Loy combo that makes it a truly memorable, five-star classic. Perfect! Though the film recorded a loss during its initial theatrical release of $225,000, now the film is 72nd on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Laughs list.

The Money Pit (1986) and Are We Done Yet? (2007) both had a go at remaking the story, with variable results.

Blandings Way is still there for real  in New Milford, Connecticut. The house built for the film still stands on the old Fox Ranch property in Malibu Creek State Park in the hills a few miles north of Malibu. It is now used as an office for the Park.

Warner Home Video released the film to DVD with restored and remastered audio and video in 2004.

The story began as an April 1946 article written by Eric Hodgins for Fortune magazine. It was reprinted in Reader’s Digest and in condensed form in Life magazine before finally being published as a novel.

To promote the film, the studio built 73 dream houses in the United States, selling some of them by raffle. Over 60 of the houses were equipped by General Electric.

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1227

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/