Cheaper by the Dozen **** (1950, Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy, Jeanne Crain) – Classic Movie Review 1895

Ideally, indeed perfectly cast Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy are just lovely as Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Mrs Lillian Gilbreth in director Walter Lang’s effective and entertaining vintage 1950 real-life heart-warming comedy about harassed turn-of-the-last-century parents out of their depth with 12 children they are desperately trying to control. This expertly handled comedy film Cheaper by the Dozen is rich, warm and pretty adorable all round. The story follows them as they move from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey.

Producer Lamar Trotti’s charming and amusing screenplay is based on the real-life story of the dozen Gilbreth children, taken from a book of memoirs by Frank Gilbreth Jr and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Leon Shamroy’s Technicolor cinematography and Lionel Newman’s score are smart assets. The movie keeps the family’s actual surname, instead of changing it to Baker as they did in the 2003 remake, to get the joke on Bakers’ dozen.

Also in the cast are Jeanne Crain, Edgar Buchanan, Barbara Bates, Betty Lynn, Mildred Natwick, Sara Allgood, Anthony Sydes, Roddy McCaskill, Norman Ollestad, Teddy Driver, Betty Barker, Evelyn Varden, Frank Orth, Syd Saylor, Mary Field, Ken Christy, Benny Bartlett, Walter Baldwin, Virginia Brissac and Craig Hill.

Cheaper by the Dozen was remade in 2003 with Steve Martin, as Cheaper by the Dozen, with a sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2 in 2005. Sequel: Belles on their Toes.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1895

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