Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

Directed by H. C. Potter. Starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas, Reginald Denny, Connie Marshall, Sharyn Moffett, Ian Wolfe, Harry Shannon, Jason Robards, Lex Barker, Nestor Paiva.

Bland is too often the extent of this Blandings yarn, with Grant and Loy both skating through their comfort zones. They’re the respective patriarch and matriarch of a New York City apartment-dwelling clan that chases the fantasy of Connecticut country life. A casual ambler that squeaks out a few chuckles, miffs nearly all opportunities for big laughs, and fails to capitalize on short-lived momentum builds because of its scattered, episodic approach (and too many of those episodes are non-starters anyway, like the stifled jealousies surrounding “family friend” Douglas). Isolated samples of wit and the mounting buyer-beware complications keep it all afloat, but despite Grant’s sublime comic chops, his hapless blundering wears thin after a while, and none of his co-stars can provide a nimble scene partner to forcefully push back. Comes and goes without too much strain—though the Blandings daughters are on the irksome side of mannered precociousness—but there’s not enough here to firmly recommend. Loosely inspired the 1986 Tom Hanks-Shelley Long picture, The Money Pit.

50/100