Review of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Introduction

One of the most consistent leading men in Hollywood history, Cary Grant carved out a niche playing charming, romantic gentlemen. Born in Bristol, yet spending most of his career in the US, his accent was extremely distinctive and parodied in `Some Like it Hot` by Tony Curtis (Jack Lemon picked him up on it, saying `Where did you get that phony accent? Nobody "talks loike thet"!`). Many of his films, including this, have been released or re-released as part of `Cary Grant: The Movie Collection`.

Jim Blandings (Cary Grant) works in New York in advertising and lives in an apartment with his wife Muriel (Myrna Loy) and two daughters. Growing increasingly tired of sharing the bathroom with three other people and his shaving mirror with his wife, he decides to buy and renovate a dilapidated house in Connecticut so it has enough bathrooms and closets for the whole family. However, things do not go exactly as planned and Jim and Muriel find themselves throwing good money after bad as the house appears to have been an extremely expensive mistake and a distraction from Jim`s work. Bill Cole (Melvyn Douglas), the Blandings` friend and advisor, is the voice of reason that is all too frequently ignored and his close relationship with Muriel causes Jim, under mounting stress, to suspect an affair.

`Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House` was remade in 1986 with Tom Hanks and Shelly Long as `The Money Pit` and again in 2007 with the soon to be released `Are We Done Yet?` starring (I kid you not!) Ice Cube and Nia Long.

Video

A clear fullscreen monochrome transfer with decent contrast and little in the way of dirt or grain.

Audio

A fairly clear mono soundtrack, perfectly suitable for a dialogue dominated film like this. Good, clear English subtitles are available.

Features

None.

Conclusion

The premise is a great one: the city executive who moves to the country to realise a dream but finding that he`s well out of his depth and pocket. The character of the enthusiastic amateur seems tailor-made for Cary Grant and he doesn`t disappoint, with a characteristically assured performance. His relationship with Myrna Loy is eminently believable and they share fine on-screen chemistry.

As anyone who has seen an episode of `Location, Location, Location` will testify, couples do buy houses and pour their life savings into them, in the hope of making a fortune or creating their dream home, so the travails of Mr. Blandings are perfectly believable.

A fan of Cary Grant`s work, I had never previously heard of this film and enjoyed it immensely. It`s not one of Grant`s best pictures, but one that I recommend, despite the shocking omission of any extra features.