Barnes & Noble

The American dream of home ownership becomes a nightmare for one couple in this sprightly 1948 satire, which veteran comedy scribes Norman Panama and Melvin Frank adapted from a bestselling novel by Eric Hodgins. It’s another vehicle for Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, who teamed so felicitously in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer a year earlier. This time around they play New Yorkers who, exasperated by city living and tiny apartments, become desperate to own a home in the country. A shrewd real estate broker sells them on a ramshackle farmhouse that they purchase as a "fixer-upper." But the fixer-upper eventually comes down to make room for a new home built to their specifications -- a process that taxes both their finances and their patience. Grant and Loy are perfect in their roles, displaying the effortless comic timing that made them top stars during Hollywood’s "golden age." Perennial second banana Melvyn Douglas provokes a plethora of laughs with his sly rejoinders, while Reginald Denny, Connie Marshall, Louise Beavers, and Ian Wolfe contribute similarly effective supporting turns. Director H. C. Potter maintains a measured pace, slowly but steadily building to a climax of hysterically absurd proportions. Other movies -- most notably The Money Pit -- have mined the same comedic vein, but Potter struck pay dirt first, and Mr. Blandings remains the funniest take on the material ever filmed. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Fed up with crowded big-city living, advertising executive Mr. Blandings (Cary Grant) decides to seek out a big, roomy house in the country. Armed with more enthusiasm than common sense, Blandings causes many a headache for his lawyer/business manager Melvyn Douglas, who tries to keep the costs within a reasonable amount. Alas, Blandings bulls ahead on his own, first purchasing an estate on the verge of collapse, then opting to build his dream house from scratch. An unpleasant legal squabble over the fact that Blandings purchased his new property without checking with the prior owners throws even more good money after bad. The construction of the new Blandings digs is slowed down to a walk by doors and windows that don't fit, plumbing that fails to function, doorknobs that break upon contact with human flesh, temperamental workmen, and various and sundry other homeowners' nightmares (if all this sounds like the much-later Tom Hanks/Shelley Long comedy The Money Pit, it only shows to go how little has changed in forty years--except, of course, for the costs of things). Attempting to keep a level head throughout the proceedings is Mrs. Blandings (Myrna Loy), though even she is guilty of pretensions and excess, especially in the classic "choice of colors" scene. The humor in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House springs so naturally from the central situation that it seems intrusive when the scriptwriters throw in an arbitrary French-farce scene wherein Blandings suspects that his wife and his lawyer are fooling around (a plot point that the original Eric Hodgins novel did just fine without). One of the best bits comes near the end, when Louise Beavers, the Blandings' cook, saves the day for everyone by ad libbing "If you ain't eating Wham, you ain't eating Ham." Why should we spoil your enjoyment by explaining that line? Now you'll have to see the picture. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 053939632026
• Source: TURNER HOME ENT
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:34:00
• Sales Rank: 825

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Cary Grant - The Signature Collection

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