MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948)

I love both Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, so you would think the pairing of them together would be a sure sign of a hilarious movie. Well it's not. MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE has numerous funny moments, but the thing that turned me off overall to the movie was the fact that Blandings has a job where he apparently does nothing but can still afford to not only support a wife and two kids but also afford a maid and build a gigantic house at a grossly overinflated price! It bothered the shit out of me. I don't know jack about the advertising business (except that the majority of commercials I see make me want to kill the entire human race), but Blandings has a job where he's given the assignment of coming up with a new slogan for a ham company and he's given six fucking months to do it!!!!!!! You're telling me this guy is getting paid enough money to live like a fucking king because he can come up with a slogan every six months!?!! What the fuck? It's all I could think about the entire movie.

OK, OK, let's forget about the whole money grows on tree aspect of the story and just focus on the comedy...ehh, it's alright. Unfortunately, most of the jokes focus on the different ways that Blandings is getting ripped off. Example: the guy he's paying to discover water for his well is paid by the foot, so the joke is the well digger guy has to dig over 200 feet down to discover water while the house construction guys only have to dig down 6 feet to discover a spring that ends up flooding the basement. Hardy-har-har. If that kind of stuff gets you to knee-slapping then MBBHDH is the movie for you. I kinda found it more depressing than funny.

Not a bad movie, but I think you'd better off watching GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE which has a very similar story, but actually funny.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)

The story (and director) is exactly the same as the one from 1939's LOVE AFFAIR. On a cruise ship, a penniless playboy engaged to an heiress falls in love with a penniless singer who herself has a wealthy fiancee. When the liner arrives in NYC they agree to meet in six months if they still love each other. She doesn't make it because she's in an accident and is too embarrassed to tell her beloved that she's now confined to a wheelchair.

Nice story, but I did not like Deborah Kerr. I thought she was an bore from beginning to end. In a perfect world it would have been the original's Irene Dunne reprising her role, but this time opposite Cary Grant. That would have been awesome! Especially if they would have deleted all those scenes of children singing. Oh, my fucking Satan that shit was torture!

Technically, AATR was a better film than the original, but it's still nothing special. Grant does a decent job, but honestly that script wasn't all that great the first time around and now on the second go through it's lost all of it's appeal. I can't recommend it. I know it's a popular romance movie, but I found it boring with zero spark between Grant and Kerr. Skip it.

It says "Terry" on the subtitle but it clearly sounds like he says "Hello, Debbie."

MY FAVORITE WIFE (1940)

Cary Grant lost his wife (Irene Dunne) 7 years ago when she drown at sea during a shipwreck.  So now, Grant has decided to move on with his life.  He has Dunne legally declared dead and then marries Gail Patrick.  Even though she's not right for him.  Then suddenly, Dunne returns!  Ends up she was living on a deserted island for the entire 7 years...along with another shipwreck survivor: sexy Randolph Scott.  Yikes!

All kinds of hijinks ensue. Unfortunately, only about 5% of them are funny. I love everybody in this cast and it's very easy to see that the filmmakers were trying to cash in on the success of 1937's hilarious THE AWFUL TRUTH, but unfortunately the story goes that during pre-production writer/director  Leo McCarey (who helmed THE AWFUL TRUTH) was involved in a near fatal car accident and had to be replaced.  So now, you have a cast making a comedy while their good friend is at death's door.

For what it is, it's okay. There are a few moments that are enjoyable (the first time Grant sees Scott at the swimming pool), but other stuff (the dim-witted, slow-talking judge) are a drag to get through. Worth a watch for fans of classic Hollywood, but it definitely could have been a much better film.  I was also bothered by how the film seems to paint Gail Patrick's character as the bad guy when in reality she's heartbroken that the man she fell in love with (and married) doesn't love her back.  That was a bummer.