''Life with Father'' is a 1947

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

American comedy film adapted from the 1939 play of the same name, which was inspired by the autobiography of

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stock ...

and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' essayist Clarence Day."Kahn." (1947)
"Life With Father/(Color)"
review, ''Variety'' (New York, N.Y), August 20, 1947, page 16.

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

, San Francisco, California; retrieved February 25, 2018. It tells the true story of Day and his family in the 1880s. His father, Clarence Sr., wants to be master of his house, but finds his wife, Vinnie, and his children ignoring him until they start making demands for him to change his life. The story draws largely on Clarence Sr.'s stubborn, sometimes ill-tempered nature and Vinnie's insistence that Clarence Sr. be baptized. It stars

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...

and

Irene Dunne Irene Dunne (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, though she performed in films of other gen ...

as Clarence Sr. and his wife, supported by

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won th ...

ZaSu Pitts Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...

Jimmy Lydon James Joseph Lydon (May 30, 1923 – March 9, 2022) was an American actor and television producer whose career in the entertainment industry began as a teenager during the 1930s. Early life Lydon was born in Harrington Park, New Jersey on May 3 ...

and

Martin Milner Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor and radio host. He is best known for his performances on two television series: '' Route 66'', which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964, and ''Adam-12'', which a ...

Plot

Stockbroker Clarence Day is the benevolent curmudgeon of his 1880s New York City household, striving to make it function as efficiently as his Wall Street office but usually failing. His wife Vinnie is the real head of the household. In keeping with Day's actual family, all the children (all boys) are redheads. The anecdotal story encompasses such details as Clarence's attempts to find a new maid, a romance between his oldest son Clarence Jr. and pretty out-of-towner Mary Skinner, a plan by Clarence Jr. and his younger brother John to make easy money selling patent medicines, Clarence's general contempt for the era's political corruption and the trappings of organized religion, and Vinnie's push to get him baptized so he can go to heaven.

Cast

Production

The movie was adapted by Donald Ogden Stewart from the 1939 play by

Howard Lindsay Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, (March 29, 1889 – February 11, 1968) was an American playwright, librettist, director, actor and theatrical producer. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse ...

and

Russel Crouse Russel Crouse (20 February 1893 – 3 April 1966) was an American playwright and librettist, best known for his work in the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse. Life and career Born in Findlay, Ohio, Crouse was the son of Sarah (n� ...

, based on the 1935 autobiography by

Clarence Day, Jr. Clarence Shepard Day Jr. (November 18, 1874 – December 28, 1935) was an American author and cartoonist, best known for his 1935 work ''Life with Father''. Early life and family background Day was born in New York City to Clarence Shepard D ...

Day had worked as a stockbroker and was an author and cartoonist for ''The New Yorker''. It was directed by

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...

. Due to the

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

standards of the day, the play's last line (in response to a policeman asking Mr. Day where he is going) "I'm going to be baptized, dammit!" had to be rewritten for the film, with the final word omitted. Mr. Day's frequent outbursts of "Oh, God!" were changed to "Oh, gad!" for the same reason.

Reception

Leading film critics in 1947 gave ''Life with Father'' high marks, especially with regard to the quality of Warner Bros.' screen adaptation of the popular Broadway play and the quality of the cast's performances. ''The New York Times'' in its review directed special attention to William Powell's portrayal of Clarence Day: ''

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' summarized ''Life with Father'' as "one of the finer examples of film making in Technicolor" that provides "a delightfully different insight into the human comedy of another day.""Reviews Of New Films: 'Life With Father'"
''Film Daily'' (New York, N.Y.), August 15, 1947, page 6; retrieved February 25, 2018. ''Variety'' complimented Irene Dunne's restrained performance as Vinnie as well as the work of the film's supporting players and the production's cinematography and overall direction:

Box office

According to Warner Bros., the film earned them $5,057,000 in the U.S. and $1,398,000 in other markets, for a total of $6,455,000 against a production budget of $4,710,000.Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 28 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551Glancy, H. Mark (1992). "MGM Film Grosses, 1924-1948: The Eddie Mannix Ledger," ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television'', 12, no. 2, 1992, pages 127-143.

Awards

''Life with Father'' was nominated for

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for

Best Actor in a Leading Role Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

(William Powell), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color ( Robert M. Haas,

George James Hopkins George James Hopkins (March 23, 1896 – February 11, 1985) was an American set designer, playwright and production designer. Hopkins was a native of Pasadena, California; his mother Una Nixson Hopkins was a magazine writer and an art director ...

), Best Cinematography, Color and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Copyright status

Through a clerical error, ''Life with Father'' was not renewed for copyright and fell into the public domain in 1975. Warner Bros. (or

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

, the former owner of pre-1950 Warner Bros. films) still owns the theatrical distribution and music rights to the film, but other companies have been able to release non-theatrical, public-domain versions.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Life With Father (Film) 1947 films 1940s historical comedy films American historical comedy films 1940s English-language films Films scored by Max Steiner Films about families Films directed by Michael Curtiz Films set in the 1880s Films set in New York City Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Donald Ogden Stewart 1947 comedy films 1940s American films