Cheaper by the Dozen is directed by Walter Lang and is based on the book of the same name written by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. It stars Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy, Jeanne Crain, Betty Lynn and Edgar Buchanan. Story follows the Gilbreth family and how they grow up living in their new home in Montclair, New Jersey. Headed by father Frank (Webb), he and his wife Lillian (Loy), have a brood of twelve, six of either sex. Being a time and motion expert, Frank likes the family home to be run in an efficient and time saving manner, but the times are a changing and the big question is if Frank can change with the times; particularly as his eldest daughter, Ann (Crain) is about to blossom into a woman.
Very much a frustrating watch, Cheaper by the Dozen was a film that I could quite easily have walked out on at the half way point. Yet come the intriguing finale I was ultimately glad I saw it thru to the end. The first half of the film is very episodic, in fact it's a series of episodes strung together seemingly to show how anal Frank is. There's no character development for the other members of the family, with Loy serving only as someone who holds the baby and lets Frank rule the house with military like precision. Which might be somebody's idea of fun, but I found it all rather flat. But then once Mildred Natwick arrives for a quite delightful sequence about birth control, the film breaks free of its annoying shackles as Lamar Trotti's screenplay provides scope for narrative development.
You sense, too, that Webb is relieved to not be the sole centre of attention, for his performance improves and the comedy starts to flow more naturally. He's helped enormously by the plot strand (and I use that in a very loose way) that sees Crain (bright as a button) get centre stage as the eldest daughter starting to eye the men and show signs of rebellion. Some good scenes follow, with a chaperon centre piece very engaging and humorous, but then a turn of events comes out of the blue and gives off a confused message. The film appears to say that by Frank cutting loose and enjoying life a bit more, costs him his life! It would have been better if he had stayed as the one track thinking hypocrite he was, while banging the drum for male superiority in the home. As I said earlier, it's intriguing, but not all that clear what all involved in the story want to say.
A mixed bag, then, but entertaining regardless of its staid first half and its ambiguous outcome. 7/10
Very much a frustrating watch, Cheaper by the Dozen was a film that I could quite easily have walked out on at the half way point. Yet come the intriguing finale I was ultimately glad I saw it thru to the end. The first half of the film is very episodic, in fact it's a series of episodes strung together seemingly to show how anal Frank is. There's no character development for the other members of the family, with Loy serving only as someone who holds the baby and lets Frank rule the house with military like precision. Which might be somebody's idea of fun, but I found it all rather flat. But then once Mildred Natwick arrives for a quite delightful sequence about birth control, the film breaks free of its annoying shackles as Lamar Trotti's screenplay provides scope for narrative development.
You sense, too, that Webb is relieved to not be the sole centre of attention, for his performance improves and the comedy starts to flow more naturally. He's helped enormously by the plot strand (and I use that in a very loose way) that sees Crain (bright as a button) get centre stage as the eldest daughter starting to eye the men and show signs of rebellion. Some good scenes follow, with a chaperon centre piece very engaging and humorous, but then a turn of events comes out of the blue and gives off a confused message. The film appears to say that by Frank cutting loose and enjoying life a bit more, costs him his life! It would have been better if he had stayed as the one track thinking hypocrite he was, while banging the drum for male superiority in the home. As I said earlier, it's intriguing, but not all that clear what all involved in the story want to say.
A mixed bag, then, but entertaining regardless of its staid first half and its ambiguous outcome. 7/10