Elopement (1951) User Reviews

Clifton Webb comedy

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 26 February 2013]

An odd choice of leading man, Clifton Webb nevertheless was a major star at 20th Century Fox, starting out in character roles in films such as Laura and The Razor's Edge and then elevated to leads in a number of films. Though he often was cast in the role of a stuffy, snobbish, sarcastic man, Webb was an excellent actor and played other types of roles, such as in Titanic, beautifully.

In 1951's Elopement, he's in a typical role: an industrial designer whose daughter (Anne Francis) is perfect, according to him, and can do no wrong. She's brilliant in academics and sports and is en route to Sweden to study with an expert in industrial design for three years. On the night she graduates from college, however, Jake, as her parents (Webb and Margalo Gilmore) call her, elopes with Matt Reagan (William Lundigan), to the dismay of her parents. -- and his (Charles Bickford and Evelyn Vardan).

Both families take off for Dearfield, MD, where the couple is headed, and they have a visiting friend of Jake's family (Reginald Gardner) in tow, as well as the Reagans' youngest son.

Meanwhile, Jake is having second thoughts.

Cute comedy if slight, with nice performances all around. Francis at 21 is young and pretty and played many starlet roles at Fox before settling into a TV career, and she and Lundigan make an attractive couple. The best scenes are between the parents as they get to know one another.

Enjoyable.

Very slight but also very watchable

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 May 2008]

This is a rather claustrophobic and slight film about a young couple who elope and what occurs when their families discover this and set off after them to stop the wedding. A very significant portion of the film takes place in a car with the future in-laws and this made for a very strange film experience.

I decided to watch this movie for one reason--because it starred the always entertaining Clifton Webb. As usual, Webb played exactly the sort of lovable curmudgeon he played so well in films and so I wasn't disappointed. As for the rest of the cast, Charles Bickford and the rest were fine.

While I read a review by someone who hated this film, my experience was more positive--though I could appreciate their feelings. As I mentioned above, a huge portion of the film is set in a car as well as in a cross-country low speed chase---hardly settings to make for an exciting film. Also, at times the writing is a bit inconsistent and tough to believe--especially when the families do eventually meet up with the newlyweds to be. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives and it's a sweet little film and I am glad I saw it.

Cheaper to Elope

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 15 April 2014]

As I write this review my brother is currently contemplating the cost of a big wedding for his oldest daughter and is thinking that it would be nice if she went and did like her younger sister did, go off and elope. After the surprise of Elopement there's a lot to be said for that option.

Elopement finds Clifton Webb and Margalo Gilmore in a huge tizzy over the fact that their newly graduated daughter Anne Francis is eloping with none other than her philosophy professor William Lundigan. They get a hold of his parents Charles Bickford and Evelyn Varden and find similar concern about suddenly getting a new daughter-in-law. As Lundigan and Francis travel to Deerfield, New Jersey to get married, the in-laws to be are also racing against time to get the young ones to reconsider. In tow is Francis's godfather Reginald Gardiner and Lundigan's little brother Tommy Rettig.

Although he tries hard William Lundigan is way too old for the part. It's even indicated that he had war service in World War II. And if young Rettig is his brother all I can say is that Varden must have been fertile for much longer than the natural span of things for women. Someone closer to Francis's age should have been cast.

Webb and Gardiner work well together having the same urbane and occasionally acerbic style. Too bad they didn't do more films together.

Elopement is definitely minor league Clifton Webb although his fans will like it.

Mild Little Comedy

[dougdoepke · 9 October 2010]

Families feud over eloping offspring.

Mildly amusing comedy from TCF's "Clifton Webb period". Webb and Gardner (Roger) get to trade intellectual barbs in a little gem of an introductory scene. And catch the cutting-edge livingroom interior for 1951, including the push button recliner that swallows up poor Roger. Of course, Webb is Webb, amusing and annoying at the same time. Actually, his movie persona of high-falutin' palaver and distaste for children suggests a sleeker, stuffier version of WC Fields. Here, Webb gets to show off both in that packed car ride, which, to me, is amusing up until everyone starts getting reasonable.

The main trouble is the movie sags every time the narrative switches to the sappy young lovers. Well, actually, not so young since Lundigan is a highly mature 37 and darn near 20 years older than the winsome young Francis. Speaking of youth, Tommy Rettig makes a great little boy who even acts like a little boy, and makes for a lively addition to the warring tribes. And, near the end, be sure to catch Howard's (Webb) concise comparison of elopement with church weddings. It's a surprisingly sober and incisive look at weddings in general.

No, there's nothing memorable here. Just an average little comedy with its share of both on- moments and off-moments, 1950's style.

Go to Sweden, Anne!

[antcol8 · 6/10 · 26 June 2016]

Late at night...when your standards are low, you may be impressed by a movie where some characters talk as though they are actually intelligent and capable of thought. Where kids are bratty and lovable in turns, just like real kids. Where being some kind of artist is neither denigrated nor raised up to some kind of quasi - Godlike status. Where there is low - key, experiential understanding of what happens when people who have little or nothing in common are stuck into a crowded space for hours and are forced to interact. Where understated care has been put into lighting and set design.

Please pay attention to the way avant - garde designer Clifton Webb interacts with normal chairs. It's a wonderfully observed throwaway running gag.

This film is a remote cousin to Bunuel's Mexican Bus Ride. Some of it looks like it could have been directed by Edgar Ulmer. The story is what it is and the romantic leads are not that compelling (although Anne Francis is of course very pretty). Turn off the lights and let it happen. There's a nicely - filmed sunrise...

Pleasant little film just made for Clifton Webb's usual screen persona

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 23 July 2016]

This was a present little surprise, with Clifton Webb and Charles Bickford playing the fathers of two children (Anne Francis and William Lundigan, respectively), who plan to elope. When Webb discovers his daughter is missing, he runs around the neighborhood in his pajamas (but manages to wear a hat), is assaulted by dogs, and is picked up by the police as a prowler. He arrives home just in time to take a call from a nosy neighbor warning him that there is a prowler in the neighborhood.

This is Webb's film all the way with his personal brand of snark, with a few dull interludes featuring Francis and Lundigan. Webb and Bickford, along with their wives, Bickford's youngest kid (Tommy Rettig) and Francis' godfather (Reginald Gardner) all end up in Webb's car, in pursuit of the couple. Along the way, Webb steals Rettig's sandwich, throws Bickford's pipe out the car window, and, when Rettig acts up, yells "can someone control that little ba … barbarian??" Webb and Bickford get to slap each other. Francis and Lundigan call off the wedding, then end up eloping again. Everyone ends up happy. In the fade-out, Webb tells Bickford all about Francis' engineering talents, then states she will probably have lots of children, because her favorite film is "Cheaper By The Dozen", which, probably not so coincidentally, is a Fox film just like this one, also starring Clifton Webb. There's nothing wrong with a little self promotion I guess.

Pleasant little surprise

[scsu1975 · 6/10 · 19 November 2022]

Clifton Webb and Charles Bickford play the fathers of two children (Anne Francis and William Lundigan, respectively), who plan to elope. When Webb discovers his daughter is missing, he runs around the neighborhood in his pajamas (but manages to wear a hat), is assaulted by dogs, and is picked up by the police as a prowler. He arrives home just in time to take a call from a nosy neighbor warning him that there is a prowler in the neighborhood.

This is Webb's film all the way, with a few dull interludes featuring Francis and Lundigan. Webb and Bickford, along with their wives, Bickford's youngest kid (Tommy Rettig) and Francis' godfather (Reginald Gardner) all end up in Webb's car, in pursuit of the couple. Along the way, Webb steals Rettig's sandwich, throws Bickford's pipe out the car window, and, when Rettig acts up, yells "can someone control that little ba ... barbarian??" Webb and Bickford get to slap each other. Francis and Lundigan call off the wedding, then end up eloping again. Everyone ends up happy. Great closing gag at the fade-out.

Annoying

[boblipton · 4/10 · 15 September 2007]

A great director, a wonderful cast, a skilled director of photography and lots of studio gloss results in a stinker of a movie, redeemed only by Clifton Webb's mugging and one medium-sized interaction by Evelyn Varden and Margalo Gillmore as they discuss small children. Otherwise this script is too studio bound, with the more interesting players stuffed into a car and Anne Francis -- looking gorgeous as always and particularly and appropriately vivacious, is stuck with William Lundigan, one of the more uninteresting leading men of the era.

This is a great pity as I went in hoping and expecting to like this movie. But the script is pretty much of a stinker.

Classic Boy Meets Girl and Gets Family

[mikeswife1 · 8/10 · 8 April 2008]

This was a very enjoyable, fun, "hokey" movie, classic 50's era. The entire family gets into the relationship but not lousing things up as seen in so many other films. Nice to see a movie with a smart, only child. People with only children will see the similarities. There are many funny parts, just down to earth "I am in your business" funny. A good stress free popcorn movie. Had a good ending-no bloodshed-no getting sued/divorced-everybody left happy. Things you don't see in today's movies. If you enjoy the "Father Knows Best" type of household you will enjoy this film. Yours, Mine and Ours and Cheaper By the Dozen are along the same lines.

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 15 November 2016]

Don't you think that Charles Bickford and Evelyn Varden are way too old to have a young six year old son in Tommy Retig. They certainly looked like his grandparents in this 1951 film.

That being said, the film has some hilarious moments thanks to the always-wonderful Clifton Webb, father of Ann Francis here, who wants his daughter to follow her career in industrial design after graduating from college with honors. Problem is that the Francis character, smitten with her psychology professor, played by William Lundigan runs off with him and her family and his wind up in hot pursuit, angry with each other, as they attempt to stop the elopement.

With both parents in the same car, there is much hilarity, especially at the beginning of the film.

The film takes a deep turn when the families reach an understanding and actually get to like each other; while at the same time, Lundigan and Francis start finding fault with each other and return home unmarried.

The film does end in the way you would want it to after 1:25 minutes. Fun, heart-warming at times, and a joy to watch.