Belles on Their Toes (1952)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

Phoebe Ephron (screenplay) and
Henry Ephron (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

May 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Engineer | Graduation | Male Chauvinism | Social Dance

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Ann Gilbreth
Myrna Loy	...	Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth
Debra Paget	...	Martha Gilbreth
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Dr. Bob Grayson
Edward Arnold	...	Sam Harper
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Thomas George Bracken
Barbara Bates	...	Ernestine Gilbreth
Robert Arthur	...	Frank Gilbreth
Verna Felton	...	Cousin Leora
Carol Nugent	...	Lily Gilbreth
Tina Thompson	...	Jane Gilbreth - as a Child
Teddy Driver	...	Jack Gilbreth
Tommy Ivo	...	William Gilbreth
Jimmy Hunt	...	Fred Gilbreth
Anthony Sydes	...	Dan Gilbreth

Also Known As:

Belles on Their Toes: The Further Adventures of the Gilbreth Family (UK) (long title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #15490) | UK:U | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Paradise Cove - 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Sam Harper: [hearing muffled explosion] What on earth was that?
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth: The childern have a chemistry set in the cellar.
Sam Harper: Smells like alcohol.
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth: Mr. Harper, alcohol is a chemical.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Remembers: Myrna Loy - So Nice to Come Home to (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Hail to the Chief

A fairly basic comedy melodrama that has a chocolate box nostalgia about it that some might find appealing but really has little else to recommend it for

It is graduation day for the youngest of the Gilbreth children and, sitting in the crowd, Lillian Gilbreth is moved by this to reflect back on times when things were not so rosy for her family and a reduced income. And so this film-long flashback begins although it didn't help my interest in the material to find that these "harder times" were a sort of Norman Rockwell version of poverty rather than what most people would consider "hard times" (they have a butler for goodness sake).

So it was no surprise to me to find that this film had no real interest in producing an actual character drama so much as churning out a cheerful melodrama with basic family morals and the Americana virtues of the 1950's writ large across every scene. I'm not sure if this world ever did exist but regardless I'm sure some viewers will find this nostalgia to be just about enough to justify watching the film for. God knows there is not much else to bother spending the time on. The humour is very basic and involved harmless pratfalls and good ol' wholesome joshing – shame there are so few laughs to be had in this.

The cast aren't much cop either. Webb shows up on a picture while Loy buzzes round full of worry, love and strength while the cast of children are more about quantity rather than quality. The odd turn from Hunter, Arnold, Carmichael and others provide some distraction but this is not a film where anyone is given the material to turn in a good performance. Overall then a fairly basic comedy melodrama that has a chocolate box nostalgia about it that some might find appealing but really has little else to recommend it for.