Never Too Late (1965)

Fifty-something Edith Lambert is thrilled to find out that she's going to have a baby. Her husband Harry, however, is less enthusiastic.

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Writers:

Sumner Arthur Long (play), Sumner Arthur Long (screenplay)

Stars:

Paul Ford, Connie Stevens, Maureen O'Sullivan

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Paul Ford	...	Harry M. Lambert
Connie Stevens	...	Kate Clinton
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Edith Lambert
Jim Hutton	...	Charlie Clinton
Jane Wyatt	...	Grace Kimbrough
Henry Jones	...	Dr. Kimbrough
Lloyd Nolan	...	Mayor Crane

Storyline

Middle-aged Harry lives comfortably with his wife Edith and his daughter and her husband. Though rather sour and a bit mean, he is in fact content. So when Edith finds she is pregnant again he is anything but overjoyed. Apart from the changes it will mean, he is now seen as some sort of older superman in town. Meanwhile his daughter sees child bearing as a way out of the extra housework she is having to do, the achievement of which starts to put pressure on her increasingly tired husband.

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Plot Keywords:

father daughter relationship | expectant father | mayor | pregnancy | runaway wife | 

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Taglines:

It's never too soon to start laughing at Never Too Late.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Baby und der Haustyrann

Filming Locations:

Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tandem Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Timothy Hutton (who is Jim Hutton's son) made his first screen appearance in this movie as the little boy who runs to his father.

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Goofs

Late in the movie, a phonograph on a table at the foot of the stairs alternates between being crooked on the table, and being aligned with the table edge.

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Connections

Referenced in Saint Maybe (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Never Too Late"
Music by David Rose
Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Sung by Vic Damone during the opening credits
Played often in the score

User Reviews

Menopause Was Late

In those early Sixties Kennedy years this play and film were big hits with an across the board appeal to generations, but particularly the senior citizen crowd. Paul Ford and Maureen O'Sullivan who repeated their roles from the 1007 performance run Broadway play show that those thought past their prime can still do some things totally unexpected.

Menopause was late coming in the Lambert household of Concord, Massachusetts because Maureen O'Sullivan has announced after a 20 year span after the birth of her daughter Connie Stevens that she is pregnant again. She and Paul Ford are about to be parents again at an age when they should be expecting their first grandchildren. That is of particular interest to Connie Stevens and her husband Jim Hutton who are trying ever so hard to get Connie in a family way.

But in general Ford who is a conservative man by nature is getting all kinds of Ooohs and Ahs from the town for his unexpected virility. His neighbor and rival Lloyd Nolan who is the mayor of the town is really ribbing him something awful.

Sight gags abound in Never Too Late usually involving Ford and his middle age paunch. There's a scene in the pediatric waiting room where Ford is sitting with a bunch of young fathers to be. There's another one in an elevator with Ford and a little girl and some pregnant women with the young girl drawing all kinds of conclusions.

In the non-visual category Ford and Hutton both really tie one on and a bit of truth telling emerges from the booze.

I remember seeing this in the theater back when it first came out and the timeless family situations make Never Too Late as fresh as it was when I first saw it. This could get a remake today and not lose a thing. But until then this fine version will suffice.