Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

A man and his wife decide they can afford to have a house in the country built to their specifications. It's a lot more trouble than they think.

Director:

H.C. Potter

Writers:

Eric Hodgins (novel), Norman Panama (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Cary Grant	...	Jim Blandings
Myrna Loy	...	Muriel Blandings
Melvyn Douglas	...	Bill Cole
Reginald Denny	...	Simms
Sharyn Moffett	...	Joan Blandings
Connie Marshall	...	Betsy Blandings
Louise Beavers	...	Gussie
Ian Wolfe	...	Smith
Harry Shannon	...	Tesander
Tito Vuolo	...	Mr. Zucca
Nestor Paiva	...	Joe Apollonio
Jason Robards Sr.	...	John Retch (as Jason Robards)
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mary
Lex Barker	...	Carpenter Foreman
Emory Parnell	...	Mr. PeDelford

Storyline

The Blandings live in New York in a tiny apartment. They decide to move to the country and find that buying and building and living in their own home is easier said than done.

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Plot Keywords:

dilapidated house | house | family relationships | connecticut | remodeling | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mr. Blandings' yearly salary of $15,000 would be (adjusted for inflation) approximately $160,000 in 2020. The screenwriters had originally given him a salary of $10,000, but postwar inflation forced them to give him a raise before shooting began.

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Goofs

About 46-47 minutes in, a drawing of the new house in the architect's office is shown. "Blandings" is incorrectly shown with an apostrophe between the "g" and the "s"

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Quotes

Muriel Blandings: Darling, I'm going out to the place this afternoon. Bill's driving me up to see about the landscaping.
Jim Blandings: That'll be nice... What do you mean Bill's driving you?
Muriel Blandings: Why do you always say 'what do you mean' when you know perfectly well what I mean and you mean?
Jim Blandings: I mean the moment I turn my back, Bill Cole's driving you someplace or something.
Muriel Blandings: He's only being helpful.
Jim Blandings: I thought he was a lawyer. Why isn't he out suing somebody?

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits are shown on an architect's blueprints.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)

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Soundtracks

Home on the Range
(uncredited)
Written by Brewster M. Higley
Sung by Cary Grant and then Myrna Loy as they shower

User Reviews

A timeless comedy that any homeowner can chuckle at

While the prices have gone up a lot, and some of the details have become dated, any homeowner who's struggled with problems of homeownership should get a lot of chuckles out of this movie. I know I did.

Mr. Blandings, a New York ad executive, decides to move his family to the Connecticut suburbs and build himself a nice house there. He gets into one hilarious jam after another, from mortgages to lawsuits to construction difficulties, as the costs and schedule of the construction keep escalating out of control. I thought that the funniest scenes were where Blandings hires a contractor to dig a well for water. They dig down hundreds of feet, but never find water. Yet only a short distance away, a few days later, the basement of his house-to-be floods!

Cary Grant and Myrna Loy give believable performances as the harried Blandings couple overwhelmed by problems they never imagined, and Melvyn Douglas is even better as Blanding's lawyer and family friend.

The only caveat is that social attitudes have changed a lot since 1948. Mrs. Blandings is portrayed as a bit of a naive dimbulb who has no idea how much additional trouble she's causing, and there's a black maid (horrors!). So don't watch this movie through the social lens of 2003, and you'll enjoy it all the more.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 June 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1