Belles on Their Toes (1952)

The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income, while Anne, Martha, and even Ernestine find romance.

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

Phoebe Ephron (screenplay), Henry Ephron (screenplay)

Stars:

Jeanne Crain, Myrna Loy, Debra Paget

Cast

Complete credited 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, Jr.
Verna Felton	...	Cousin Leora

Storyline

The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income, while Anne, Martha, and even Ernestine find romance.

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Plot Keywords:

female engineer | working single mother | widow | told in flashback | social dance | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 May 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bellezas por casar

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to studio publicity, the graduation sequences were filmed at Santa Monica High School, and the barbecue sequences were filmed on location at Paradise Cove in Malibu, CA. Although publicity announced that the songs "Watermelon Weather" by Hoagy Carmichael and 'Paul Francis Webster' qv) and "Monterey" by Carmichael and John Scott, would be in the picture, they were not included in the released film. According to a June 1952 "Hollywood Reporter" news item, theater managers in the Midwest offered patrons a "money-back guarantee" on their enjoyment of this film, and the publicity stunt substantially raised the picture's box-office intake and was used at other venues.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

A young man's hand closes the last page of the Cheaper by the Dozen novel and transitions the book to the cover of Belles on Their Toes in which the credits are printed inside the novel.

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Connections

References 7th Heaven (1927)

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Soundtracks

Poet and Peasant Overture
Music by Franz von Suppé
Played when the family are at dinner during the newsreel

User Reviews

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.