Houseboat (1958)

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Melville Shavelson's Academy Award-nominated "Houseboat" involves the common trope of "vivacious-but-goofy woman turns serious man's life upside down" (also seen in "Bringing Up Baby", "What's Up, Doc?" and "Something Wild"). But how can you not love seeing Sophia Loren onscreen? Cary Grant's State Department employee is the archetypal man from the 1950s: straightforward, always wearing a suit and tie, and expecting everyone around him to be as no-nonsense as he is. The '60s were a reaction to this attitude.*Admittedly, a lot of the movie shows its age. Many of the family interactions are too cute for my taste. The movie's real joy is seeing Sophia Loren in some of those revealing outfits (well, as revealing as was allowed in 1958). It's not any sort of great movie, but enjoyable enough for its length.Watch for Murray Hamilton (Mr. Robinson in "The Graduate" and the mayor in "Jaws") and Kathleen Freeman (the nun in "The Blues Brothers") in early roles.*Tuli Kupferberg of The Fugs was of the opinion that there was always reason for optimism, because, as he put it, no one who lived through the '50s would've predicted the '60s.

Following hot on the heels of that enjoyable period romp 'The Pride & The Passion' came 'Houseboat'.A gracefully-ageing Carry Grant had developed an infatuation with hot-to-trot Sohia Loren whilst making the earlier movie, and his off-screen extra-marital dalliance with her became the gossip of Hollywood. (Looking at Ms Loren in either movie it is hard to imagine how even 'ol blue eyes' managed to keep his powder dry). It was almost inevitable, then, that Grant and Loren would be cast together in some follow-up outing.'Houseboat' is a typical Hollywood schmaltz-fest. But there are, I think, several features that save it from the sin-bin. First and foremost is Sophia Loren. And I don't think I'm betraying a hormone problem when I say that she is both the sexiest and most beautiful woman ever to grace the cinema screen. I find it hard to believe that any red-blooded male could feature opposite her and not be encumbered with a spontaneous erection. Grant's wife must have been an imbecile to let him anywhere near her. However.Carry Grant is not my particular taste in heroes. He strikes the diffident pose as the American interpretation of an English gentleman, and that, along with his oleaginous voice endues him with an air of shallow pomposity, one that is ripe for a moral lesson. Which is usually the role he plays. At best; he's a one-dimensional actor, but he's good at what he does, when he does it right. And he does it right here.His and Ms Loren's arrival at the houseboat is a classic piece of contrived, circuitous Hollywood light melodrama. Grant plays a widower with three comparatively estranged kids, Loren is a disaffected Italian tomboy turned society-girl masquerading as a housemaid.At their arrival on the boat, Grant's character already has a love interest, but she can see what Grant evidently can't; that it isn't safe for him to have a housemaid/nanny like the voluptuous Ms Loren. (This writer would have traded-up in about 10 minutes). Things hinge upon this love-triangle. The other actors are scripted merely to pad their romance out. Basically; its 'The Sound Of Music' but without the songs, scenery or swastikas.There's the usual comedy of manners. Ms Loren's character has already flipped for Grant, but he hasn't noticed. In the meantime, she has spent a lot of time with his kids and become something of a mother/big sister to them all. But not quite. There is a very subtle and rather tragic little bi-line, because the eldest son is at the cusp of puberty and just about old enough to have developed a puppy-love for his comely nanny. Which, of course - like Grant - she hasn't noticed either. In her moments of dejection, he has been a leal companion and has misconstrued her confidences and the strength and substance of her feelings towards him.To anyone who can remember being in such a predicament, the whole thing is presented with great fidelity, including the boy's peremptory rejection - he is still just a boy, and that's only how the nanny sees him - and his painful disappointment with a sense of betrayal. The 'child' actor (I think it's Paul Petersen) turns in a very creditable performance and I truly grieve for his juvenile distress, having been there myself.Finally, the hitherto dowdily-dressed Ms Loren is provided with an outfit that fully flaunts her astonishing figure and Mr Grant's loins are are last aroused to the perfectly bleeding obvious.Yes; it's (for the most part) a predictable schmaltz-fest. Much of the backdrop is painted and elements of the houseboat look very artificial; yet that needn't spoil one's pleasure. That its production has the look of a stage play never compromises the story, players, or their skillful portrayal.Everyone makes a good turn, especially - as mentioned - the kids. Excellent Werner Klemperer (Hogan's Heroes) brings his own light comic touch. But for me (biased by my hormones) the movie is a cinch for Sophia Loren, who moves between a child-like persona and full-blown womanhood with an intelligence and subtlety that is the mark of a great actress.Don't let the critics discourage you. If you analyse production values it may seem pretty weak, but if you look for its more enduring qualities there's a lot of pleasure to be had.

Cary Grant plays Tom Winters, a widower and a father to three kids, David (Paul Petersen), Elizabeth (Mimi Gibson) and Robert (Charles Herbert).Tom gets unexpected help from the Italian Cinzia (Sophia Loren).Soon they find themselves from a lousy Houseboat.Melville Shavelson's Houseboat (1958) was nominated for two Oscars.It is a very nice romantic comedy for the whole family.Cary Grant and Sophia Loren make a great team in it.All the child actors are wonderful.Martha Hyer plays Carolyn Gibson.Harry Guardino is Angelo Donatello.Werner Klemperer is Harold Messner.Kathleen Freeman is seen there as Laundromat gossip.The movie is funny in many places, like when Robert plays the harmonica at the concert.And the song with a bing, bang, bong is very amusing.

When I first stumbled across a movie title 'Houseboat' a thousand years ago, and saw the casting, I speculated that it could only be a euro-tweaked piece of frisson, OR a vapid, one-idea dud. Sadly I learned an hour ago, that it's the latter.This is the "Please Don't Eat the Daisies variety of wholesome family corn. It's irritating and crappy from the first frames. The story is a saccharine homily. Dad loses mom in an accident and hires a hot nanny. I give you 11 seconds to figure out that mommy replacement is the agenda. Is there any other way that storyline can go? (See The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Sound of Mucus, King and I). The script is quite rotten. The direction is very horrible, with dollars visibly saved by getting 90 percent of the movie in the can via rear-screen projection.We gave up the conceits of noir in the 40s, for this?; 1950's commie-hating, child-obsessed, nuclear-familifying propaganda? Like everything from the 50s, Houseboot tries to naturalize your patriotic duty to reproduce via the inclusion of major roles for children, despite the fact that very few children can act (See also: The King and I, An Affair to Remember, South Pacific, Man who Knew Too Much). And the unwelcome "dad's a jackass around kids" routine rears its ugly head.The movie starts weird with twee, hand-drawn credits showing one of the movies moppets sulking and walking in circles on the floor, while the color process switches inexplicably between tints... weird. Then it starts running the film backwards and forwards. Hmmm, OK then. Loren looks bizarre, shaded down to Indian tones, and made up like a voluptuous cat; she looks like she may eat the children at any moment. Just like everything else in this movie, her part is written for maximum irritation (she sings a stupid song over and over) and she generally demonstrates why Italians are absent in Hollywood for the next 5 decades.