Father's Doing Fine (1953)
Lady Buckering, an English widow, has four daughters; Doreen, married to Dougall and about to give birth at home, and Gerda, Bicky and Catherine. The story revolves around the impending birth and the love affairs of the other three daughters; Bicky, with eccentric student Roly; Gerda, married to artist Wilfred; and Catherine, in love with the landlord's son, Clifford Magill. In addition, the impoverished Lady Buckering is being courted by Dr. Drew. Written by Les Adams
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The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Adapted from a radio play – not very much ! – this entirely stage set domestic drama has the actors doing monologues and sotto voce to the non – existent audience.It follows the domestic travails of a family, including the birth of a child at their house, the woman the wife of a particularly annoying Richard Attenborough, and a "dreadful situation" between a beatnik fiancée and his girlfriend's younger sister and her callow witless boyfriend. There are also a couple of love intrigues and an old man with an amazingly dull "radio" voice. Sidney James has a brief cameo as a cabby.
"Father's Doing Fine" ReviewMarch 23, 2012Lady Buckering, who has four daughters, is in bad financial straits but nonetheless lives very well – there's a butler, all the women have wonderful clothes, there's a private nurse and plenty of liquor handy. One of her daughters is about to have a baby (the father is the Attenborough character, Dougall), one is married to a pseudo-intellectual, one is rebounding from a love affair gone bad and the youngest daughter is an insufferable drama queen. Attenborough plays the stereotypically nervous father-to-be with gusto."Father's Doing Fine" is based on the play "Little Lambs Eat Ivy." I simply do not understand the significance of the title (yes, I know the song Mairzy Doats). The movie's title seems off kilter as well since it is the mother, Lady Buckering, around whom all the frenetic doings occur. Indeed, Lady Buckering (the delightful Heather Thatcher) has all the best lines in this farce. For me, farce is always better as a stage production than as a movie. This movie is silly but Thatcher's and Attenborough's performances make it fun to watch.