Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House stars Myrna Loy, Cary Grant and Melvin Douglas. These three make the best comic trio ever to be on the silver screen. The comic lines have not lost anything in the 60 + years since it's release. It is a story about an ad man in New York City who is married with two children. They live in a small apartment (large for today's standards) in the heart of the city. They decide to move the family out to the countryside of Connecticut. They find a house that is a fixer upper, that ends up being a total loss and needs to be torn down. And a new one built in it's place. This is in the day before real estate transactions are protected by the law.

This movie focuses on the interactions of the trio, Loy, Grant, and Douglas and their experiences as the house becomes a "money pit". This movie is what the movie the "Money Pit" is based on. The unforeseen expenses of building this luxury home is breaking the bank for the Blandings. As time goes on Mr. Blandings loses it more and more. Mrs Blandings continues to be the voice of reason no matter what the case.

There is a disaster during every stage of the house erection. The foundation, well, and construction all presents problems and extra expense for the man in the family. The distraction of all this starts to interfere with his job. A man on the brink is who Cary Grant is in this movie. We watch him slowly wind tighter and tighter.

Grant and Loy are husband and wife. The hot headed Mr. Blandings is played opposite by Mrs. Blandings calm and rational persona. The verbal sparing between the two serves for many laughs. Douglas plays their close family friend who has always had a thing for Mrs. Blandings. It is a respectful infatuation from afar and continues this way even though some compromising situations present themselves.

This movie was made during the decade that had the in thing for the big executives in the city to buy a country home. It was during this time that the first commuters were spanned. Connecticut was just starting to become the bedroom community it is today for New York City career folks.

The house is finished and beautiful in every way. The fun part of watching an old movie such as this is to take in the surroundings, or the settings of the film. The furniture and nick knacks are antiques today. To see them new and in pristine condition is entertainment in itself. Cars, new to 1948, are stunning in their shinny new show room condition.

The appliances in the kitchen were the best the time had to offer and were all envied by the housewife's of 1948 that saw the movie when first released.

It is filmed in the time when wives stayed home with the children and were seen in dresses while doing house hold chores. The antics, accidents, and mishaps that happen in the process of building this house must of discouraged many a Manhattan dweller from moving into the country when the movie first came out.

While watching this movie listen careful to the grand total that Mr. Blandings quotes once the house is done and they are settling in. $38,000. He doesn't report this amount as a bargain. It is said as a manner of complaining. That was in the days when a new home could be purchased for 1/3 of that price, already done.

Watch and enjoy, it is funny and entertaining.