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Rating:  - Romance on the river
The Houseboat is a very romantic, light-hearted movie. It is a little gem with Cary Grant playing his usual role of a debonaire bachelor with a little twist - this time he's a widower, a single father of three young children who suddenly decides that the children have to live with him. Suffice it to say that he's had very little previous experience raising his kids - and it shows! Another improbable twist - enter the rebellious daughter of an Italian music conductor as a nanny (a very young and very exotic Sophia Loren) - and the fun begins. The family and the nanny are planning to move to a guest house not far from the family of his late wife, but they need to relocate it to another place nearby and the guest house is getting ruined in the process. The houseboat is offered as a replacement and here they start a new life - simple, with very little amenities, but full of fun, love and occasional soul-searching. Cary Grant plays the role with his usual flair, but I thought I've seen a milder and gentler side of him in his interactions with the kids. Sophia Loren was rather exquisite in appearance and a bit too headstrong for the role of a nanny, but then she was a spoiled daughter of a famous father in the movie, so her sometimes odd behavior does not really feel entirely unnatural. The kids were great. Their feelings are always on the surface, played very naturally, and that adds enormously to the movie's emotional charge. The DVD is not much, but it's OK - it is in color, in mono sound, the additional features are very limited - only a couple of trailers and a rather nice photo gallery - but I did not expect much from a DVD with a 1958 movie, I wanted it for a movie itself and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Rating: - Houseboat
I loved it, the movie arrived so quickly it was awesome. It has brought back a lot of memories from my past. Thank you
Rating: - Great Romantic 50's Family Classic.
Welcome to the Houseboat, where Cary Grant lives with his 3 children. And his lovely housekeeper/babysitter Sophia Loren. Cary Grant portrays a man, who divorced his wife, and after his wife dies. Comes back to get his kids. But his kids can't stand him at all. Well one evening he takes the kids to the opera, and his youngest child escapes. And Cinzia Zaccardi (Sophia Loren), takes him back. He tries to pay Cinzia money for rescuing his kid but she won't take it, and then he asks her if she would like to be their housekeeper but she isn't interested. But the kids won't let him get to sleep until he chooses to hire her. The next day he decides to move the country, and Cinzia comes over. And says that she would like the job. Tom Winston (Cary Grant), hires her. They then move onto a houseboat, and have lots of fun escapades. The kids are great in this movie, and Sophia Loren is a perfect mother role, and Cary Grant is the perfect romantic. As he does in all of his films. I highly suggest this movie to all. This is a excellent Family Film, that you can show to your children, without worrying about them learning anything bad, or seeing anything innapropriate.
Rating:  - Warm Family Comedy With A Perfectly Cast Cary And Sophia
This charming little domestic comedy which really can be seen as a forerunner to the situation comedies of the 1960's, is given its memorable quality by the unexpectedly wonderful teaming of screen legends Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. By 1958 Grant was just entering the final period of his legendary career that would see him retire forever from movie making in 1966 with his debonair image still intact after almost four decades of continuous film work. Sophia Loren at this time was still largely considered an exotic recent import to Hollywood from Europe and had just completed a series of Hollywood efforts that teamed her with the likes of John Wayne, Alan Ladd and William Holden. The pair had teamed two years previously in the epic "The Pride and the Passion", also starring Frank Sinatra, however it was in this funny, and at times quite touching family story that their real chemistry on screen was properly displayed. Sophia Loren had probably her most successful Hollywood film up to this time with "Houseboat", and the ageless Cary Grant was in the middle of his highly successful collaborations in a series of glossy thrillers with director Alfred Hitchcock which certainly helped the box office of this very different type of story. Despite their different screen personas Grant and Loren are a delight together on screen when dealing with diverse situations involving three unruly children and an oversized decaying houseboat which almost becomes a character in itself in the story and is the main setting for the comic situations that arise.
Cary Grant plays Tom Winters a debonair Washington business man used to the single life with lots of travel after his marriage breakup. When his former wife is killed in a car accident Tom suddenly finds himself gaining custody of their three children that had formerly been under the care of his former sister in law Carolyn (Martha Hyer). Taking the children away when his wife's family try to keep hold of the children Tom has a dilemma about where his new little family are to live and he finds that his bachelor quarters in Washington are no substitute for a real home. The children at first dont like him and want to be back with Aunt Carolyn and when youngest son Robert (Charles Herbert), runs away he is eventually brought home by beautiful Cinzia Zaccardi (Sophia Loren), who is also in the process of running away from her domineering father Arthuro Zaccardi (Eduardo Ciannelli ), who is a famous orchestra conductor. Because she has a great rapport with the children and they seem to instantly like her Tom offers the supposedly homeless Cinzia a job as combined maid, cook and cleaner for the family. Tom sets out to find a new home and comes across a dilapidated old houseboat which he thinks could be turned into the ideal family home. His idea of domestic bliss however is short lived when he finds out that not only can Cinzia not cook, do laundry or clean house, but that he is also falling in love with her. This creates a further complication for Tom in that he is developing a romance with Carolyn and she and her friends look down unkindly on Tom's having the beautiful Italian woman around the houseboat. After eldest son David (Paul Peterson), almost drowns in an over turned small boat and Carolyn and her friends attempt to embarrass Cinzia just prior to a Fourth of July party at the neighbouring Country Club, Tom realises where his real future lies and proposes marriage. However at this eleventh hour the children have a bad reaction to the lady they have loved over the last few months fearing that Cinzia is trying to take their dead mother's place and even as the wedding is starting on the top deck of the houseboat the children refuse to attend the ceremony. However all such stories have a happy ending and before the preacher can declare Tom and Cinzia man and wife the three children going through a rapid change of heart appear fully dressed behind the couple and Robert even ends up serenading the couple on his harmonica.
Oddly enough I find a lot of similiarities between the general story of "Houseboat", and that of the more famous "The Sound of Music", in that a nanny comes into a disfunctional family and not only reunites its members but marries the head of the house. Sophia Loren although widely praised in her initial Hollywood efforts despite their lack of box office success, really began showing her potential in this effort where she was required to be more than decorative and show plenty of cleavage. She displays a fine comic style and she works very well with Cary Grant's laid back and totally charming acting delivery. She has many pleasing moments such as when she accidently (on purpose), sprays Cary Grant with paint during the houseboat's renovation and her love/hate scenes with him sparkle brightly enough even in the more unlikely moments. Cary Grant had this type of "charming man of the world suddenly thrown into a dilemma type" of character down pat by 1958 and he does very well as the comfortable bachelor suddenly having to deal with three children, a leaky houseboat, and a very beautiful Italian maid who can't cook or keep house. The three children in the story are what would be called "typical sitcom children", during the next decade but they are pleasing in their performances as well and at times have a maturity about their acting especially in the scenes when they reject Cinzia near the conclusion for supposedly attempting to take the place of their own mother. Paul Peterson as eldest son David would end up winning fame of his own as the son on the long running "The Donna Reed Show", which began it's network run the same year that "Houseboat", was released. The whole film certainly has the feel of a situation comedy about it and it constantly amazes me that the basic premise of this story in "Houseboat", was never used for an ongoing comedy series during the 1960's when this type of story was commonplace. Certainly Paramount regarded this vehicle as one of their bigger efforts for 1958 filming it in glorious Vista Vision and giving it glowing colour photography that gives the story an extremely lush look and feel. The beautiful renovated houseboat of the title seems to simply rise out of its earlier decaying, undesirable state and is something which only Hollywood in the 1950's could have thought up as the "central character", of a story such as this. Veteran clothes designer Edith Head, long a Paramount legend with her incredible clothes designs over forty years for all of the Paramount stars also excels in her designs here and Sophia Loren really came into her own in the glamour stakes with the lavish and highly flattering clothes made for her by Edith Head in this picture.
Good nostalgic fun from a simpler time is how best to describe "Houseboat". Not the funniest comedy from the 1950's for sure but it's highly enjoyable on a different level as a sort of time capsule for how Hollywood used to make comedies. Seeing Cary Grant and Sophia Loren together in one of their only two movie teamings is also a special treat and they really display what old Hollywood star power was all about. Happily "Houseboat", has been given a really beautiful treatment for it's release onto DVD and I highly recommend this charming little domestic comedy for all lovers of older style family movies where all members of the family learn from their experiences and develop a greater love for each other in the process. Enjoy!
Rating: - Cary, Sophia and 50s Fashion and Romance at its best
Houseboat was the first movie I ever saw in a drive-in. Imagine seeing Cary Grant and Sophia Loren dancing to a Sam Cooke love song on a screen the size of a football field. The wardrobe for the movie is stunning. When did we stop taking the time to dazzle with matching hats, gloves, etc.? Obvious beauty aside, what really impressed me was the award winning script. The explanation Cary Grant gives as a parent about death, and the kids dialogue and behavior rang true. The kids behaved like any children would when one parent dies, and an absentee parent appears to take them from the safe world of their grandparents. The kids were terrific in their roles. Cary Grant and Sophia Loren were superb considering she had just dumped him to marry her current husband. One wonders what would have happened if Cary and Sophia had really married. Would they have lived happily ever after like they did in Houseboat? Who knows. At least we can have that fantasy time and time again on DVD.
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