Product Description

Cary Grant is hilarious as a successful New York advertising executive who wants to escape the confines of his family's tiny midtown apartment. So he designs his dream home in the suburbs and discovers the project wasn't as easy as it seemed. The house gets larger. The bills get bigger. The problems just won't go away. Eventually, the whole affair becomes a nightmare-a very funny nightmare-that left audiences laughing in 1948 and will have you in stitches, too. This is the comedic masterpiece that inspired the popular 1987 movie "The Money Pit." It's an adventure in homeowning that strikes a familiar chord with everyone who's ever bought a house. Year: 1948 Director: H.C. Potter Starring: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3618 in DVD
• Brand: Turner
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Black & White, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Cary Grant stars as an advertising executive who dreams of getting out of the city and building a perfect home in the country, only to find the transition fraught with problems. (See the 1980s Tom Hanks comedy The Money Pit for an updated version of the same idea.) The big appeal here are the two leads, Grant and Myrna Loy, who were each in their early 40s and at the peak of their careers. Together with solid support from Melvyn Douglas and a screenplay that might have been tailor-made for their polished brand of comedy, the stars dominate this simple project. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Means we gotta blast......
Yeeup! As Mr. Tersander would say. This is one of my favorite films. While not exactly bust-a-gut funny, it is warmly amusing throughout with a couple of classic lines & scenes (the perplexing storeroom, the "letch", the well, the all-night Wam session etc.), played to perfection with ease and charm (my God those are lost arts, aren't they?) by a cast of pros who are immediately likeable and comfortable to be around.

The story of a New York adman building his dream house in Connecticut being snookered by the "hicks" and then the series of disasters and cost overruns that befall him, the film is played with just the right tone, light and with great good humor, from the falling lintels to the Zuzz-Zuzz water softener.

Some may question the 5 stars, and although it may not be a great movie, I give it all 5 because Grant, Loy and Douglas are a lost breed of irreplaceable class players, and this kind of effortless amusement is pretty much an extinct genre.

If you work with software, you want to see this flick
I'm a real fan of classic movies as you can tell from some of my other reviews.

Mr. Blandings Build His Dream House makes a great analogy for systems and software development. Even though this film hit the street in 1948, the situations in which the Blandings find themselves is relevant for any project today. This story of a man who wishs to fulfill his life dream of ruling his estate in the country contains almost every gotcha ever seen on a project:

- Scope changes
- Conflicting executive sponsorship
- Changes, Changes control, and the cost of change
- Conflicting goals
- Users who want it all for almost nothing
- Poor project planning

My favourite scene is when Mr. and Mrs. Blandings grab some pencils and start 'tweaking' the architect's drawings.

This film was remade as 'The Money Pit', but I wouldn't recommend that version.

This film will be remade again in 2005 and I doubt it could live up to the tempered choas shown by Cary Grant nor the calm, straigt faced comedy of Myrna Loy.

If you see this film you won't regret it. If you buy it you will watch it often

Very funny...
Often imitated but never quite surpassed, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a classic comedy about a topic still as current now as it was in the 1940s. Silly but very funny, this movie is really great - featuring the ever hilarious Cary Grant, and Myrna Loy.

Essentially, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is about a family that decides to move to the country and get away from the overcrowding in the apartment. Instead of making life easier, however, their decision to move causes disaster after disaster. This movie is a hilarious example of how whatever can go wrong will!

Although the topic could have easily degenerated into stupidity, the script, the directing and, most of all, the cast, turn the movie into a classic. The script is witty and very funny, and it is directed with style - but mainly, Cary Grant is terrific! His double takes and reactions will never be equalled...any scene that he is in in pretty much guaranteed to be hysterical. Myrna Loy does a good job of cooling balancing Grant's screwball character, and the supporting cast is good as well.

Anyhow, this is a funny movie for the whole family - it is highly recommended!