Life with Father (1947): watch the full film free, legally

The Days in 1883 New York

Life with Father is a 1947 American Technicolor comedy directed by Michael Curtiz. Donald Ogden Stewart adapted it from the 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, itself based on Clarence Day Jr.'s 1935 autobiography. Day had worked as a stockbroker and was an author and cartoonist for The New Yorker. The story concerns Day and his family in the 1880s, with William Powell as Clarence Day Sr. and Irene Dunne as his wife, Vinnie.

In New York in 1883, Clarence is a benevolent but curmudgeonly patriarch who tries to run his household with the same efficiency as his Wall Street office. The effort does not go well. Vinnie manages the house, while their four red-haired sons, Clarence Jr., John, Whitney and Harlan, do not always submit to their father's authority. Clarence's temper unsettles Annie, a new maid, who falls down the stairs, breaks a coffee tray and quits. Vinnie then welcomes her cousin Cora Cartwright and Mary Skinner for a week-long stay, despite Clarence's contempt for visitors. ZaSu Pitts plays Cora, while Elizabeth Taylor plays Mary.

A baptism and family bargains

Clarence rejects local political corruption from his home office, and later meets Rev. Dr. Lloyd to discuss construction of a new church. He declines to give a large donation. At dinner at Delmonico's, Mary says that she is a Methodist. Clarence responds that he is an Episcopalian, though he has never been baptized. The admission startles Vinnie, who insists that he should be baptized so that he can go to heaven. He refuses, confident that God will admit him anyway.

Mary and Clarence Jr. begin a romance. After church, however, Clarence Jr. complains about wearing his father's suit and reacts badly to Mary's flirtation. He seeks money for a suit, and Clarence, recognizing his son's maturity, advises him to act firmly toward women. John takes a job selling patent medicines. When Vinnie becomes ill, John and Clarence Jr. put some medicine in her breakfast tea without telling her. Her condition worsens, leading Clarence to promise baptism if she recovers.

Once Vinnie is well, she meets Reverend Morley, who runs a church in Audubon Park, and hopes Clarence can be baptized there without embarrassment before their usual congregation. Clarence withdraws his promise. He makes another pledge after objecting to a ceramic pug dog Vinnie has bought, while Clarence Jr. sees a chance to exchange the dog for a suit at the same price. On Sunday, the household hears that John's medicine has poisoned a neighbor's dog, and Clarence discovers the cost of buying back every bottle John sold. The family also learns that Vinnie drank the same medicine during her illness.

Changing the play for the screen

The film altered language from the stage play to meet the Motion Picture Production Code standards of the period. The play's final line had Clarence answering a policeman's question about his destination with, “I'm going to be baptized, dammit!” For the film, the final word was omitted. Clarence's repeated exclamations of “Oh, God!” also became “Oh, gad!”

The supporting cast includes Edmund Gwenn, Jimmy Lydon and Martin Milner. Gwenn plays a minister, and Lydon plays young Clarence. The story's comedy comes largely from Clarence Sr.'s stubborn and sometimes ill-tempered nature, set against Vinnie's determination to change his mind about baptism.

Critical notices and Academy Award nominations

Leading critics in 1947 praised the screen adaptation and the cast. The New York Times called for “a round-robin of praise” for those who made the picture, saying that the play's charm, comedy, humor and gentle pathos were realized in the Technicolor production. Its review particularly praised Powell, writing that he was “every inch Father” and that his work was “character delineation of a high order.” Film Daily called the film “one of the finer examples of film making in Technicolor” and said it offered “a delightfully different insight into the human comedy of another day.”

James Agee, writing in The Nation, described the film as “Rich, careful, rather heavily proficient,” adding that he could not enjoy laughing at tyrants forgiven because of their innocence. Variety praised Dunne's restrained comedy, Taylor and Lydon, the supporting players, cinematography and Curtiz's direction, though it found the pace pedestrian. The film received Academy Award nominations for Powell as Best Actor, art direction and set decoration in color for Robert M. Haas and George James Hopkins, cinematography in color, and music scoring for a dramatic or comedy picture. Warner Bros. reported earnings of $5,057,000 in the United States and $1,398,000 in other markets, against a $4,710,000 production budget.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Life with Father (film)”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.