Verdict
Summary
A cute romantic comedy with a formula that has basically been copied and reworked countless times ever since (especially for Hallmark-type films), Houseboat glides through its 110-minute length thanks to charming leads, funny bits and a sexy and clever script that managed to win the Oscar for best screenplay (which boggles my mind). This isn’t rocket science; it’s just simply a good time at the movies.
Plot:
A widower and his three kids hire an attractive Italian nanny to take care of them, and they end up living on a houseboat.
Review:
A government attorney named Tom (Cary Grant) is faced with big life changes when his wife dies in a car crash, leaving him in the care of his three young kids – two boys and a girl. His wife’s sister Carolyn (Martha Hyer) has always been in love with Tom and hopes that she could possibly sway him to marry her and she could fill the mother role for his kids, and she’s certainly got a lot to offer: She’s attractive, she’s wealthy, and the kids already love her as an aunt. But fate bamboozles Tom’s destiny once again when a foxy Italian woman named Cinzia (Sophia Loren) appears in his life when she hand delivers his youngest son back to him when the kid wanders off after a classical concert in which Cinzia’s world-renown conductor father was conducting the concert in question. Because the kids seem to like her and because she wants to alter her own destiny instead of having it decided for her by her father, she accepts Tom’s offer to become his kids’ nanny. Since Tom has already sublet his small apartment in Washington D.C. (it’s not big enough for him and the kids), he relocates them all to a rural area outside the city where there’s a lake. Another twist of fate has them all living in a big, dilapidated houseboat in severe need of repairs, but it’s the perfect place for Tom to bond with his grieving kids … and fall in love with the Italian beauty he’s got living with him.
A cute romantic comedy with a formula that has basically been copied and reworked countless times ever since (especially for Hallmark-type films), Houseboat glides through its 110-minute length thanks to charming leads, funny bits and a sexy and clever script that managed to win the Oscar for best screenplay (which boggles my mind). This isn’t rocket science; it’s just simply a good time at the movies, even if you struggle with older films, but I’ve got a soft spot for these delightful films from a bygone era. Filmed in vivid Vista Vision in sparkling color, Houseboat is full of fun. From director Melville Shavelson.
Kino Lorber has just released Houseboat on Blu-ray just in time for Valentine’s Day, and it comes in a brand new HD master from a 6K scan of the 35mm Vista Vision Original Camera Negative. There’s an audio commentary by two film historians, and two trailers.
