ThiefHott Too much of everything

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

JohnHowardReid Producer: Henry Koster. Copyright 3 November 1963 by 20th Century- Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Criterion and the Trans-Lux (and other theaters): 13 November 1963. U.S. release: November 1963. U.K. release: 26 January 1964. Sydney opening at the Regent. 8,789 feet. 89 minutes.SYNOPSIS: This is the story of the frustrations of a father, sending his "dish" of a daughter to college. The father, Frank Michaelson (James Stewart), is a respected lawyer and chairman of the School Board, who is called to account by Hector G. Ivor (John McGiver), vice chairman of the School Board, because of flamboyant publicity regarding Frank's strange behavior. Michaelson had been reported arrested for participating in a riotous sit-in strike over banned books, arrested with an alleged Chinese mistress in Paris and jumping into the River Seine in what appears to be the nude. A newspaper editorial demands he resign from the Board. It is Michaelson's explanation of these episodes that is the story of "Take Her, She's Mine".Michaelson and his wife Anne (Audrey Meadows) find their lives complicated by that fact that they are the parents of a "dish", Mollie (Sandra Dee) and a budding "dish", Liz (Charla Doherty). The father is bent on protecting Mollie at all costs, unaware that most of his fears result from an overly alive imagination.NOTES: Fox's top domestic money-spinner of 1963-64.The play opened on Broadway at the Biltmore on 21 December 1961, running for a most satisfactory 404 performances. George Abbott directed Art Carney, Elizabeth Ashley, Phyllis Thaxter and June Harding. The Ephrons, former staff writers at Fox, sold the screen rights of the play to their old studio for $350,000. The Ephrons themselves served as the basis for the play's parents, their daughter Nora was the model for Mollie, whilst the actual college was Wellesley. (Ephron of course was also a Fox producer. His credits: Carousel, The Best Things in Life Are Free, Desk Set, 23 Paces to Baker Street, Sing Boy Sing and A Certain Smile).COMMENT: I don't suppose any film genre dates so badly as a sex comedy. Today's taboos are tomorrow's ho-hums. But "Take Her" is impossible. Here's a movie that was archly old-hat even at the time it was made. Despite many attempts to be with it and titillatingly daring, the script persistently falls pathetically flat. Old-time pratfalls, weak puns that even Shakespeare would have rejected, gags that are painstakingly telegraphed five or ten minutes ahead, impossibly naive to the point of boneheaded and stupid characters — these are just some of the "Take Her" vices that make even the dullest of TV sitcoms look positively bright and breezy by comparison. All Nunnally Johnson seems to have done is to aggravate an already over-wordy stage play by adding lots more dull and downright tedious padding. Koster's heavy-handed direction worsens the situation no end. As does Stewart's mannered acting. Production values are extremely moderate, whilst even normally reliable credits like photography and sets are as dull and uninteresting as the script. Despite the movie's enormous popularity, I find it difficult to credit that even the most indulgent picture=goer would find much amusement here. "Take Her" is not just your ordinary ham-fisted farce, it's a complete and utter waste of time.

mark.waltz "She'll write like any other American girl, when she needs money." That's what happens when Sandra Dee heads off to college, ending father James Stewart's homebound headaches but adding new ones. It's too soon for him to learn that silence is deafening as he still has one daughter at home, as well as a straight talking wife (Audrey Meadows), maybe no longer a Honeymooner, but still gifted with that delightful raspy voice that could crack ice. If having been approached for autographs by kids who think that he was the star of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" isn't enough, he has to hear wife quote "Que Sera Sera" from "The Man Who Knew too Much". But those un-plot related references to other Jimmy Stewart movies are forced laughs, while the real plot line has him recounting his story to the executives and board of his employers, deciding whether or not to ask for his resignation or fire him.An often eye rolling farce tests trying too hard to be "hip", this uses Stewart's hearing at his job and phone calls to explain what's going on in the story. If this reveals anything, it's the ridiculousness of some college aged kids obsession with social issues (often doing it simply to be involved with the crowd, not even understanding the whole issue), and getting involved with the "wrong" crowd. Stewart, getting involved in trying to talk some sense into his daughter, keeps getting into hot water thanks to his dizzy daughter. Bob Denver adds a few minor chuckles as a beatnik college student, while John McGiver plays the stereotypical staid stick in the mud businessman. One thing the script does get right in this unbelievable version of a forgotten Broadway hit is the description of Dee as "Cuckoo, the Bird Girl", unintentionally getting pop into trouble, but he's no rocket scientist either. There have been much better films (comic and dramatic) about the generation gap, here proving that the gap is located between both generation's ears. The film is too episodic to really grab the viewer completely, stuck in its decade and locked on its reels with superglue. Poor Meadows is sadly wasted as the stereotypical mom, no different than Joan Bennett was in "Father of the Bride", window dressing only. Unlike the quietly ignored Spencer Tracy in that film, though, Stewart keeps making a fool out of himself, perhaps a good reason as to why pop always pays but never gets involved. Pretty photography in exotic settings doesn't hide the film's mediocrity, complete with some truly stinky songs, including one about Paris that I hope to never hear again, especially as sung by the tone deaf Ms. Dee.

slymusic Of the three comedies that my favorite actor James Stewart made for 20th Century Fox from 1962 to 1965, I like "Take Her, She's Mine" the best. The reason I do is because of all the trouble that Stewart's character, a lawyer/father/school board president named Frank Michaelson, inadvertently gets himself into. (If you have not yet seen this comedy, do not read any further!) Not the least of Frank's hassles is the fact that he is constantly being mistaken for James Stewart, an inside joke that I think is great! All of Frank's various bizarre actions appear in the newspapers, and he is forced to explain them to his school board, lest he be dismissed. The main gist of the whole mess is this: he merely wanted to make sure his teenage daughter Mollie (Sandra Dee) stays out of trouble when she goes to college and subsequently when she attends a Parisian art school.The three major newspaper stories, and the events leading up to them (as Frank explains to the school board in flashback), are nothing short of amusing. The first story involves Frank, Mollie, and other college kids fighting with cops at a sit-in to protest local censorship. The second story shows Frank being arrested by gendarmes at a Parisian bordello with a pretty young Chinese girl (Irene Tsu) clinging to him, when all he wanted to do was call a taxi! The third story shows Frank in his underwear jumping off a riverboat; he attends a masquerade party as Daniel Boone, in order to meet the parents of Mollie's lover Henri Bonnet (Philippe Forquet), but Frank's costume rips apart! Here are just a couple of other memorable highlights from "Take Her, She's Mine." While Frank, his wife Anne (Audrey Meadows), and their younger daughter Liz (Charla Doherty) listen to Mollie's demo record, a boy's voice on the recording can be heard saying, "Hey, take it off, baby!" And Frank raises the ire of Mollie's Parisian roommates when he asks them a rather personal question about their doings."Take Her, She's Mine" may not have been a big box office success, but it is still, in my opinion, an entertaining comedy. James Stewart does as well as could be expected and is quite funny. Watch for Bob Denver in a supporting role as well!

catchclaw An all around fun movie from a time when they didn't have to rely on foul language, sex, and violence for their plots. I had never seen Sandra Dee in anything other than her Gidget roles. Wish they made movies like that today - a comedy that was actually funny. :)