{"id":14953,"date":"2010-12-13T13:06:55","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T20:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14953"},"modified":"2021-01-28T00:37:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T07:37:35","slug":"mr-blandings-builds-his-dream-house-1948","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14953","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You&#8217;ve been taken to the cleaners, and you don&#8217;t even know your pants are off.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster-191x300.jpg 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster-82x128.jpg 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster-172x270.jpg 172w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Mr-Blandings-Poster.jpg 460w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 191px) 100vw, 191px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA city slicker (Cary Grant) and his wife (Myrna Loy) purchase a run-down house in Connecticut, against the advice of their well-meaning lawyer friend (Melvyn Douglas).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cary Grant Films<\/li>\n<li>City vs. Country<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Melvyn Douglas Films<\/li>\n<li>Myrna Loy Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nCary Grant and Myrna Loy were at the peak of their popularity when they starred together in this amiable comedy (based on the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mr._Blandings_Builds_His_Dream_House_%28novel%29\">bestselling novel by Eric Hodgins<\/a>) about an urban couple hoodwinked into purchasing an &#8220;idyllic&#8221; country home. The storyline is simple, and ripe for empathetic chuckles given its very topic: anyone who&#8217;s purchased a home &#8212; or longed to live in a place where the grass is presumably greener &#8212; will relate at least somewhat to their travails. My favorite scene (highlighted by many fans as well) shows <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0040613\/quotes?qt0330548\">Myrna Loy meticulously outlining her preferences in color schemes for various rooms<\/a>, only for the painter to label her choices simply as &#8220;red, green, blue, yellow, white&#8221;. Given its comedic potential, however, <em>Mr. Blandings&#8230;<\/em> unfortunately never emerges as anything more than a series of mildly amusing vignettes. A would-be romantic rivalry subplot involving Melvyn Douglas (who also narrates the film) falls flat, and the story builds to a surprisingly slight pay-off. While it&#8217;s certainly recommended for one-time viewing (and Cary Grant fans will doubtless want to check it out), this isn&#8217;t must-see for all film fanatics. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Several charmingly humorous scenes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-colors.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-colors.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-colors.png 576w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-colors-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-colors-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-plans.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-plans.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-plans.png 576w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-plans-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/mr-blandings-plans-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A number of memorable one-liners:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I refuse to endanger the lives of my children in a house with less than four bathrooms.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s recommended. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0040613\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/1808\/mr-blandings-builds-his-dream-house#articles-reviews?articleId=62886\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/mr-blandings-builds-his-dream-house\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve been taken to the cleaners, and you don&#8217;t even know your pants are off.&#8221; Synopsis: A city slicker (Cary Grant) and his wife (Myrna Loy) purchase a run-down house in Connecticut, against the advice of their well-meaning lawyer friend (Melvyn Douglas). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cary Grant Films City vs. Country Comedy Melvyn Douglas Films Myrna Loy Films Review: Cary Grant and Myrna Loy were at the peak of their popularity when they starred together in this amiable&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14953\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66525,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953\/revisions\/66525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}