Alicia I love this movie so much

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

vincentlynch-moonoi What is it that makes a very, very few actors stand out among the rest? I'm not sure, but Cary Grant had it. Whether drama or comedy or something in between, it made no difference. Cary Grant was a master of the media. And it shows here.Add to that Sophia Loren. As a kid in that era, I dreamed of Sophia Loren and thought she was the most beautiful woman (along with Lana Turner) on earth.Together on screen there is unmistakable chemistry...and why not...there had been a torrid affair in real life not long before this film was made.The story itself is not terribly unique, but it's a good story of a widower who is led to rediscover his children by a mystery woman he thinks is a poor Italian girl. There's lots of humor along the way, some schmaltz, but also some very good performance by the three child actors (including Paul Peterson). In fact, this film treats the children as human beings.Along with Cary and Sophia is a favorite second-tier actress of mine -- Martha Hyer, a terribly underrated actress.I never tire of watching this film. It's a gem.

screenman Following hot on the heels of that enjoyable period romp 'The Pride & The Passion' came 'Houseboat'.A gracefully-ageing Carry Grant had developed an infatuation with hot-to-trot Sohia Loren whilst making the earlier movie, and his off-screen extra-marital dalliance with her became the gossip of Hollywood. (Looking at Ms Loren in either movie it is hard to imagine how even 'ol blue eyes' managed to keep his powder dry). It was almost inevitable, then, that Grant and Loren would be cast together in some follow-up outing.'Houseboat' is a typical Hollywood schmaltz-fest. But there are, I think, several features that save it from the sin-bin. First and foremost is Sophia Loren. And I don't think I'm betraying a hormone problem when I say that she is both the sexiest and most beautiful woman ever to grace the cinema screen. I find it hard to believe that any red-blooded male could feature opposite her and not be encumbered with a spontaneous erection. Grant's wife must have been an imbecile to let him anywhere near her. However.Carry Grant is not my particular taste in heroes. He strikes the diffident pose as the American interpretation of an English gentleman, and that, along with his oleaginous voice endues him with an air of shallow pomposity, one that is ripe for a moral lesson. Which is usually the role he plays. At best; he's a one-dimensional actor, but he's good at what he does, when he does it right. And he does it right here.His and Ms Loren's arrival at the houseboat is a classic piece of contrived, circuitous Hollywood light melodrama. Grant plays a widower with three comparatively estranged kids, Loren is a disaffected Italian tomboy turned society-girl masquerading as a housemaid.At their arrival on the boat, Grant's character already has a love interest, but she can see what Grant evidently can't; that it isn't safe for him to have a housemaid/nanny like the voluptuous Ms Loren. (This writer would have traded-up in about 10 minutes). Things hinge upon this love-triangle. The other actors are scripted merely to pad their romance out. Basically; its 'The Sound Of Music' but without the songs, scenery or swastikas.There's the usual comedy of manners. Ms Loren's character has already flipped for Grant, but he hasn't noticed. In the meantime, she has spent a lot of time with his kids and become something of a mother/big sister to them all. But not quite. There is a very subtle and rather tragic little bi-line, because the eldest son is at the cusp of puberty and just about old enough to have developed a puppy-love for his comely nanny. Which, of course - like Grant - she hasn't noticed either. In her moments of dejection, he has been a leal companion and has misconstrued her confidences and the strength and substance of her feelings towards him.To anyone who can remember being in such a predicament, the whole thing is presented with great fidelity, including the boy's peremptory rejection - he is still just a boy, and that's only how the nanny sees him - and his painful disappointment with a sense of betrayal. The 'child' actor (I think it's Paul Petersen) turns in a very creditable performance and I truly grieve for his juvenile distress, having been there myself.Finally, the hitherto dowdily-dressed Ms Loren is provided with an outfit that fully flaunts her astonishing figure and Mr Grant's loins are are last aroused to the perfectly bleeding obvious.Yes; it's (for the most part) a predictable schmaltz-fest. Much of the backdrop is painted and elements of the houseboat look very artificial; yet that needn't spoil one's pleasure. That its production has the look of a stage play never compromises the story, players, or their skillful portrayal.Everyone makes a good turn, especially - as mentioned - the kids. Excellent Werner Klemperer (Hogan's Heroes) brings his own light comic touch. But for me (biased by my hormones) the movie is a cinch for Sophia Loren, who moves between a child-like persona and full-blown womanhood with an intelligence and subtlety that is the mark of a great actress.Don't let the critics discourage you. If you analyse production values it may seem pretty weak, but if you look for its more enduring qualities there's a lot of pleasure to be had.

laddie5 Aside from his Hitchcock movies and "Charade," this is virtually the only watchable movie Cary Grant made after 1944. It's really just one more of the bland family-friendly sitcoms that blight his later career, but more interesting than most for a couple of reasons. One is the passel of motherless kids, who for a change are convincingly sullen, bitter and unreachable until a brief last-minute conversion. The other is the presence of Sophia Loren -- raw-boned, gauche, gorgeous, and in real life determined not to become the fourth Mrs. Grant. The movie is contrived and totally unconvincing, but the two stars' tortured feelings for each other keep seeping through, giving many scenes an edgy tension you can't shake off. Loren's artless singing of the fine ballad "Almost in Your Arms" is haunting; their subsequent dance has an emotional fierceness that practically burns a hole in the screen.

edwagreen Cary Grant and Sophia Loren in a romantic comedy about a man who was to be divorced only to lose his wife in a car accident. She has left him with 3 precocious children. He has neglected them as he is a government official.The children are filled with love but despair. In the midst of this is Martha Hyer, Grant's sister-in-law, who has recently separated from her husband and has confessed openly that she wants Grant.In the interim, we have a lovely Sophia Loren, who wishes to break away from her conductor father. Meeting Loren by chance, the film focuses how they fall in love.Everything seems to be going on track until the children, who at first loved Cinzia, (Loren) are upset that they may be losing their dad to this marriage. Of course, we still have Hyer who nearly marries her brother-in-law.Hyer captures the same upper-class figure that she expressed so well in "Some Came Running." She received a supporting nomination the same year for the latter film.There is also a nice supporting performance by Harry Guardino as a gigolo. It is his incompetence that leads all to the houseboat.The film belongs to Grant and Miss Loren. They truly capture the feeling of a daring government employee who tries to redeem himself among his children and a woman who seeks love desperately.The film is also memorable as it depicts class status.