Everyone knows Vincente Minnelli’s beloved family comedy Father of the Bride (1950), even if contemporary audiences probably came to it through the cute but maudlin Steve Martin version. And yet Father’s Little Dividend has not been enshrined in the hallowed halls of Classical Hollywood favorites, even though there was a Father of the Bride: Part II starring Martin, which was another hit with Baby Boomers, and it derived largely from Minnelli’s 1951 sequel. The original 1950 film is certainly dated by its idealization of patriarchal and consumerist domestic life (although I would argue that the remake is more conservative). No wonder it inspired a short-lived sitcom on CBS for the 1961/62 season. Put all that aside, though, and you can’t deny the film’s indelible wit, grace, and charm, not to mention a pinch of satire. Dividend is just as good, maybe better—there’s Minnelli’s sophisticated directorial flourishes, the wise and sentimental Albert Hackett-Frances Goodrich script, and, of course, the bubbly star appeal of Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor that's as intoxicating as a bottle of champagne. Look, I like wild and crazy Steve, but his films are not just on another page, they’re in a whole different book. Tracy and Bennett reprise their roles as bourgeois American couple Stanley and Ellie Banks, who learn that their newlywed daughter Kay (Taylor) is pregnant. Having survived the frantic marriage of the first film, Stanley now confronts the anxieties of grandfatherhood. I'm a stranger here myself
- Will Scheibel
- I teach in the Department of Communication & Culture at Indiana University, where I am completing my Ph.D. in Film & Media Studies.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
From the cinematheque vaults: Father’s Little Dividend
Everyone knows Vincente Minnelli’s beloved family comedy Father of the Bride (1950), even if contemporary audiences probably came to it through the cute but maudlin Steve Martin version. And yet Father’s Little Dividend has not been enshrined in the hallowed halls of Classical Hollywood favorites, even though there was a Father of the Bride: Part II starring Martin, which was another hit with Baby Boomers, and it derived largely from Minnelli’s 1951 sequel. The original 1950 film is certainly dated by its idealization of patriarchal and consumerist domestic life (although I would argue that the remake is more conservative). No wonder it inspired a short-lived sitcom on CBS for the 1961/62 season. Put all that aside, though, and you can’t deny the film’s indelible wit, grace, and charm, not to mention a pinch of satire. Dividend is just as good, maybe better—there’s Minnelli’s sophisticated directorial flourishes, the wise and sentimental Albert Hackett-Frances Goodrich script, and, of course, the bubbly star appeal of Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor that's as intoxicating as a bottle of champagne. Look, I like wild and crazy Steve, but his films are not just on another page, they’re in a whole different book. Tracy and Bennett reprise their roles as bourgeois American couple Stanley and Ellie Banks, who learn that their newlywed daughter Kay (Taylor) is pregnant. Having survived the frantic marriage of the first film, Stanley now confronts the anxieties of grandfatherhood. 
