Father’s Little Dividend (1951) - film review

With his daughter Kay now happily married, Stanley Banks thinks that his worries are over.  How wrong he is.  Just when everything appears to be going swimmingly, Kay drops her bombshell – she is expecting a baby!  The spectre of sleepless nights and soiled nappies swoops down on Stanley when his wife Ellie suggests that Kay and her husband, Buckley, move into their house.  Stanley cannot be more relieved when Buckley decides to take out a mortgage on his own property.  But that is not an end to the nightmare, oh no.  When the in-laws aren’t fighting over the unborn child’s Christian name and trying to out-do each other in their choice of furnishings for the nursery, Stanley is called upon to patch things up when Kay and Buckley fall out.  Finally, the big day comes.  A bouncing little boy is born, and you’d have thought that would be an end to the tension and strife.  No, Stanley’s nightmare has just begun...

The eagerly awaited sequel to Father of the Bride (1950) sees a grouchier than usual Spencer Tracy reunited with Joan Bennett and a youthful Elizabeth Taylor for another entertaining round of domestic mayhem.  Although dwarfed by Vincente Minnelli’s subsequent big budget productions, this low key affair shows the director’s flair for comedy and his ability to get the best from his performers.  Father’s Little Dividend has its share of delights, a film that is both amusing and true-to-life in its portrayal of a father’s anxieties over the birth of his first grandchild. 

Spencer Tracy may appear to be the definitive grumpy old man but, beneath that hard-bitten waspish exterior, there’s beats a tender heart, as can be seen in his gentler scenes with Taylor, which are amongst the most poignant and humane of his career.  Father’s Little Dividend is perhaps too banal to be ranked along side Minnelli’s best films, but it is nonetheless an enjoyable excursion into sitcom land, and highly recommended for expectant grandpas.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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