A very old movie who shows all its years, but nice :-) It has a young James Stewart in it :-) and the most bizarre family ever :-p but of course it's very much unrealistic, like stories in fairytales, it totally lacks any sense of reality. It's like a Romeo and Juliet story with a happy ending.
It's about two family, a poor/bizarre one and the other very rich and snob. The rich family sees Mr Kirby (Edward Arnold) as a man who thinks only about money, his annoying and tremendously snob wife (Mary Forbes) and their adorable son Tony (James Stewart :-p). He falls in love with his secretary, Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), but obviously his parents and specially his mother strongly opposes the affair.
On the other side we have the bizarre family of Mr Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) who once had a proper, regular job like Mr Kirby, until one day he realized he was working all the time but he wasn't having any fun, so he went out and never went back :-p Since then, he decided to do only what he liked to do, which seems a lovely idea, but of course it is in this film where nobody puts him in jail or takes away his house because he hasn't paid any taxes at all in the last.. I don't know maybe 50 years, I think he wasn't even married yet when he decided to change life, and now he's Alice's grandpa.
In real life that would not be possible.
His family has been taught to live like that, doing only what they want to do, so there is his daughter Penny who at moment writes screenplays (using a little kitty to hold the papers together :-p) but it's not clear what she eventually does with them. She's married to Paul, who makes firecrackers, and they're Alice's parents.
They have another daughter, Essie, who is a good cook and makes terrific cakes and cookies, but she likes to dance so she goes around the house always dancing, and has a hideous teacher coming to see her every evening (I don't know if he comes every evening, but for sure he never comes in the afternoon, he always arrives in time for dinner..). Essie is married to Ed, who I don't remember what he does, but he sure likes to play a musical instrument I don't know the name of, and Ed and Essie are madly in love and made for each other.
Paul works downstairs in their laboratory, with Mr DePinna who was once the iceman that came knowing on their door nine years ago and was invited to stay for a while and he never left :-p
Mr Vanderhof meets Mr Poppins at the bank, and invites him to stay too, because he doesn't like his job there, and because he likes to make up things, invent new things. How lovely is that thing he shows, that flowery-vase with the little white rabbit coming out :-)
They are all happy and love each other :-) The only modern thing about this movie is a line that Mr Vanderhof says talking to Penny: "Lincoln said: 'with malice toward none, with charity for all'; nowadays they say 'think the way I do or I'll bomb the daylights out of you' " :lol: quite true.
Now, Mr Kirby has a big business all planned, but to make it work he needs to buy the whole 12 blocks of , what a coincidence, Mr Vanderhof neighbourhood, but he owns his own house and has no intention of selling, because too many memories of his late wife are connected with that old house.
He doesn't know it at first, though, and goes to Mr Vanderhof house because Alice wants Tony's parents to meet her family and be done with it :-p Alike knows all too well that his mother doesn't approve of her, and tries her best to arrange a nice dinner, preparing everything with the help and cooperation of her family. Unfortunately (:-p) Tony doesn't want them to pretend, he wants his parents to know them for what they really are, so he and his parents (unaware of his trick) come a day earlier, when nobody was waiting for them, and they see Essie dancing around in a tutu, with her hideous "Russian" teacher, Ed playing his music, grandpa throwing darts and Penny painting Mr DePinna: a real mess. When the Kirbys realize the mistake, they're very polite , but the night is a complete disaster; it was already going badly, but then the police comes in, believing them all revolutionaries. Because of their intrusion, the fireworks go off in the laboratory, and they are all arrested. While in jail, Kirby learns that Vanderhof is the one who won't sell his house, and believes it all a plan to use his son to get to him; at this point Vanderhof looses it and makes a big speech on how Kirby is living an empty life, full of money that he won't be able to take with him when his time will come but without any friends. Later he apologizes for his words.
When they go all before the judge, Kirby has like four or five lawyers, I don't remember, and Vanderhof none. I really liked that judge, and how he couldn't help smiling and laughing at the Vanderhof story and all the fracas that came.
Vanderhof must pay 100 dollars because making fireworks in his own house without any legal permit is a serious thing, and although Kirby offers to pay it, he won't accept it. The 100 dollars are paid by the room full of friends, things that impresses Kirby. He has lots of lawyers, but Vanderhof has lots of friends.
Mrs Kirby is still coldly on her positions, and wants to hide the real reason why they were at that house, and Mr Vanderhof tries to lie to help Kirby, but Alice won't stand for it. She comes forward and tells the real reason; Tony backs her up, but maybe a little too late, and now she's very angry, she's the one who doesn't want to be related to them. She says it all then storms out and goes away.
The papers report that Tony's mother said "just an ambitious stenographer" of her.
Alice has gone away and nobody knows where she is, and for once her family is no more happy and dancing, they are all sad. Tony comes looking for her or for news about where she might be, but they don't know and can't tell him. Finally she writes to them, but she says she can't come back because she wants to forget all about it and can't do it there, so Grandpa decides to sell the house and go near her.
Mr Kirby starts having his doubts, remembering a bit of conscience, but not enough to stop him from going through with his business, until Tony comes in saying that he quits his job and wants to go away. Tony says he never liked the job at the bank, and that lately he was keeping at it only because of Alice but now there's no point, and has come to say goodbye.
Mr Kirby wanted to make him president of whatever he was about to do, but now it all probably seems vane to him. So much that he walks out of the bank without a word to anybody, not signing the deal.
Alice hears about the selling of the house and comes back to stop it. Tony arrives and seeing her tries to talk to her, but she's still angry.
Kirby goes to Vanderhof and finds a empty house (because they are moving) but grandpa is still there, and welcomes him in. Kirby asks his advice and help regarding Tony, and grandpa suggests playing together their harmonicas, and something will happen.
They play together, and hearing the music Ed comes in and joins in, and Essie starts dancing, and Alice and Tony comes down to see what's going on, and Kirby sees his son, and finally nods his approval and Alice is all happy and hugs Tony, while Mrs Kirby simply faints :-p
It all ends with them eating all together :-)
ITA l'eterna illusione
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento