Father Goose

I'm a great fan of Cary Grant. He's one of my favorite actors and I was fortunate to meet him in October 1986 in Dallas, Texas, at the Princess Grace Foundation Gala. He was as charming in person as he is on the silver screen. I love Cary Grant's movies and "Father Goose" is by far one of his funniest and most underrated. The first time I saw this movie was December 1965 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, NY, with my parents, brother and sister. We waited 3 1/2 hours in line to get into the theater and my Dad kept running to get hot chocolate for all of us to help keep warm. But the wait was well worth it! We saw a beautiful rendition of the Nativity Show on the stage with real animals - sheep, camels, etc. Then the Rockettes came out and did their Wooden Soldiers routine and a group of singers sang the song "More'. The stage show was awesome! Then "Father Goose" was shown and I remember everyone just laughing and laughing through the whole movie! Especially my Dad - he laughed the most! It is one of my fondest Christmas memories. I just watched this movie again last night and still laughed out loud! It's timeless - Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, the children and the whole cast are excellent! If you want to see a good, fun family film, this is the one to see!

I first saw Father Goose in 1965 during its record breaking run at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. It has remained one of my favorites of all time. I enjoy the high entertainment value, but I've come to appreciate the realistic anti-war message that it presents, "I've made peace with the world,... " (Walter). This message was delivered prior to the escalation in Vietnam and the realization of that sad mistake. It also comes prior to the anti-war films such as Full Metal Jacket which go a little bit over the top so one can really appreciate the genuine quality of the message. Furthermore, the message is compounded in its importance because an alternative positive life-style, that of two strangers taking responsibility for the care and up-bringing of seven girls, is presented as a substitute for the mindlessness of violence.

I have a certain fondness for this 1964 movie because it is one of the earliest I remember seeing in the back of my parents' 1963 Rambler station wagon at the now-defunct Burlingame Drive-In near San Francisco. The film's catchy theme song, "Pass Me By", was in my head for years. In the intervening years, I have come to recognize Cary Grant's immaculate precision as a comic actor, and even playing a grizzled, alcoholic beachcomber like Walter Eckland, he still exudes the sharp wit and crack timing that is his hallmark. In fact, Grant is at the top of his game here. Sharply written by Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff, the story revolves around Eckland's futile attempts to remain reclusive aboard his boat tooling around the South Pacific. Unfortunately, WWII is raging on, and the British Navy need to use him as a hidden spotter of Japanese fighter planes. He is tricked into the role and remains shipwrecked manning his post on an isolated island. Enter Catherine Freneau, a priggish French schoolteacher, who has been stranded on another island with seven schoolgirls. Eckland fetches them, and they all cohabitate with inevitable shenanigans occurring. Director Ralph Nelson, who generally made relatively lightweight fare, keeps the story fairly facile until they come under attack and a suspenseful element is carried through to the end. In what turned out to be his last leading role, romantic or otherwise, Grant was applauded at the time for dispensing with his suave manner to inhabit this character, but actually it's a throwback to the everyman characters he played in "Only Angels Have Wings" and "Gunga Din". The difference is that at age sixty, he displays his talents as both romantic comedy lead and action hero with such seasoned adroitness. As Catherine, Leslie Caron demonstrates just how greatly underrated she is as a comedy actress. Even though her character threatens to be strenuously rigid, she conveys Catherine's vulnerability with subtle nuance and also has a very funny drunk scene where she gets to show off her ballet dancer gams. Grant and Caron have great chemistry. Trevor Howard dryly plays Eckland's friendly adversary, Commander Houghton, who transmits instructions by ham radio, and the girls are all gratefully portrayed with individual personalities. I have always been impressed how this film maintains its light heart and humor even though it's clear that the wartime setting is a critical element of the plot. It remains good, solid entertainment.

No this is not one of the greatest comedies of all time, but it is one of Grant's best comedic performances. He is at the very top of his game. Every movement, every gesture is well nigh perfect. It looks effortless on his part but it is all well thought out. Grant doesn't so much steal his scenes as make all the other actors seem funnier. The usually pleasant Leslie Caron rises to nearly Audrey Hepburn status in his presence. Film historian David Thomson called Cary Grant the finest actor in Hollywood history and Time critic Richard Schickel once called him "a technician of genius". Watch Grant closely in this film and see why.

WWII misadventures of a grizzled beachcomber and a prim, needling female schoolteacher and her gaggle of refugee schoolchildren on a South Seas island, all sharing one ramshackle hut and hiding from the Japanese. Family-oriented comedy with a dash of harmless salt is hardly a step up from the live-action Disney films of this era, with only Cary Grant's ruffled panache holding interest. Both Cy Coleman's embarrassingly derivative score and the leadweight (Oscar-winning!) screenplay, co-written by Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff from S.H. Barnett's short story, keep trying for coy laughs which may be successful only with very patient 11-year old girls. Although a box-office hit in 1964, it is quite clear why Grant was losing interest in the movies at this point: he was being turned into an overage juvenile. *1/2 from ****

All poor Cary Grant wanted to do was sit out World War II in peace, but the British Navy and the Japanese in the Pacific had some other ideas. Drafted by his friend, Royal Navy Commander Trevor Howard into being a coast watcher on some Pacific tropic isle, Grant's problems multiply exponentially when he finds himself on the same island as Leslie Caron and several school girls, playing Father Goose. Ms. Caron is a schoolteacher with several young ladies in her charge and they've been stranded. Hard enough being a solitary coast watcher in the South Pacific in 1942, now he has to take care of several females as well. It's good to remember that this is not the dapper Cary Grant we're all used to seeing. Grant reversed type and did it quite successfully playing a combination of Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnut from The African Queen and Charles Laughton's Ginger Ted from The Beachcomber. With a little bit of John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn thrown in. Actually I think Grant most reminds of Laughton as Ginger Ted. Charlie Allnut went into World War I far more willingly than Grant did, and Rooster Cogburn if nothing else was about doing his duty albeit in his own fashion. But Grant's Walter Eckland is definitely Ginger Ted if Laughton had gotten himself dragooned into being a coast-watcher. Father Goose is a nice change of pace for Cary Grant and there's a bit of Elsa Lanchester and Katharine Hepburn in Leslie Caron's portrayal as the spinster schoolteacher. Though Grant likes his liquor as much as Wayne, Bogart, and Laughton did, in this film we've got a reverse situation. He has to give Caron some medicinal alcohol when he thinks she's snake bitten. It's the best scene in the film. Father Goose is not in the first rank of Cary Grant films, but it's pleasant enough entertainment. It turned out to be his next to last film and he was lucky enough to go out as people remembered him.

I wouldn't dare say this was an extremely great movie, but it was pretty good, I enjoyed it. I think this is the first Cary Grant movie I've ever seen and I thought he did a fine job with his role. Some of his reactions are just hilarious! There are quite a few times though where you really feel for Cary Grant's character, because he gets completely over-run by the women that he is forced to provide for. In the end though, everyone seems to get along. All I can really say about the film is that it's a pretty interesting story with some interesting turn of events and some good comedy. I wouldn't recommend the film to everyone, but if you're interested, go ahead and take a peak. I hope you enjoy the film. -Chris

A pack of school girls in uniform and caps running around in constant tropical heat? Food and water never a priority and nobody showing a trace of sweat? This movie is so silly and unbelievable the comedy seems to be straining and never hits home. Cary Gant and Trevor Howard put in good performances. But I don't know how these fine actors could have resisted smirking and scoffing at this silly script. With all the alcohol consumption tagged as funny and frivolous by the storyline, no wonder Trevor Howard became a serious alcoholic and later succumbed as a result. The World War 2 setting as backdrop for a situation comedy rivals Hogan's Heroes. If this had been a story about survival on a tropical island during the war, even with some comedy, it might have worked. But the party-like atmosphere and antics under what would really be fear and hardship makes it simply silly, vapid, and uninteresting. A waste of acting talent and energy.

Have seen this movie many times.. Cary Grant at his best! In real life, Cary is in his 60's and Caron is in her 30's. But the age difference doesn't even come into play here. They seem to fit perfectly. See it, you won't be sorry!

If you are looking for comparisons and don't mind a bit of a stretch, then you can consider "Father Goose" (1964) as another version of "Bringing Up Baby". In both Cary Grant gets to play a character experiencing a host of aggravations. Leslie Caron's Catherine Frenau is not as zany as Hepburn's Susan, but still manages to irritate Grant for most of the film until he finally realizes that he is in love with her. And instead of a leopard and a dog running amuck in rural Connecticut, "Father Goose" features seven schoolgirls of various nationalities running amuck on a Pacific island during WWII. Everything works pretty well in this film although Grant is not quite up to an American accent so there are several awkward moments with the script. And the age difference makes the Grant-Caron romance unconvincing. Fortunately the producers skate over the romantic elements. In fact, the romance is treated so superficially that you wonder why they bothered to insert it into the story. A similar romance got much the same treatment that year in "My Fair Lady". The film's real strength is the interaction between Grant and the seven schoolgirls as it manages a fair amount of believable characterization for each of them. The initially silent Jenny (Sharyl Locke), tomboy Harry (Jennifer Berrington), chronic complainer Anne (Pip Sparke), Elizabeth (Stephanie Berrington) and her imaginary friend Gretchen, coming of age Christine (Venina Greenlaw), and the French twins (Laurelle and Nichole Felsette). All have distinct personalities and it is obvious that Grant had a lot of fun working with each of them; so much so that he stayed in touch with them even after they grew up, married, and started their own families. Grant's Walter Eckland is an American drifter hoping the war will just pass him by; illustrated during the opening credits by Digby Wolfe singing "Pass Me By" as Eckland (with an unwanted hitchhiking Pelican) steers his boat into the harbor. The war catches up with him there when the Harbor Master (Trevor Howard) tricks him into taking a coast-watching job until a replacement can be found. His job is reporting by radio any movements by Japanese planes and ships near his island station. The reluctant recruit is rewarded with a bottle of whiskey (previously hidden somewhere on the island by the Royal Navy) each time one of his reports is confirmed. Walter seems to thrive on this assignment until he has to share his island with a French teacher Catherine Frenau (Leslie Caron) and seven young charges. Miss Frenau hides the remaining whiskey bottles and the females take over Walter's hut. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.