Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)

“All those kids yours?” 

            Like most of my generation the first time I ever heard of the term or a movie called Cheaper by the Dozen was when the remake in 2003 came out. I actually had no idea the 2003 version with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt was even a remake until I became a fan of Myrna Loy. The only reason I sat through the newer Cheaper by the Dozen nine years ago (holy crap it seems like yesterday!) was because Tom Welling played the oldest son and at the time I was in love with him. Other than me loving Tom Welling I remember very little about the movie, well I do remember the line when someone asked Bonnie Hunt’s character about all her kids she replied “… well after the sixth one they just kind of walked out” haha.

            The original 1950 Cheaper By the Dozen with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb as the parents is very different than the 2003 version. Sure I guess the newer one modernized the story but I found the 1950 one to be nicer. For one the original is set in the 1920s when the real Gilberth lived (the story is based off their lives). It has more of an innocence and sweetness to it. The story really has no running plot like the new one, it goes through different periods and stories of the family’s life just as in real life.  

            Frank Gilbreth (Webb) is an efficiency expert who is sought after the country over. At the beginning of the film the family only has eleven kids and they live in New England. Frank comes home from work one day and tells his family that he was offered a new job in Montclair, NJ (hey Montclair!! Tell why this is special to me later). The kids are not happy at first but they have no choice. They all pile into their oversized car Frank has nicknamed Foolish Carriage because it is always breaking down.

            The family moves into a very nice large house in Montclair. The house is just right for the family of thirteen but not small enough for two servants to work. Frank calls a family meeting to discuss everyone having chores. The kids seem never to have done chores before and do not take kindly to starting them now. Lillian tells them if they do not make some sacrifices they will have to make cutbacks in other places like buying clothes or ice cream. Instead of wanting those things cut out of their lives all the older kids agree to help out.

            One day one of the kids gets sick with whooping cough. Some of the younger kids come home from school to see the doctor’s car parked outside and automatically think there is another baby on the way (which there is but it is not said). Frank says that there cannot be sickness in the house because it is like an epidemic. Which turns out to be the case, all eleven wind up sick at home with the cough.

            The twelfth baby to be born into the family is a boy Lillian and Frank name Robert. The scene in the hospital where Frank sees his new boy for the first time is very sweet. They talk about how from when they were married they planned on having twelve kids.

            On a summer afternoon a woman from the local birth control center comes to the house to speak to Lillian. The woman had spoken to a neighbor of theirs and told her to visit Lillian who is also a psychologist. Lillian plays a joke with the woman. She gets Frank telling him who is in the house and he calls down all the children. The woman is in shock that all the kids are theirs.

            The oldest daughter and child Ann (Jeanne Crain) is growing up. The family goes to the beach for a summer vacation and while there sees a boy from the high school she goes to is a life guard there. Ann also sees the girls who are wearing modern bathing suits that show a little more skin while hers is one from the teens. That night she cuts her hair and tells the next sister that she is doing it for her and the other sisters so that it will be easier for them to be free of the old ideals. Frank at first has a fit but eventually things calm down and he reluctantly accepts his daughter is growing up. During the school year Ann is asked to the prom. Frank refuses to let her go alone and chaperones her at the dance. All the girls and even some of the boys like Frank and sit and talk to him. They all think he is a great man.

            Frank has been given a great opportunity to travel to London and some of Europe to give lectures. The family is sad to see him go for such a long time but they know how much this opportunity means for his career.

            The ending is very sad for the family and comes from left field. For the entire film you come to love every single member and then the sadness comes and numbs even you like it does to them.

            I like the closeness of the family. I am the oldest of four and we are all very close no matter how much we argue and say we hate each other. I missed my brothers and parents terribly when I was away at school only an hour and a half away and when I went away to London for a month. The scene where Frank goes to the dance with Ann reminds me of me and my dad. My dad gets on my nerves to absolutely no end we fight and argue more than anything. The problem is he does not know when to stop and thinks he is so funny when he is not. All our friends love our dad and think he is absolutely hysterical. Sometimes I will give in and give him a hug especially when I am upset over something. I always know that he will be there when I need him.

             I must warn you that while the film portrays the father as loving and somewhat close with his children you cannot watch it with modern eyes. Frank is very much a man from the early 1900s. As I said he was somewhat close with his children but not what we think of as a warm and loving relationship today. In terms of being modern and ahead of his times Frank did want all of his children to go to college including the girls. Lillian was most definitely an early 1900s wife taking care of the children and pretty much doing whatever her husband says and letting him take control of situations. But she was also a working woman she was a rare woman for the time she obtained her degree in psychology which meant she went to college. She also had the inner strength and courage most women had at the time. In the end she becomes the strong mother and the strong woman who takes over and is respected.

            Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb were great in their roles but they would not have been my first choice to play Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. I kept thinking to a quote of Loy’s as I watched her play mother to all these kids: “Some perfect wife I am. I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg.” Loy just looked uncomfortable and awkward playing this part with all the kids around. I noticed even when she was in The Thin Man films and in the third one they made Nick and Nora have a kid, she just looked awkward around kids. I am so used to her as this bold 1930s woman matching wits with the guys and spouting off these wisecracks that no matter how many times I see her in her later roles as “the perfect wife” and mother she just seems awkward and odd. Of all her films I have seen Loy never gave any of her performances less than one hundred percent. Her best scene is at the end where Lillian has to become the rock of the family. She puts on a brave face and tells her oldest children what she is bravely going to do and how they can help. That to me was pure, wonderful Myrna Loy. No matter how many times she has had to toughen up in her films that never gets old because that is her and she played the quiet bravery and toughness to perfection. In her autobiography Loy tells how she got the part: “… Daryl Zanuck offered me the role of Lillian Gilbreth in Cheaper by the Dozen. What an irony! Zanuck, who typed me as the sloe-eyed exotic at Warners, casting me as the wholesome mother of twelve.” This quote is interesting to think about especially if you have seen any of her early films where she played the exotics or the mean girls. Loy definitely came a long way from those days. She goes on to say how she should have fought like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford not to play perfect wife roles with children but at the time she was more concerned with her political work. She did read the novel by the real Lillian Gilbreth and it did seem like a good role for her.

            Clifton Webb to me is just an odd choice to play a father. The man always seems like such a flame in his other films and like Loy seems so awkward around children. But what do I know he was perfect for the role. Jeanne Crain wrote for Loy’s autobiography that while Loy was calm and submissive Webb was all over the place he was very demanding and temperamental. Loy herself wrote that he would try to move her out of the way of the camera and bully her a bit like he would when he acted on stage and this almost drove the cinematographer off the film. Crain wrote that while Webb would be everywhere else Loy remained quiet and let Webb fly off the handle and that it is amazing to see how great their chemistry was on screen.

            Jeanne Crain was adorable as Ann. I never saw her in a film before (or so I think) I thought she was very good and I very much look forward to seeing her in more films. Crain was not very happy that the studio was making her do this film because she had just made the dramatic film Pinky and really liked doing that she did not want to be playing a fifteen year old. Zanuck got to her though by saying that soon no one would be asking her to play a fifteen year old anymore. Crain said she had a great time making the film especially working with Loy who she had adored for years and looked to as an idol.

            Oh, let me tell you why I loved the Montclair, New Jersey location: I went to college at Montclair State University and had many fun nights driving around the town with my roommate and her friends. The main entrance to the campus is on this gorgeous road called Valley Road with all this beautiful houses and a nice little town center. As soon as I saw the house in the film I wondered if it was on Valley Road. Even the houses down the side streets are beautiful. If I ever make enough money to buy a house in Montclair I will definitely be moving up there. Also any New Jersey reference I love, especially in old films and this one even more so because no one was making fun of the state.

            Cheaper by the Dozen is a very well made film with a great cast down from Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy and Jeanne Crain to the youngest kid. I cringed a bit with all the kids because I could never imagine living in a house with that many kids (my great-grandma is the youngest of sixteen!). There are several themes throughout the film but I liked how the family was very close. I loved Cheaper by the Dozen pretty much right from the beginning and I am sure when you see it you will too.

 

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)



I'll never let you go. Never, never, never.

Leave Her to Heaven is a story about a psychotically jealous woman who “loves too much” and wants whatever she loves all to herself.

            The film starts off as Dick Harland (Cornell Wilde) arrives back at his home called Back of the Moon. He has been in jail for two years. As Dick rows away to his home, his lawyer is asked what happened to him by a man sitting with him. From here the story of the movie is told as a flashback.

            On a train to New Mexico, Dick Harland meets a beautiful woman. She stares at him and he notices. She apologizes telling him he looks so much like her father. The two get to talking when he comes and sits next to her. He says something to her and she realizes she just read them in her book. He says he was the writer of the book and they introduce each other. Her name is Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) a young socialite.

When the train pulls into the station Ellen says it is her stop, Dick is so taken by her he doesn’t realize the stop is his as well. Once they are off the train they are met by the same people; Ellen’s mother and step sister Ruth and their family friends. Dick is going to their home to start writing his new novel.

            At the house, Dick sees that Ellen is wearing an engagement ring. She’s currently engaged to Russell Quinton who is running for district attorney. A few days later Dick is sitting outside typing up his novel. Ruth is above him hanging some flowers on a walkway and the two start to talk. From the pool next to where Dick is, Ellen swims up. He notices the ring is not longer on her finger. That night Russell comes down to New Mexico to talk to Ellen. The talk does not work and he leaves in silence as everyone in the living room watches him walk out the door. Before Russell had come, Ellen announced to everyone that she and Dick were to be married. This comes a surprise to Dick so after Russell he talks to her. She proposes to him and soon after they are married.

            Dick has a teenage brother named Danny who (for an unknown reason) cannot walk well on his own. Instead of going on a real honeymoon, Dick and Ellen honeymoon in Georgia where Danny has been staying in an outpatient home. Ellen seems to like Danny. She spends a lot of time with him and helping him move around. When Dick suggests they all go home to Back of the Moon Ellen goes to the head doctor pleading with him not to release Danny to tell Dick that Danny is not ready to leave. The doctor said there is no reason why Danny has to stay any longer he can go home for a while. Ellen says that she and Dick have not had any time alone together since they got married they just came to Georgia and they’ve been with Danny. When Dick walks in Ellen goes from being sort of angry to happy for show.

            At Back of the Moon, when Ellen wakes up in the morning she immediately goes over to Dick’s bed and wakes him up to spend some time with him. The walls are paper thin, Danny knocks on the wall and he and Dick start talking. Ellen is at once upset. The next scene is of Ellen in the kitchen with the house helper Thorn who is a long time friend of Dick’s. She tells Thorn that she can make breakfast and set the table herself she did not need any help (this goes back to a talk she and Dick had about once they settle somewhere they can hire a maid. Ellen doesn’t want one because she wants to do everything for him). As she sets the table with Thorn she tells him of a nightmare she had: she was out on a rowboat in the middle of the lake while Dick was in the water, Dick started to drowned but she could not move the boat her arms would not move the paddles she just stood and by the time she realized Dick was in serious trouble he had drowned.

            Later on, Ellen walks over to where Dick has been typing up his story. She does not like that a lot of his time has been spent writing the book and not with her. All the sudden a boat is coming up the lake, in the boat is Ellen’s mother and step-sister Ruth- Dick has surprised her by inviting them over. Ellen is furious and the whole time they are at the house she is on edge and nasty. Dick gets along nicely with Ruth; teasingly he calls her The Girl With the Hoe after he saw her outside gardening one day. A few days later Ellen’s mother tells Dick that she and Ruth are going to be leaving. He asks what’s wrong with Ellen and the mother replies “There’s nothing wrong with Ellen it’s just that she loves too much.” Dick is now beginning to see there is something wrong with his new wife.

            Ellen and Danny sit on a boat in the lake. They talk about going to her family home in Bar Harbor. Danny is going to be attending school in the town. Ellen says that Dick does not want to leave Back of the Moon before his book is finished that Danny can go on before them. He says that he’ll wait for Dick and Ellen so the three of them can go to Bar Harbor together. The look on Ellen’s face is pure hatred and anger. Danny says he is going to swim all the way to the other side of the lake. Ellen follows behind him in the rowboat encouraging him to keep going. Danny starts to get tired and his muscles begin to cramp. Ellen sits and stares in anger and anticipation as Danny drowns in front of him. She hears Dick whistling at the house, she immediately yells Danny’s name, throws off her sunglasses and jacket and jumps into the water. Dick jumps in the water and swims out his brother.



             Dick sits on a beach in Bar Harbor saddened by the loss of Danny. Ellen cannot understand why Dick is out there all alone. She does not realize that killing Danny only made things worse; Danny is all Dick can think about. Ruth suggests to Ellen that maybe they should have a baby to bring some happiness. The wheels in Ellen’s head start turning; she thinks if she does get pregnant that Dick will spend more time with her and she will just be his main focus.

            A few months later Ellen is still unhappy; she can’t go out anywhere, in her mind the baby is making her a prisoner and she feels Dick is not paying any attention to her at all. To top off her jealousy and hatred her father’s former laboratory has been turned into a nursery for the baby and she goes out of her mind. One day she sees Dick and Ruth coming back from town together where it seems like they were having a good time together without her. You can see the jealousy on her face and the wheels turning in her head as she creates a new scheme.

            Ellen is her room with Ruth. She can’t stand the sight of herself and the thought of the baby. She says to Ruth “Look at me, I hate this little thing. I want it to die.” When Ruth leaves Ellen comes up with an idea; she put on a long nightgown and sandals with heels and walks to the stairs. The evil, nasty look on Ellen’s face when she comes to the top of the stairs is heart stopping you cannot believe this woman is going ahead with this awful plan. In the hospital the doctor tells Dick that Ellen is alright but the baby boy did not survive.

            A few weeks later Dick’s book new book comes in the mail. Ellen opens it and she sees the dedication says “To the Girl with the Hoe.” Her jealousy starts up with a fury. Ruth told Dick that he should have dedicated the book to Ellen and all of his books for that matter but he did not listen. Dick comes back and has it out with Ellen. He cannot understand why she is jealous with everything and questions everything he does. During this talk, Ellen confesses to killing Danny and to not wanting the baby and purposely falling down the stairs. Her reasoning is she did not want anything coming in between the two of them. Dick cannot believe what she has just said and tells her he is leaving her.

            The night Dick leaves Ellen goes down the basement where her father’s laboratory equipment has been moved. She takes out his container of arsenic and exchanges it with something from the bathroom. She then sits down and writes a letter.

             Dick is at the train station when he hears his name on the loudspeaker telling him he has a call. It’s Ruth she tells him Ellen is really sick. He goes back to Bar Harbor where Ellen is literally on her death bed. Her mother tells Dick she was fine this morning but all the sudden has gotten very sick. He goes to her, she tells him she loves him and that she wants to be cremated and her ashes scattered like her father’s.

            Ruth is later held for the murder of Ellen. The letter Ellen wrote was to Russell Quinton telling him she believes Ruth is after her and she is afraid of her sister. A bag of full of arsenic was found in the pocket of coat that was owned by Ruth which she had let Ellen borrow. Russell believes what Ellen had to say because he still has feelings for her. The evidence is damning against Ruth: Ellen was the only one who took sugar in her coffee and she had left her Will that she wanted to be buried in the family crypt not have her body cremated. The cremation of the body and her trip she had booked a few days before to Mexico makes Ruth look very guilty for murder. Russell yells and yells at Ruth asking her is she is in love with Dick. Finally she breaks down and confesses that she was in love with him. Dick is asked by on the stand. The first time Russell asked Dick if was in love with Ruth he denied it but now that Ruth had said something he confessed as well. He went on and told the jury that Ellen was crazy she would be the type of woman to kill herself and that out of jealousy had killed Danny and killed their baby as well. Ruth is let off for murder but Dick gets sentenced to two years of jail time as an accessory to murder since he did not call the police right away when Ellen told him about murdering Danny.

            The flashback ends with the end of the lawyer’s story.  The man sitting with the lawyer asks if she will be waiting for him and the lawyer says yes she will. The lawyer says that Ellen had lost, it was the only time she had ever lost anything.

            Dick rows his boat to his house. Ruth sees Dick rowing up to the house and she runs out to the dock and they hug.

            The whole time I was watching this film I could not believe how someone could be so insanely jealous like Ellen. My mouth was open the whole time. The film just took a woman’s obsessive love and jealousy and wove such a great story.

            Gene Tierney was excellent as Ellen Berent.  She did an amazing job throughout the whole film but the scene where Ellen kills Danny was her best. Her facial expressions alone were incredible. You know you are watching a great actor or actress when their facial expressions tell more than words ever could. Gene Tierney was up for Best Actress in a Leading Roll for Leave Her to Heaven… as evil as her character was she should have won. This is why I love acting and seeing actors/actresses play different rolls than what you’re used to seeing. Seeing Gene Tierney as a jealous, evil woman was shocking to see but made the film that much more enjoyable (and shocking) to watch.

            Gene Tierney’s costumes in this film are so pretty. The white coat and sunglasses she wears on the boat when Danny drowns was so pretty (is it weird to say that her character’s anger made her look very pretty?). See her in Technicolor was really cool. She was gorgeous no matter in black and white or color.

            Leave Her to Heaven is what a Film Noir is about; it’s about crime, love, passion, and a deadly Femme Fatale.