THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER: Blu-ray (MGM, 1963) Warner Archive

In hindsight, director, Vincente Minnelli marked the beginning of the end of his golden period in picture-making with The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963) – a congenial enough, though pedestrian affair, lacking Minnelli’s usual verve and creative spark, and, long past its expiration date even as a convivial comedy. In many ways, ‘Courtship’ is a throwback to the Eisenhower-era, father ‘may know’ best rom/coms that had been a post-war staple throughout the 1950’s but were fast to fall out of fashion as the sixties progressed through their civil unrest and drug/hippie culture tumult, swiftly to change both the times and their tastes.  Between this effort and Minnelli’s last lighthearted fare, 1958’s The Reluctant Debutante, a lot had changed in the nation, but perhaps, even more so at MGM – Minnelli’s alma mater for almost 20 years. Indeed, Minnelli was one of only a handful of directors still toiling under Metro’s studio contract system, fast fading into antiquity.  The MGM that had fostered Minnelli’s talent was, by 1963, operating from an entirely different model – all business – a decision made by the departure of its last ‘hands on’ mogul, Sol C. Siegel in 1961. This left Metro’s dwindling creatives to be micromanaged by an ever-revolving roster of bean counters (Robert Weitman in 1963) who made sense of the picture biz via spreadsheets and slide rulers.

MGM’s vast backlots, once a thriving beehive of overlapping activity, were now, largely unused real estate, slightly gone to seed and farmed out for quick n’ dirty television productions, with film production shifting almost exclusively to Metro’s Brit-based Borehamwood facilities. At home, MGM was fast garnering a reputation for ‘landmark’ road shows (Mutiny on the Bounty – 1962, The Shoes of the Fisherman – 1968, Goodbye, Mr. Chips - 1969) – costly gambles that, more often did not recoup their outlay, putting a fiscal strain on the company’s already depleted coffers, and, worse, to be discounted by critics and audiences alike as graverobbing spectacles from a studio now, decidedly, behind the times producing wan, heavy-handed, desperate regurgitations of better work done elsewhere during its real/reel glory years. Minnelli’s reputation appeared to be inextricably linked to this fading past. He had already contributed his own sad footnote to Metro’s mildewy resurrection of their past, his 1962 remake of 1921’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, landing with a distinct thud at the box office. Interestingly, given this flop and the expiration of Minnelli’s contract in the same year, MGM opted to keep the old home guard alive. Minnelli agreed to a six-movie deal under his corporate banner, Venice Productions to be distributed by the studio. Only three movies would ever be made from this new alliance, none to placate MGM’s blind hopes for a certifiable smash or hit the creative bull’s eye to satisfy Minnelli’s verve. The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Minnelli’s first picture under this new deal, arguably, was the best of what followed.

Author, Mark Toby’s autobiographical novel, expressly acquired for Minnelli through studio channels at a sum of $100,000, dealt with a period of adjustment for a harried radio exec, Tom Corbett (Glenn Ford) and his young son, the eponymous ‘Eddie’ (Ronny Howard) after the death of Tom’s wife/Eddie’s mother. The treacle stemmed from the pursuit undertaken by this young tyke to steer his street-savvy dad through the shark-infested waters of the dating scene, navigating past a trio of lovelies (Shirley Jones as next-door neighbor, Elizabeth Marten, Dina Merrill as the too-too put-together, Rita Behrens, and Stella Stevens as the dumb as a fish, ‘inflatable nothing’ - Dollye Daly). Siegel, just before exiting the premises, was unimpressed by the book’s ‘cute but tart’ family portrait, believing the overall arc in its storytelling was bland, boring and bourgeois. Good call on Siegel’s part, though he greenlit the project anyway. In its incubation, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father went through 5 producers, eventually to settle into the canon of MGM’s stalwart, Joe Pasternak, with writers, Jean Kerr, Harriet Frank and Irving Ravetch all turning it down. John Gay was finally assigned to its authorship, given the express directive to tone down Eddie’s astute observations on female anatomy to satisfy Hollywood’s lingering Code of Censorship.  

Glenn Ford and Minnelli had previously worked together on ‘Apocalypse’, which should have sent up a flare against his casting in ‘Courtship’ as it was largely via Ford’s lamentable performance in their previous effort that their other effort became so leaden and unwatchable. But Pasternak wanted Ford, as his multi-picture deal with Metro was still in effect. After keener heads at the studio had all but liquidated MGM’s impressive roster of high-priced talent, Ford was, by far, the biggest box office draw still under contract. Ironically, in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Ford emerges as a viable ‘straight man’ to little Ronny Howard’s bungled bundle of nervous neuroses. The kid really is calling the shots on this one. Howard, who was already proving his mettle as the beloved Opie on TV’s The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) and, perhaps even more impressively, to appear in Warner’s big-screen glossy adapatation of The Music Man (1962), is a precocious force to be reckoned with in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.  He even has a rather affecting scene where Eddie suffers a minor breakdown after one of his goldfish is discovered belly-up in the tank. Even so, the real strength of the picture is not Howard’s grandstanding moments, but the show’s soft-centered core – Minnelli’s cogitation on the brooding father/son relationship, first to suffer the slings and arrows of their mutually felt loss; but then, even more rewarding in the discovery of the little nuggets of wisdom along the way in their tug-o-war to find Tom a woman Eddie can tolerate too.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father begins immediately following the death of Tom’s wife, Helen. Although Eddie and Tom miss her dearly, they reason the best way to get on with their lives is to find another woman to enter their home as wife and mother. Elizabeth Martin, a volunteer nurse/divorcée, who was also Helen's best friend while she lived, seems a viable candidate. Tom and Liz already liked each other as friends. And Eddie enjoys her company too. Alas, herein, Gay’s screenplay begins to needlessly throw up various roadblocks – delaying the inevitable. In the meantime, Tom hires a housekeeper, Mrs. Livingston (Roberta Sherwood) to bring some domestic order out of their chaos. In the interim, Tom meets Dollye Daly, a bubble-headed but sexy young thing newly arrived in the big city with big dreams to build up her self-confidence. Tom is protective towards Dollye, which does not impress Eddie, frequently to emote his displeasure in a variety of grimaces. An unlikely chance meeting between Dollye and Tom’s womanizing colleague, Norman Jones (Jerry Van Dyke), unexpectedly leads to love and marriage for the couple – getting Tom off the hook.

Again, in romantic limbo, Tom meets Rita Behrens, an upscale fashion consultant whom he finds engaging. Again, Eddie does not share his father’s interests. In fact, he is downright hostile toward Rita, suggesting to Tom she has ‘squinty eyes’ like all the ‘bad girls’ in his comic books. Thinking more with his groin than his head, Tom cannot see it. That is, until he proposes marriage to Rita. Not exactly relishing the opportunity to become an instant mother, Rita suggests Eddie be sent away to boarding school…for a time…to give their marriage a real chance at happiness. At the same juncture, Eddie takes matters into his own hands, running away – eventually, to wind up at Elizabeth’s apartment for comfort and solace. Recognizing marriage to such a heartless creature could never work, Tom breaks off his engagement to Rita. He then reassesses what all the fuss was about between him and Liz and decides, with Eddie’s considerable blessing, to give his romance with her a second chance.  

After Sol Siegel’s departure from the studio, MGM encouraged Minnelli to keep costs down on The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Resourceful and accommodating to a fault, Minnelli agreed to virtually all the ‘legit’ New York location work coming from already recycled ‘stock footage,’ also, to scale down his plans for the wedding scene from its grandiose church affair to only a few fleeting glimpses of the reception, played out on the already constructed ‘apartment’ set, used elsewhere throughout the shoot. In all, MGM spent only $1,800,000 on The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, and – regrettably– in the vast expanses of Milton Krasner’s over-lit Panavision cinematography and Metrocolor, it looks it. MGM’s hand-me-down approach to the budgeting extends to George W. Davis and Urie McCleary garish and ersatz mid-century art direction (most of the interiors are bathed in bilious blues and rancid oranges), F. Keogh Gleason and Henry Grace set design, and, some fairly unimpressive, ‘off the rack’ costuming by the usually more competent, Helen Rose. There was also a passionless Victor Young waltz inserted to plump up George Stoll’s anemic underscore. The biggest payout for the piece was $195,000 to Minnelli. Not even the star made that much. Too bad, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father grossed only $3,048,000, reporting a net loss of $857,000 on Metro’s ledgers.

Viewed today, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father is not without its assets.  Indeed, there was enough there for MGM to reboot it as an ABC TV series starring Bill Bixby. This ran from 1969 to 1972. Glenn Ford’s built-in persona, always tinged with a dash of pinched sourness, handles the preliminary mourning in this picture rather well. We believe him as the grieving husband and father, determined to get back into love’s arena. Moreover, Ford knows precisely when to fade into the background and let his diminutive costar take the lead. And The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, especially in hindsight, is not one of those mid-sixties’ rom/coms, where stirred up froth and laughter eclipse all logic to avoid any genuine sense of conflict or sadness. There is an underlay of tragic poignancy at play here, to unexpectedly break into the humor at the most unanticipated moments, leaving even the casual viewer otherwise uncertain whether to laugh or cry.  Of the three supporting females, Shirley Jones’ Elizabeth Marten is the most tepid and unremarkable, her sole purpose to keep the home fires burning until Tom Corbett comes to his senses. Dina Merrill has great fun as the sophisticate with designs on landing her a good-looking man to go with her cocktail frock and handbag. And Stella Stevens’ ditzy, but pure of heart gal in the big city has a sweetly naïve charm all its own. In the final analysis, the cast is amusing, even if the movie never entirely rises to the same level in its overall entertainment value.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father arrives on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive (WAC) and, yet again, WAC has proven it knows how to preserve and manage its assets, while making them available for the rest of us to critique and admire, likely for generations yet to follow. Herein, the image is solid and free of age-related artifacts. The vintage Metrocolor skews to a very warm patina of colors – all of them, well represented in this 1080p transfer. Flesh tones are artificial, in keeping with the original production design. Pancake makeup was all the rage then, its troweled-on effect evident in every frame here. Fine details abound, especially in close-up. Contrast is excellent. The 2.0 DTS of original Westrex mono is adequate for this mostly dialogue-driven movie. Apart from a vintage Tom & Jerry cartoon and theatrical trailer, there are no extras. Bottom line: The Courtship of Eddie’s Father is not Vincente Minnelli’s finest hour on the screen. I really wouldn’t even consider it second-tier Minnelli.  It is a movie, the results of which any novice director could have similarly achieved blindfolded and, on occasion herein, lends credence Minnelli himself might have done just that. The Blu-ray is, as WAC’s output generally is, reference quality. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

5

EXTRAS

0