Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, Marsha Hunt, Kurt Kaszner and child star Bobby Driscoll star in this charming coming-of-age story called The Happy Time. Boyer and Hunt are the parents of Bobby, while Louis is an uncle known as a Casanova and Kaszner is another uncle who lives across the street who drinks all day while his wife (Jeanette Nolan) makes the money as a seamstress. The film shows the uncles with all their eccentricities, but the young boy is at the heart of the film with his being picked on at school, a young girl with braces liking him, and his own infatuation of an ex-vaudeville star hired to help around the house. And, even Grandpa is a fanciful man who tries to keep young by being interested in the opposite sex. Boyer and Hunt, as the parents, provide much of the film's stability, and the film has some of its best moments centering on the boy. But it seems a bit uneven, because some of their characters are not as interesting as others. And, I found myself thinking it was a bit too whimsical with not enough depth. But then in the end, Boyer has a great talk with young Bobby about the right kind of love and how the world suffers from having our natural urges without love. All in all, I feel I discovered a good little film, which I think I will love more and more each time I see it. The film's success lies in showing a family made up of different personalities all looking for the same thing and their young-at-heart hope they share for tomorrow.
Review of The Happy Time
