A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBefore filming began, the cast was taken to Perc Westmore's salon on a Sunday morning to have their hair dyed red. When it was time to rinse the dye, the beauticians discovered that the water had been turned off for the entire block because the street was being repaired. Because dyes were so strong then, leaving them on could have caused the cast to lose their hair. Luckily, someone suggested diluting the dye with cold cream.
- GoofsClarence Jr. tells Whitney some baseball news about the New York Giants. In 1883, the team was called the New York Gothams, changing to the Giants in 1885.
- Quotes
Vinnie: Is that suit of your father's too tight for you?
Clarence Day: No, it's not too tight.
Vinnie: Well, what is it?
Clarence Day: Mother, very peculiar things have happened since I started to wear this suit. I can't seem to make these clothes do anything Father wouldn't do.
Vinnie: Oh, that's nonsense. And not to kneel in church is a sacrilege.
Clarence Day: Making Father's trousers kneel seemed like more of a sacrilege.
- Crazy creditsAlthough William Powell is listed first and Irene Dunne is listed second in the viewed print on AMC, half of the actual prints listed Dunne first and Powell second. Not only did each version alternate daily in theaters, but so did the advertisements of the movie in newspapers.
- ConnectionsEdited into Your Afternoon Movie: Life with Father (2022)
- SoundtracksSweet Marie
(1893) (uncredited)
Music by Raymon Moore
Lyrics by Cy Warman
Sung by Irene Dunne and William Powell
THE GOOD: The film has "charm" written all over it. Although Irene Dunne has some Grace Allen-type gag lines, William Powell is the one who provides most of the laughs in this tale of upper-crust family life in the 1880s. However, both Powell and Dunne are excellent and play off each other well. The story revolves around the personal and business life of the Clarence Day family, a true family in the sense of the word it, which is nice to see. Every character is interesting and the supporting cast includes Edmund Gwenn and Zasu Pitts (love that name!). Nice Technicolor, too.
THE BAD: The romance between Jimmy Lydon and a young Elizabeth Taylor gets a little sappy. Powell's constant exclamation "Gad!" is very annoying as a close as screenwriters apparently could get to saying "God" all the time in 1947.
All in all, it's a nice period piece that takes you back life a little over a century ago, and provides us another one of these more-innocent family stories. To my knowledge, there has never been a good print made of this, either on tape or DVD, which doesn't make sense considering the fine cast and good reputation of this movie.
- ccthemovieman-1
- Apr 6, 2006
- How long is Life with Father?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Clarence Day's Life with Father
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,700,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
![William Powell, Irene Dunne, Johnny Calkins, Jimmy Lydon, Martin Milner, and Derek Scott in Life with Father (1947)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDkxOGQxOWMtMTZjMS00MjhiLTkyN2MtZTZiYzI1NWUzMzViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTY5Nzc4MDY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg)