Dear Brigitte (1965) Poster

(1965)

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7/10
Despite assured performances, it all gets a bit icky at times
Nazi_Fighter_David18 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The film's main scheme has professor Stewart granting his mathematical-genius eight-year-old's fervent wish to meet Brigitte Bardot (then at the height of her sex appeal). The two go to Paris, and young Erasmus (Billy Mumy) is kissed by Bardot and given a puppy…

Prior to this, the boy's mathematical skills have been misappropriated by everyone, from his sister's boyfriend (Fabian), who needs he1p with homework, to a British con man (John Williams), who illegally wins gambling bets to alleged1y finance a humanitarian arts foundation... Fabian also comes up with another idea for Erasmus to pick racetrack horses…

Stewart is a poetic, whimsical college professor who wants the simple life with his wife on a rather primitive, decaying Mississippi riverboat home… Stewart's accordion skills are brought to life, even if briefly, as he insists that the entire family take up musical instruments… But the pre-teen son is tone deaf, and when he takes up painting he turns out to have no eye for color either… The retarded discovery that he is a math prodigy brings more trouble than satisfaction, as the perplexed Stewart sadly discovers…

Glynis Johns, who had been on the point of marrying Stewart in "No Highway in the Sky" back in 1951, was at last Stewart's wife in the film...

Bardot provided some diversion for the French press when she pronounced Stewart, then 57, "a gentleman with ageless sex appeal, enormous charm."
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7/10
An endearing, quirky comedy!
Sheila-1228 March 1999
I stumbled upon "Dear Brigitte" almost by accident, and the names in the credits -- Jimmy Stewart, Glynis Johns, Ed Wynn, etc. -- kept me watching. I was pleasantly surprised by how charming and intelligent this film turned out to be! Stewart plays an English professor whose only son, Erasmus (the adorable Billy Mumy), turns out to be a math whiz. He's also great at predicting horses, and he happens to be in love with Brigitte Bardot (who makes a wonderful cameo appearance). The family lives on a houseboat, and their teenaged daughter dates Fabian. All of this makes for a very enjoyable comedy the whole family can watch together -- it may be a bit outdated (particularly the "high-tech" computer featured in one scene), but that only adds to its charm. This is a lovable, often overlooked movie that's definitely worth viewing with the whole family!
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6/10
Training for Will Robinson
bkoganbing29 September 2005
I'm sure that the folks who were casting Lost in Space must have seen Dear Brigitte and said to themselves, young Billy Mumy would be perfect casting as the precocious Will Robinson.

Dear Brigitte is a film about a professor of literature who lives on a converted old Mississippi riverboat with his family and the former captain of the steamship, Ed Wynn. An almost hippie like existence for the very Republican James Stewart and his wife Glynis Johns and children Cindy Carol and Billy Mumy.

Stewart has an obsession about the sciences just taking over colleges, including his own and this fuels an additional obsession into finding a talent that must be hidden in his son. Young Mr. Mumy turns out to be both color blind and tone deaf, so art and music are out.

He turns out to be a mathematical genius though and Billy has an additional obsession himself, he wants to meet Brigitte Bardot. Now that's something the males in the audience can empathize with.

I think Dear Brigitte came out just a tad to early. A couple of years later with the flower power movement in full bloom, this thing would have really been big box office. Audiences might have really identified with an eccentric professor with his family living on a riverboat.

Fabian is also along for the ride as daughter Cindy Carol's boyfriend. He was nearing the end of the line as a teenage heart throb. But I'm sure his presence in the film brought more than a few dollars in.

John Williams and Jesse White who play a couple of con men do a nice job and of course we cannot forget the presence of Brigitte Bardot playing herself.

It's a pleasant innocuous little family comedy helped by a very good cast.
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A wacky movie!
slymusic4 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
"Dear Brigitte" is the third and final comedy that my favorite actor James Stewart made at 20th Century Fox in the 1960s under the direction of Henry Koster. Personally, I feel that this very strange movie is somewhat of a waste, although this is no fault of Mr. Stewart. He was the perfect choice for the role of Robert Leaf, a brilliant, highly admired, cantankerous, absentminded professor of English poetry, living with his wife and two children on a houseboat in the San Francisco Bay area. Prof. Leaf is a man whose life focuses strictly on the arts and humanities, a man who absolutely despises science, computers, and such. Among his family are his loving wife Vina (Glynis Johns), his annoyingly high-strung teenage daughter Pandora (Cindy Carol), who can be affectionate with her family as long as she gets her way, and his eight-year-old mathematical wonder boy Erasmus (Billy Mumy), who can mentally solve the most difficult arithmetic problems with the greatest of ease and speed. But Erasmus has a few other oddities about him, his severe tone-deafness and color-blindness notwithstanding; he is by far the best handicapper of horses in San Francisco, and his only dream in life is to meet the famous French actress Brigitte Bardot, for whom he has an indefatigable crush. One other addition to the Leaf family is the kindly, lovable sea captain played by Ed Wynn, who also serves as the narrator of the film.

Despite the fact that I consider it to be one of James Stewart's weaker films, "Dear Brigitte" still contains a handful of worthwhile moments. Prof. Leaf displays his ferocious temper right from his very first appearance in the picture when he expresses his disdain for science while storming off the university campus with books loaded in his arms. The Leaf family concert (featuring the professor on accordion, Vina on flute, Pandora on piano, and Erasmus on cello) would have been perfect had it not been for the boy's tone-deafness. Prof. Leaf literally runs off to give a lecture, his arms again loaded with books, when he suddenly realizes it would be faster by car! While Prof. Leaf and Erasmus are looking through a shop window, the professor reaches for his son's hand, only to discover that he is holding the hand of an astonished young woman. Erasmus' psychiatrist Dr. Volker (Jack Kruschen) tries to clear the boy's mind of Brigitte Bardot; when the doctor asks Erasmus what he bought during a shopping trip with his father, Erasmus tells him he bought a dress, after which the doctor gives a hilarious reaction, not realizing that the dress was merely for Erasmus' sister. And finally, Prof. Leaf displays his great rapport with his poetry students in his classroom as he tells them, with his dry sense of humor, how he feels about scientists taking over college campuses.

"Dear Brigitte" is a movie that has a lot of stuff crammed into it, a little something for everyone, as one critic put it. Brigitte Bardot herself appears near the end of this film with Prof. Leaf and Erasmus, and it is this particular lengthy scene that causes me a little embarrassment. On a positive note, James Stewart reportedly had more praise for Billy Mumy than for any other child actor with whom he ever worked, and the rapport between Stewart and Mumy off camera was quite pleasant. (As an example, they would rehearse their lines together while casually tossing a ball around.)
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7/10
A fun family comedy
AlsExGal21 September 2019
I've always have had a soft spot for family comedies, when they are charming, witty, and engaging, and this fits the bill. Its a harmless, lovely entertainment. Jimmy Stewart is is good, warm mode as a father who finds that his son (an endearing Bill Mumy) is a math genius who can solve the hardest of equations in just seconds and also has the knack for figuring out horse races as well. True he's also colorblind and tonedeaf, but not even geniuses can have everything. Glynis Johns has a bit of a smaller part as Stewart's wife but she is as welcome as ever and knows exactly how to play a scene.

The film receives its name from all the lett ers the boy sends to Brigitte Bardot, upon whom he has a case of a very youthful crush. Ms. Bardot actually appears toward the end, and her cameo is one of the high points of the film. This film might not be appreciated by cynics, nor by those wanting the height of sophistication, but as an example of cinematic comfort food, it is utterly enchanting.
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7/10
Bright boy beams at beautiful, buxom, bombshell Brigitte Bardot
helpless_dancer24 October 2001
Fairly good comedy featuring an ultra smart little boy who is used by swindlers for their own gain despite the over protectiveness of his father. Meanwhile, the boy is scheming to meet the famous French actress while his sister is anguishing over boys and proms. Typical 60's comedy.
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7/10
The last third is extremely cute
HotToastyRag29 November 2021
It's a bit of a slow start, but Dear Brigitte is a very cute movie. James Stewart plays a stereotypical absentminded professor who randomly lives with his family in a ship that's ashore. It's a shameless copy of Mary Poppins, with Ed Wynn as the giggling, bumbling narrator with no character development, and Glynis Johns as the never-wavering matriarch who stands by her husband.

The family comedy can be separated into three sections. In the first third, everyone in the family plays a classical instrument. They're all very talented, except for the youngest son Bill Mumy. He doesn't fit in, and Jimmy worries. In the second third, Bill discovers his hidden talent: mathematics. It's a slap in the face to his father, who is an poetry professor instead. But since Bill is able to do complex math in his head, he quickly becomes a sensation. The final third addresses the title of the movie. Bill has a crush on Brigitte Bardot, and he writes her fan letters. But you won't find any spoilers here. To find out how all three sub-plots end up, you'll have to watch this pseudo-Disney family flick. James Stewart is very sweet with his children, but the opening silliness is a little unnecessary. Fast-forward if you need to, because the last third is very cute.
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5/10
Slight comedy
Boyo-218 June 2001
In the 1960's this might have passed for wholesome family entertainment. Getting Fabian for a throw-away role was probably a good casting coup, and for comic relief you have Ed Wynn and Billy Mumy's 'Rain Man' routines. He is an IBM in sneakers, from which most of the plot develops. He secretly writes a love letter to Bardot every night and one day he gets a response in the form of an invitation to visit her in France. Billy and dad Jimmy Stewart go to Paris and have a meeting with Miss Bardot. She gives the little boy an autograph, a kiss and a puppy.

Inoffensive little comedy that might give you a laugh or two. I like movies that reference real movie stars in their title, like "Being John Malkovich" and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" so this makes the hat trick for me.
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8/10
A fun quirky comedy
georgeorwell-2769726 November 2019
I remember seeing this in the movie theater when I was a boy; I'm the same age as Bill Mumy and was always interested in his shows.

Like many movies it's important to understand the times in which the movie was produced. This was the age when the computer was moving from a science fiction tool to a daily part of life. Many of the themes in the movie were things that people were wrestling with every day. A decent father trying his best to raise his children right but trapped in his own perceptions of life. A daughter grown up in a completely different age. A young boy who is a mathematical savant in a family of liberal arts specialists. The mother doing her best to uphold the respect her family and children deserve. All held together in a very off beat setting.

All of this makes for a unique comedy that to me has grown with age. No, it's not a knee-slapper. But there are interesting themes being played out that grow as you watch. The ending of a child's innocence. The brutal march of technology. The desire to hold on to traditions deemed vital. And in the final scenes, the knowledge that with all our desire to control the future, luck and pure chance will have it's say.

And Brigitte Bardot's part is.....how do I say it......wonderful? She comes across as interesting and genuine. I think it's a great role.

Don't expect pie-in-the-face-fun. If you can't wrap yourself around the show and the times it's understandable. It's quirky and offbeat and wasn't pre-shown to theaters so they could write the script, the script was written and shot and there it is. But if you have it a chance (or two) you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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6/10
a strange yet bland film
planktonrules29 December 2005
In the 1960s, Jimmy Stewart did several family films that were just rather bland and, in my opinion, wasted his amazing talents. I am not saying they are BAD films, just imminently forgettable and are best described as "fluff". In other words, while time-passers, they have very little lasting value. The movie does have a few mildly interesting moments but that's really about all. In fact, the only reason the film even gets a score of 6 is because Stewart is in the film and he tries his best with the mediocre material. My recommendation is do NOT run out and rent it or buy it but wait until it comes out on cable. This is a far cry from THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE or MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. It's more like an episode of GIDGET combined with PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES.

This is pretty much the same review I gave for MR. HOBBES TAKES A VACATION. Both were almost exactly as bland as the other. What sets this apart is the strange plot involving a young Billy Mumy as a genius who is smitten with the actress Brigitte Bardot (the kid had good taste). Ms. Bardot makes a cameo near the end of the film, but apart from that it's a pretty forgettable film.
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4/10
Read the book
jack_bagley7 June 2007
Read the book, "Erasmus With Freckles," and see how it compares to the movie, "Dear Brigitte." While I enjoy anything with James Stewart and have been a Bill Mumy fan for most of my life, I can honestly say this is one time when the book shines better than the film. I have no problem with the performances in the movie, mark you ... I merely don't like it when screenwriters take a good book and make a movie out of it that is very little like the original. The family is bigger and somewhat goofier ... and the boat (and the Leaf's neighbors) play a much larger role. I couldn't find Ed Wynn's character anywhere in the novel. Seems a shame to ruin such a good novel by turning it into this movie -- the movie's fine, it's just not the story originally told.
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9/10
Extremely well done comedy, with a prophetic message...
sgcim9 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I haven't read the book by John Haase that this came from, but I knew it had to come from somewhere other than the typical mindless Hollywood crap that was usually being made back then. Haase also wrote the social satire/drama, "Petulia", so he was capable of writing intelligent and witty work, which describes this movie very well.

Jimmy Stewart always excelled when playing eccentric characters, and he's pitch perfect in the role of an absent-minded college poetry professor here. All the other actors are equally fine, along with the direction and some wonderful music by the great George Duning.

The 'prophetic' part dealt with science and technology squeezing out the creative arts in the college. The professor's concerns have proved all too true, and have spread across the world, not just academia. Even the chances of turning out a movie like this today are virtually non-existent...
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6/10
Stewart and Company Try Their Best in Fair Material
JLRMovieReviews5 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
James Stewart, Glynis Johns, Ed Wynn, and child actor Bill Mumy star in this story of a young boy with a fascination for Brigitte Bardot. But his parents don't know as of yet. Father James Stewart keeps trying to make him excel at playing an instrument or painting, only to find he's mediocre at them. Then he and wife Glynis find out he's a math genius and while mother is proud of him, father doesn't know what to make of him and this eccentricity. Everyone thinks Ed Wynn is crazy because he keeps talking to the screen (or us, the viewer.) Who are you talking to, they ask? Then, it comes out that little Bill likes Brigitte and father is very pleased his son is a red-blooded healthy boy. When news of the boy's math skills becomes public knowledge, John Williams wants to capitalize on it, but teacher James Stewart wants nothing to do with it, until he suddenly quits his job at the school. The rest of the movie centers on if the boy can visit Ms. Bardot in France and on betting on horse races with the boy's skill and brains. For as much as I can remember a lot of the film and it was very pleasant and undemanding, it still felt a little too empty. I can't explain it, but to say it really wasn't that captivating or that interesting to me. Considering the cast, I just expected a lot better.
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3/10
Dear Grandpa...
IdaSlapter7 February 2022
As others have noted, this movie is one of, if not Stewart's weakest efforts. His earlier family comedy "Mr. Hobbs Takes a vacation" -- a funnier film and one that did far better at the box office -- no doubt inspired him and the studios to come up with another similar vehicle for the aging star.

But that's the problem. Stewart, who was only 58 when this was made, looks closer to 68, and that's even with his toupee on. He's just far too old to play the father of Billy Mumy, who was 11, but looks closer to 9 or 10.

Jimmy Stewart was one of the greatest actors we ever had, but he just wasn't right at all for this part. It might have worked however, if he'd agreed to play his grandpa, instead of his father.

Nice supporting cast of familiar faces though -- Glynis Johns, John Williams, the rubbery faced Ed Wynn, and last but not least, the inimitable Alice Peace, who almost steals the movie with her one scene. :)
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Dear Brigette
Coxer997 May 1999
Fun James Stewart film about a professor whose son has a dream to meet superstar Brigette Bardot. The circumstances are pleasing and the film has wonderful moments of laughter and tenderness.
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3/10
Mixed Bag: Charm + Loathsome Stewart = Problematic Family Comedy
sandfree14 April 2014
Okay, I acknowledge that I am prejudiced.

While primarily a right-brain person myself, the so-called whimsy of a NoCal "Pulitzer-Prize winning poet" (?), who lives on an ugly, decrepit docked river boat, in discovering that his artistically talentless son happens to be a mathematical prodigy, is lost in a the growling misanthropy of star James Stewart's dithering, hostile performance.

The marvelous Billy Mumy, always a charismatic child actor, plays the gifted young Erasmus, and Glynnis Johns shines as the patient mother. The problem? Stewart and Stewart's charmless, utterly selfish father. His original instinct being to hide his child's gifts is bad enough, but I switched the movie off in disgust when he revealed he did not know (and had no clue) of his elder child (a daughter's) age (she's 18, and he didn't know). Add to that his threatening reporters with a loaded shotgun, plus his ranted lectures about "progress" as being the provenance of what he calls "the Exploders" and you have a rancid family comedy that has aged abominably.

My guess: Stewart, a notably ungenerous actor who demanded that the show center all around him, may have been annoyed by the effortless scene stealing from the sly, charming, profoundly gifted young Mumy, who made everything look easy and fun. Stewart is upstaged in every scene by Mumy, and it's my (completely unfounded) guess that he was unhappy about it. But what do I know? I only have his neurotic, overwrought, and badly miscalculated work to go on.

Fabian has nothing to do. Guessing also Stewart may have had something to do with this. But again, who knows? Stewart famously was enraged after the release of the wonderful "Winchester 73" that the young Rock Hudson, in his few scenes, stole Stewart's thunder: Stewart never worked with him again.

By the time Ms. Bardot shows up, Stewart has had his conversion, but alas, all the same, all is lost. Not a half-shell on Stewart's other Henry Koster- directed comedy, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", which is still charming, if oh-so-Sixties, family fun (benefiting as it does with a Mancini score, Maureen O'Hara, and a touch more Fabian, plus better color and production values).

Note: Love narrator Ed Wynn's expository asides to the camera (audience), with the other characters often asking him, Pirandello-like, just who he is talking to?

Overall verdict: block out Stewart (which is hard to do), and the others are just fine. I too often like Stewart, so if you're a fan, do yourself a favor and let this botch go by.
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8/10
Very entertaining movie
michjaws12 August 2023
This movie is a very entertaining account of a young boy and his dream. Maybe the moral of the story could be don't give up on your dream(s). It's a funny movie from time to time. It might be best if you don't see any previews of this going in. I recommend it for all audiences. This is a 2023 review intended for anyone to be entertained. I enjoyed it very much! I was surprised at the ending. It seems the young Billy Mumy did his role very well with an ease of an experienced actor. It has a great supporting cast. It's intent on keeping the audience guessing most of the way. You will not be disappointed!
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3/10
Fussy, annoying family comedy; ersatz Disney without the car chase...
moonspinner558 April 2008
John Haase's novel "Erasmus With Freckles" gets a woebegone Hollywood makeover and, while it may look promising at the outset, it turns out to be one of the weakest films James Stewart ever starred in. Young Billy Mumy, a mathematical genius, spends all of his spare time writing juvenile love letters to French film actress Brigitte Bardot (though it isn't mentioned just how many of her pictures he has actually been allowed to see). Eventually, dad Stewart gets Mumy an audience with the siren (whose brief appearance is the only bright spot here). Movies about unconventional family broods have to include more than just hectic, noisy silliness to keep our attention; this adaptation doesn't even try for a sense of eccentricity in the content of character, nor does it expand on the central child's personality. It's meant to be heart-warming, non-threatening fun, yet it borders dangerously on bland, with nary a single funny scene. *1/2 from ****
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5/10
Forgettable Time Passer
utgard1412 December 2013
Contrived family comedy with a good cast. Jimmy Stewart plays Professor Leaf, who hates science and loves the arts. Professor Leaf is alarmed to discover his young son Erasmus (Billy Mumy) is a math prodigy. It becomes headline news and turns their family's life upside down, leading to a deal with a con man and some gambling and other stuff. Anyway, the main point of the film, as evidenced by the title, is that the boy is in love with the actress Brigitte Bardot. He writes her a letter and eventually heads to Paris with his father to meet her. It's all very blah and forgettable, but not necessarily bad. Stewart gives it his best but it's just mediocre material. Good cast does little to help. Mumy is good, as is Glynis Johns as the wife. Brigitte Bardot appears briefly as herself. If you're a die-hard Stewart or Bardot fan, check it out. Otherwise it's not worth the bother. I dug Jimmy's blue station wagon though!
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Jimmy Stewart was perfect at playing this kind of role.
Soujurn3 December 2005
Jimmy Stewart makes it look so effortless that one would think he wasn't even acting. Which is the mark of a great actor. This was his second outing with Glynis Johns, the first time was in 1951 in the black and white British film, No Highway In The Sky.

In Dear Brigette, Stewart plays a Literature Professor at a College in California that like most of the culture of the day was struggling with the rampant advances of technology threatening to over shadow everyone and everything.

The main focus of the film is on child actor Bill Mumy who later went on to star in Lost In Space. He plays a young boy named "Erasmus", who is a math wizard and who can do complex calculations in his head, seemingly without effort, and not quite knowing how he does it.

While people and forces around him would like to capitalize on his gift, his father played by Stewart struggles to protect his son from them, and allow him to remain a "innocent little boy". A delightful interlude takes place half way through the picture when "Erasmus" receives an invitation to visit Paris, France and Brigette Bardot; whom he has been secrety writing to for some time, hence the pictures title.
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3/10
Stewart at His Worst, Poor Movie, Good Performance by Mumy
tr-834958 September 2019
Jimmy Stewart has lost what made him famous. Here he is an old man without charm, without sparkle. Any light that shines through is from the boy, Billy Mumy, as he is too young to understand Stewart's rule for the other cast members: do not outshine me! Thus, we see an almost invisible Fabian, and other cast members that can't be remembered.

Also, eight year old boys do not have sexual crushes on sexpots like Brigitte Bardot. Hollywood always makes this mistake -- thinking it looks cute. Eight year old boys are catching frogs with other eight year old boys. They do not have sexual crushes until they reach the developmental stage of puberty.

A poor movie and Jimmy Stewart at his worst. Stewart's 1930's heydays are over and no one has told him.
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4/10
You poor creepy little kid....
mark.waltz7 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It's obvious that crabby professor James Stewart would rather his son Billy Mumy be a ballet dancer than a mathematician, but if he really cared about his son's reputation, he wouldn't have named him Erasmus. Then there's his daughter Pandora (usually referred to by a flowery nickname I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy), making me surprised that his wife Glynis Johns hasn't taken the kids and left him. The way that he bellows at everyone in this Disney like comedy (Stewart standing in for Fred MacMurray) makes him instantly dislikeable, and it's unbelievable that a lecture on the evils of science in his college class would get laughs from the students.

The presence of Johns and Ed Wynn adds to the Disney like feeling of this film, and that instantly dated this as these types of family comedies do not truthfully represent the eras they are set in. Fabian is there to try to get in the teen audience, and pretty much any young actor could have done what he's given to do. The houseboat set (docked on the San Francisco waterfront) is colorful, but nobody's going to see a movie to get decorating ideas.

Stewart is insufferable in this, outshined by the supporting cast which also includes Jesse White, Percy Helton and the delightful Alice Pearce. Bridgette Bardot has a cameo, tying her in to Mumy's unbelievable crush on her. 20th Century Fox obviously wanted an opportunity to reuse the giant computer from "Desk Set" (then going on 8 years old), and it is amusing to watch Mumy outsmart it. Crooks use him for sinister purposes in a ridiculous plot twist. Director Henry Koster and Stewart fail in their efforts to appear hip, making this a complete disappointment in nearly every way.
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3/10
Very little going for this one
gbill-748771 April 2017
Half a star for Jimmy Stewart at age 57 (though clearly too old to be a father of an 8-year-old), half a star for Glynis Johns at age 42 (she's perky and kinda fun), and half a star for a few shots of San Francisco at the beginning. There's not much else going for this one, folks. The script is awful. The use of the narrator (Ed Wynn) is awful. The boy who is a savant at math and who therefore can pick horse races is ridiculous. Yes it's a family film and meant to be light, but they can be so much better. It seems Director Henry Koster or the studio had a real dog on their hands, and tried desperately to liven it up with a next-door-neighbor artist who has his wife pose in the nude, and the inclusion of Brigitte Bardot. Bardot's scenes are late in the movie, brief, and a snooze – so don't hang on to watching this for them (as I did). Bail early.
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I wish I had seen it when I was ten
stevescoundrel-1289715 January 2023
I read many of the positive and descriptive reviews, and very much appreciated them, but as an adult, the movie is dreadfully silly. I wish I would have seen it when I was a small child and I suspect I would have liked it. Now it's value is more of a historical piece. It doesn't seem long which is good and bad. Almost everything is abrupt, enforcing the silliness, but you wouldn't want it to go another minute. Strangely, I liked both the positive and negative reviews here (I read up to ten). One reviewer commented on how a prepubescent boy could not be infatuated with Bridgitte Bardot. Normally not, but it's not that unreasonable, and especially so given the ridiculousness of everything else in this comedy. My observation is that Bridgitte Bardot may not have been in sufficient media that a young boy in the US would have come across in the first place, which is far more strange. Infatuation with beauty of any kind is possible for a child of any age prone to being obsessed. Bottom line, it's a short, meaningless but likely fun story for a child, and some history for everybody else.
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