Product Details

• Actors: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas, Reginald Denny, Sharyn Moffett
• Directors: H.C. Potter
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: August 13, 1996
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0780614097
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,626 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #32 in	Video > Comedy > Parody & Spoof
  #37 in	Video > Comedy > By Year > 1940-1949
  #38 in	Video > Comedy > Slapstick

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Cary Grant stars as an advertising executive who dreams of getting out of the city and building a perfect home in the country, only to find the transition fraught with problems. (See the 1980s Tom Hanks comedy The Money Pit for an updated version of the same idea.) The big appeal here are the two leads, Grant and Myrna Loy, who were each in their early 40s and at the peak of their careers. Together with solid support from Melvyn Douglas and a screenplay that might have been tailor-made for their polished brand of comedy, the stars dominate this simple project. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Means we gotta blast......, December 17, 2004

By	Archmaker (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (DVD)

Yeeup! As Mr. Tersander would say. This is one of my favorite films. While not exactly bust-a-gut funny, it is warmly amusing throughout with a couple of classic lines & scenes (the perplexing storeroom, the "letch", the well, the all-night Wam session etc.), played to perfection with ease and charm (my God those are lost arts, aren't they?) by a cast of pros who are immediately likeable and comfortable to be around.

The story of a New York adman building his dream house in Connecticut being snookered by the "hicks" and then the series of disasters and cost overruns that befall him, the film is played with just the right tone, light and with great good humor, from the falling lintels to the Zuzz-Zuzz water softener.

Some may question the 5 stars, and although it may not be a great movie, I give it all 5 because Grant, Loy and Douglas are a lost breed of irreplaceable class players, and this kind of effortless amusement is pretty much an extinct genre.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you work with software, you want to see this flick, October 13, 2004

By	Karen Lopez - infoadvisors.com "Karen" (Everywhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (DVD)

I'm a real fan of classic movies as you can tell from some of my other reviews.

Mr. Blandings Build His Dream House makes a great analogy for systems and software development. Even though this film hit the street in 1948, the situations in which the Blandings find themselves is relevant for any project today. This story of a man who wishs to fulfill his life dream of ruling his estate in the country contains almost every gotcha ever seen on a project:

- Scope changes
- Conflicting executive sponsorship
- Changes, Changes control, and the cost of change
- Conflicting goals
- Users who want it all for almost nothing
- Poor project planning

My favourite scene is when Mr. and Mrs. Blandings grab some pencils and start 'tweaking' the architect's drawings.

This film was remade as 'The Money Pit', but I wouldn't recommend that version.

This film will be remade again in 2005 and I doubt it could live up to the tempered choas shown by Cary Grant nor the calm, straigt faced comedy of Myrna Loy.

If you see this film you won't regret it. If you buy it you will watch it often

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very funny..., July 19, 2002

By	ehakus (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Often imitated but never quite surpassed, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a classic comedy about a topic still as current now as it was in the 1940s. Silly but very funny, this movie is really great - featuring the ever hilarious Cary Grant, and Myrna Loy.

Essentially, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is about a family that decides to move to the country and get away from the overcrowding in the apartment. Instead of making life easier, however, their decision to move causes disaster after disaster. This movie is a hilarious example of how whatever can go wrong will!

Although the topic could have easily degenerated into stupidity, the script, the directing and, most of all, the cast, turn the movie into a classic. The script is witty and very funny, and it is directed with style - but mainly, Cary Grant is terrific! His double takes and reactions will never be equalled...any scene that he is in in pretty much guaranteed to be hysterical. Myrna Loy does a good job of cooling balancing Grant's screwball character, and the supporting cast is good as well.

Anyhow, this is a funny movie for the whole family - it is highly recommended!