Take Her, She's Mine (1963)

"She'll write like any other American girl, when she needs money." That's what happens when Sandra Dee heads off to college, ending father James Stewart's homebound headaches but adding new ones. It's too soon for him to learn that silence is deafening as he still has one daughter at home, as well as a straight talking wife (Audrey Meadows), maybe no longer a Honeymooner, but still gifted with that delightful raspy voice that could crack ice. If having been approached for autographs by kids who think that he was the star of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" isn't enough, he has to hear wife quote "Que Sera Sera" from "The Man Who Knew too Much". But those un-plot related references to other Jimmy Stewart movies are forced laughs, while the real plot line has him recounting his story to the executives and board of his employers, deciding whether or not to ask for his resignation or fire him.An often eye rolling farce tests trying too hard to be "hip", this uses Stewart's hearing at his job and phone calls to explain what's going on in the story. If this reveals anything, it's the ridiculousness of some college aged kids obsession with social issues (often doing it simply to be involved with the crowd, not even understanding the whole issue), and getting involved with the "wrong" crowd. Stewart, getting involved in trying to talk some sense into his daughter, keeps getting into hot water thanks to his dizzy daughter. Bob Denver adds a few minor chuckles as a beatnik college student, while John McGiver plays the stereotypical staid stick in the mud businessman. One thing the script does get right in this unbelievable version of a forgotten Broadway hit is the description of Dee as "Cuckoo, the Bird Girl", unintentionally getting pop into trouble, but he's no rocket scientist either. There have been much better films (comic and dramatic) about the generation gap, here proving that the gap is located between both generation's ears. The film is too episodic to really grab the viewer completely, stuck in its decade and locked on its reels with superglue. Poor Meadows is sadly wasted as the stereotypical mom, no different than Joan Bennett was in "Father of the Bride", window dressing only. Unlike the quietly ignored Spencer Tracy in that film, though, Stewart keeps making a fool out of himself, perhaps a good reason as to why pop always pays but never gets involved. Pretty photography in exotic settings doesn't hide the film's mediocrity, complete with some truly stinky songs, including one about Paris that I hope to never hear again, especially as sung by the tone deaf Ms. Dee.

Featherweight comedy starring James Stewart as a harried dad who goes to Paris to bring back coed daughter Sandra Dee after she's fallen for a Frenchman. That's it. Stewart tries mightily as he gets into one embarrassing (albiet harmless) predicament after another while taking kooky advice from loony Brit Robert Morley. Morley gets most of the film's laughs. Director Henry Koster keeps things at a mostly sitcom level and though at least some this was presumably filmed on location, it's mostly studio bound, high gloss stuff. There is a colorful supporting cast including Irene Tsu, Audrey Meadows and, briefly, Bob Denver and top notch cinematography by Lucien Ballard. Based on a play that somehow ran for a year on Broadway.

Of the three comedies that my favorite actor James Stewart made for 20th Century Fox from 1962 to 1965, I like "Take Her, She's Mine" the best. The reason I do is because of all the trouble that Stewart's character, a lawyer/father/school board president named Frank Michaelson, inadvertently gets himself into. (If you have not yet seen this comedy, do not read any further!) Not the least of Frank's hassles is the fact that he is constantly being mistaken for James Stewart, an inside joke that I think is great! All of Frank's various bizarre actions appear in the newspapers, and he is forced to explain them to his school board, lest he be dismissed. The main gist of the whole mess is this: he merely wanted to make sure his teenage daughter Mollie (Sandra Dee) stays out of trouble when she goes to college and subsequently when she attends a Parisian art school.The three major newspaper stories, and the events leading up to them (as Frank explains to the school board in flashback), are nothing short of amusing. The first story involves Frank, Mollie, and other college kids fighting with cops at a sit-in to protest local censorship. The second story shows Frank being arrested by gendarmes at a Parisian bordello with a pretty young Chinese girl (Irene Tsu) clinging to him, when all he wanted to do was call a taxi! The third story shows Frank in his underwear jumping off a riverboat; he attends a masquerade party as Daniel Boone, in order to meet the parents of Mollie's lover Henri Bonnet (Philippe Forquet), but Frank's costume rips apart! Here are just a couple of other memorable highlights from "Take Her, She's Mine." While Frank, his wife Anne (Audrey Meadows), and their younger daughter Liz (Charla Doherty) listen to Mollie's demo record, a boy's voice on the recording can be heard saying, "Hey, take it off, baby!" And Frank raises the ire of Mollie's Parisian roommates when he asks them a rather personal question about their doings."Take Her, She's Mine" may not have been a big box office success, but it is still, in my opinion, an entertaining comedy. James Stewart does as well as could be expected and is quite funny. Watch for Bob Denver in a supporting role as well!

Once again Stewart was the unlucky husband and father (this time an attorney) who must keep fun-loving, adventurous daughter Dee out of trouble… In college, the intrepid miss gets herself into the Bohemian lifestyle… When Stewart visits to check up on her, he ends up in trouble with the police himself, with the consequent embarrassment of unwanted publicity… Having been dismissed from college, Dee flies to Paris, where her father tracks her again… Dee has taken up with avant-garde painter Phillippe Forquet, who is as eccentric as he is handsome…Stewart winds up in a bizarre-looking costume at a bohemian ball, falls into the Seine, and gets arrested by the French police… Finally, a promise of relative stability is presaged when Dee and Forquet head to the altar… Back home (and greatly relieved to be there), Stewart realizes that his middle-aged domesticity with Anne (Audrey Meadows) will be short-lived… Their second daughter has reached an age to rival, and possibly surpass her older sister's tendency for unpredictable mischief-making…Meadows was just the woman to complement Stewart's hi-jinks… Morley and McGiver enriched the elements