Bon Voyage! (1962)

Taking a look at the UK Netflix,I discovered a Disney /Fred MacMurray film that I've not heard about before.With there only being a few hours to go before the movie was to be removed from the site,I decided that it was the perfect time to say bon voyage!The plot:After delays from family and work,Harry & Katie Willard decide to go on their long-planned honeymoon to Paris,and to take their children Elliott/Amy and Skipper with them.Deciding to go via cruise ship to France,Katie and Harry soon find their dream honeymoon to take a wrong turn,as the "difference of opinion" that they have with their children start to appear upon the horizon.View on the film:For the adaptation of Marrijane Hayes & Joseph Hayes book,writer Bill Walsh attempts to give the title a light and breezy atmosphere.As Walsh starts building up the care-free moon,the 130 minute running time (!) blocks the lightness from the movie like a giant wall,as Katie & Harry's troubles with their children go round in repetitive circles which become increasingly worn down.Whilst the stretched Flubber running time keeps the movie grounded,Walsh does off a number of sweet funny set-pieces,which goes from the Willard's taking a tour of the Paris sewers ,to Harry getting in a fight with Rudolph the Red Nosed Hungarian. Filmed on location in France, director James Neilson displays the Paris location in elegant wide shots and casts the film in light blues and yellows which match the honeymoon romance that the couple are trying to create.Taking on roles that James Cagney and Greer Garson had turned down, the tension that Jane Wyman & Fred MacMurray had with co-star Tommy Kirk being gay steams across the screen,as Katie and Harry appear very keen to say Bon voyage to their little darlings.

Bon Voyage Let's See. On board for 'Bon voyage' is my mother's favorite actor 'Fred MacMurray'. There is actress and Ronald Regan's ex 'Jane Wyman'. Disney maverick's 'Tommy Kirk' and 'Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran' are on board as well. And then there is Deborah Walley, who I never heard of before, but she seems like she's a good actress.OK, there is the wholesome Disney atmosphere, some wacky situations, one involving Fred getting lost in the sewers of Paris and other wacky things including Fred almost getting arrested from causing a scene at a restaurant. He has some other wacky conversations with some relatives who have never meet him, but think it's horrible that Jane Whyman's character has marred of all things 'A plumber'. He slyly reveals that he is the plumber much to their shocked snobbery surprise. Overall there is the interesting sitcom concept and premise of a family taking a vacation in Europe.This concept was used in 'National Lampoon's European Vacation' and produced a rather funny film. The concept used in this film produced a rather dull and boring movie. Despite the cleaner friendly film, it isn't a Disney film worth adding to your collection and I would have to say it isn't worth renting either. NLEV is crude in parts and is not worth letting your kids watch unless you find a way to severely edit out all the inappropriate parts.But 'Bon Voyage' is not the better equivalent. With Fred MacMurray you expect better work. His character is annoying. When a man hits on his wife instead of hitting him, he guzzles down booze and gets upset at his wife because a guy is flirting with her. He does finally sock the guy, so justice wins out in the end, even though you have to wait for it to happen while enduring his whining about it. The melodrama that bubbles up from this film is also annoying and leaves you wondering about the deeper storyline that they never reveal. Even if they did you probably wouldn't care anyway.The Disney magic does not flow upon everything that it does. This is not the worst film ever made or the worst film Disney ever made, it's just a rather boring dull film. So I say Bon Voyage 'Bon Voyage ( and don't come back)

Excruciatingly long and tedious comedy-drama from Walt Disney concerning "typical" Midwestern family on vacation in Europe. There's the worrisome father (Fred MacMurray, acting befuddled, like Jimmy Stewart); the giddy mom (Jane Wyman, dignified but dulled-out); the cold-fish daughter; the too-cool teenage son (in ascots!); and the mischievous little brother (named Skipper!). Directed by Disney mainstay James Neilson, whose pacing was always a little slow, the film is not only out-of-touch, but hammy and unfunny. It would make a torturous double-bill alongside another Disney teens-and-their-parents tale, "Superdad". * from ****

This turned out to be a good movie. Fred MacMurray and Jane Wyman finally take the European trip they've always dreamed of, including taking their three children along. Tommy Kirk and Doborah Walley are their teen-aged children and bring along their romantic escapades. On location shooting make for a better than average Disney film. Saw this on the Disney channel.