A happy and unbelievably lucky young Irish immigrant, John Lawless, lands a job as the butler of an unconventional millionaire, Biddle. His daughter, Cordelia Drexel Biddle, tires of the unusual antics of her father--especially since the nice young men around town all fear him. Wouldn't you fear a father-in-law that keeps alligators for pets and teaches boxing at his daily Bible classes?
172 minutes. Why?
When all is said and done, the run time is the main reason why I rate this low. With that said, I literally had to spend a good amount of time deciding what rating I was going to give it.
On the one hand, sure it lasts for way too long but never once, to be honest, did it drag or did I feel seriously bored. However, on the other hand, I have absolutely zero that I can say I liked or enjoyed about it. I'm not a major fan of musicals either, so I'd assume I'd hate this and yet I don't. It's an odd feeling, it leaves a weird impression that's for sure.
Fred MacMurray is his usual self, delivering a very solid performance. Away from him, Greer Garson (Cordelia), Tommy Steele (John) and John Davidson (Angier) are all OK. The plot that they all take part in is average, not great nor terrible.
'The Happiest Millionaire' is truly a strange one to me. If they had shaved an hour off then perhaps I would've liked this? Who knows.
