Father's Little Dividend (1951)

Load of rubbish!!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Each sequel is a risky adventure. in this case, it is just a great idea. because it is a charming slice from a lovely period. because the rhytm and the humor and the performances are admirable. and the script remains seductive at whole. it is more than a comedy but...a chronicle. about perspective about a young couple, about birth and about child, about parents and about future. many well known by parents and young couples. and that does it a beautiful eulogy to family institution. so, chronicle of a couple first steps in marriage.

In honor of Elizabeth Taylor. This is, of course, the sequel to Father of the Bride, which, in all honesty, I found to be a middling comedy at best (I actually prefer the Steve Martin version from the '90s, though I'll admit that one's nothing special, either). Father's Little Dividend is no better, and it's done no favors by the absolutely putrid public domain copies floating around (including the version on Netflix Instant, which is where I watched this; I've seen bits of it before on TCM and the copy they show is much better). Taylor is really a supporting character in this movie (and the first one). This is undoubtedly a Spencer Tracy vehicle through-and-through. He narrates the picture and is on screen about 90% of the time. And he's charming, of course. As are Taylor and Joan Bennett. But few of the jokes work. The drama actually works a little better. The best scene in the movie is the one where Tracy speaks to Taylor after she decides to leave her husband over a petty argument. It could have been played for laughs, but it's used as a nice father/daughter moment. The part at the end where Tracy loses his grandson is downright scary when watching it today. He left him alone for 30 minutes in a park! It's played for comedy, but today he'd rightly be arrested!

There's nothing about a sequel that necessarily makes it bad. Sometimes stories are left open-ended so that a follow-up makes sense, or writers may be able to top their previous effort by putting a new spin on the material. There are also some great movie franchises where the same characters can be recycled for numerous stories. However one type of sequel that almost inevitably turns out turkey is the cash-in rehash of a recent hit movie, the hope being that reuniting the same crew and characters will strike the same box office gold without spending too much time, effort or money.In Father's Little Dividend, sequel to Father of the Bride, the "fast buck" motive was even faster than usual. The closeness of release dates indicates it was probably green-lighted while its predecessor was still in its theatrical run. It was shot in just twenty-two days (the kind of schedule a B-movie would usually get), perhaps because star Elizabeth Taylor and director Vincente Minnelli were scheduled to begin work on more important projects, A Place in the Sun and An American in Paris respectively, and the whole thing looks very rushed. The screenplay is riddled with plot holes and underdeveloped patches. Minnelli sticks largely to long, static takes and straightforward shot compositions. Not that there is anything wrong with such simplicity, it's just that Minnelli could usually work such magic with elaborate arrangements and delicate flow, which clearly he didn't have time for here.Father's Little Dividend also drops the device that made Father of the Bride work so well. Although it still retains a Spencer Tracy voice-over narrative and keeps him as the primary character, it is no longer quite so exclusively his story. In Father of the Bride he was a fairly passive character, but the focus was always upon his thoughts and his reactions as all the bustle of the wedding went on in the background. He is now a much more active character, but he is sharing the limelight far more with his co-stars. The result is that this is a far more routine piece of storytelling, without that unique take that elevated Father of the Bride above the average romcom. Taylor has a bigger role, probably to reflect her growing stardom, and in fact her heart-to-heart scenes with Tracy (something writer Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett are very good at) are among the nicest moments in the picture. However the larger parts for comedy players Moroni Olsen and Billie Burke don't work so well as the characters simply aren't funny or engaging enough.This is one of the few major studio productions to be in the public domain. Apparently MGM failed to renew the rights, perhaps due to oversight or simple lack of interest. As such it's available in dozens of shoddy, fuzzy-looking DVD editions, which to be honest pretty much do it justice. There's little point waiting for a nice restoration – the picture itself will always be a disappointment.

A companion piece and direct sequel to "Father of the Bride" (1950), this continues the life of Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) and the new developments (and additions) in his family and is just as good as the original. And, this one won a writing award. Joan Bennett, who is very believable as Elizabeth Taylor's mother, is put (and seen) to good use. It's spring, and Tracy is primed and ready for anything. Anything that is, except for the news his daughter's pregnant. There's a fly in there somewhere, and then he's called "Grandpa." That was the fly. While everyone goes kooky over this little baby, he wonders what the big deal is. He defies being an old codger by working out and winds up feeling his age after all. Sit back and enjoy yourself with Spencer Tracy at his best!