If there’s something that the Golden Age of Hollywood has taught us, it is that there is always room for a good Cary Grant film. This is taken quite literally in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which serves as a vehicle for the actor (who was steadily approaching his peak as one of the industry’s most reliable and consistently brilliant leading men), as well as another opportunity to capture the special chemistry Grant had with fellow classical era icon Myrna Loy, which here takes the form of an adaptation of the novel by Eric Hodgins. This is more or less the extent to which this film can be praised – not a bad work by any means, but rather one that is more serviceable than it is actively aiming at achieving greatness, the film (which was written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama and directed by H.C. Potter, another reliable name when it come to by-the-numbers comedies) is delightful but slight, which is more or less exactly what the discerning viewer would expect when venturing into the film. From beginning to end, we can anticipate nearly every twist and turn – but unlike more recent instances of predictable comedy, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House doesn’t warrant penalization for its more convenient structure, especially since it makes it very clear that it is not aiming to be revolutionary, but rather a solid and entertaining 90-minute romp that touches on some very interesting issues, but ultimately doesn’t risk too much in the process. It’s not a particularly serious film, and it is always pitched at just the right level to be impactful, and taken alongside the more interesting details, we find ourselves presented with a charming but slight comedy that is about as deep as the trenches the character see being dug around them – which is to say, quite shallow as a whole.

It is difficult to look at Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House without speaking about the nature of screwball comedy, a sub-genre of humour in the shadow of which this film firmly resides. It occupies a very strange position – it is too principled to fully be classified as such, but it is also striking the right balance between absurdity and romance, which makes it at least partially similar. As entertaining as this film may be, it never comes close to revolutionizing the genre, consistently playing by all the rules and ensuring that it hits all the right notes. This all sounds like a criticism, but considering the classic era comedies were always at their best when either staying adherent to a tried-and-tested set of conventions, or abandoning them so intensely, the fact that they are a major departure from what audiences would expect become part of its appeal. There is very little space for a film to be both memorable and stay close to this binary, so while it may not be wholly original in the execution, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House has some terrific ideas – they may not all manifest as strongly as one would expect, but there is an honour in being simple but coherent, since it offers the viewer the opportunity to fully invest in this story without having to fear for the unexpected. If there was ever a need for a film that proves what can be done with the simplest of means and how even the most straightforward stories can remain extraordinarily riveting, this one is certainly a prime candidate, if only for the sake of its reliability and perpetual desire to solely entertain more than anything else.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House may be one of the very first instances of an architectural comedy, which is a bizarre statement to make, especially since such a concept apparently didn’t exist before writing it. One would imagine this entails a great deal of complexity and nuanced meaning, when in reality, it simply means that the vast majority of this film is centred around construction of a house, which serves as both the source of all of the humour, as well as the reason behind the tension that drives the narrative. As a result, the film is somewhat elitist in its worldview – considering how much of the plot revolves around an affluent family running into difficulties while in the process of seeing their dream house in suburban Connecticut being built, there may be a sense of the film lacking any real resonance. However, this is really grasping at straws, mainly because the film is thoroughly delightful, regardless if someone finds the middle-class meanderings relatable or not, and it doesn’t take too long to fully convince us that this is a very special comedy. It may not be the scathing comedy that some may expect (although it is a lot more effective than the ill-fated remake that most people are aware of, the disappointing The Money Pit), but it has a lot of earnest humour, which is carefully used to its benefit, creating a very funny and often quite compelling comedy that knows exactly how to handle its more challenging material, perhaps never rising to the point where it is constantly daring, but at least has a firm grounding within such a realm, enough to make up for narrative discrepancies.

At this point, there is very little need to reiterate what I have been saying all along – Cary Grant is simply one of the most effortlessly talented actors in the history of film, which is less of an opinion and more of an objective fact, which can be proven by the sheer volume of work that he did where he was positioned as the charming, debonair lead that can sweep anyone off their feet with just a mutter of his iconic Trans-Atlantic accent or gentle movement that often said as much about his character as the dialogue. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is certainly not his best work (although there are some parts where he is allowed to be both funnier and more profound than a lot of his more famous work), but it is a performance that gives him the chance to have some fun, which was something that Grant was rarely opposed to doing on occasion, making even the most serious of films entertaining with his presence. This film, as we’ve noted, was made as a way of recapturing the chemistry between Grant and Loy, both of whom are terrific here. They play off each other well, and manage to convey a sense of real pathos throughout their performances, which is not something we encounter very often from even the most well-conceived pairings, especially those not built from clear professional connection, but rather industry prognostication. They make for a tremendous pair, and carry the film almost on their own, with the rest of the cast (which includes a droll and entertaining Melvyn Douglas) merely being supplementary to their great work.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a film that really hinges on whether the viewer finds a story that derives comedy from a couple teetering dangerously close on a complete breakdown when they start to see their expenses compounding – for many of us, this is far from a source of laughter, and actually makes the events depicted here unintentionally tense (it’s important to remember that this film was produced in the years following the end of the Second World War, so morale was a lot higher and there was a slight economic boom that likely made this kind of story a lot more palatable to viewers at that point in the past). There’s a lot of fun to be had with this film – from top to bottom, there are numerous moments that feel like they exist to entertain more than inform. Logic is sometimes disregarded (especially since this film makes a lot of use of references to money), and reasonable thought seems to be secondary to the story – and while this may frustrate viewers who have a penchant for the financial and theoretical aspects of such a film, it never feels like its flights of fancy are too implausible to take us entirely out of the film. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House has a lot of strength, particularly in the moments where it seems to be heading towards a neat conclusion – and with a lot of faith on behalf of both the people involved in its creation and the audience, who are fully on-board with this brand of peculiar humour, the film becomes a really endearing comedy that may not reach the heights of other films from around this era, but is just as enthralling as anything else one was likely to encounter at the time, which makes it an enduring work of post-war economic comedy, a niche sub-genre that may seem tenuous at first, but gradually starts to make sense as we venture through the film.