The Happiest Millionaire (1967)

Great Gift

I bought this a as a gift for my sister in law and she absolutely loved it! July 15, 2008

The Happiest Millionaire

This movie is a true treasure! Our family has truly enjoyed it. It is full of music, Family love and Values! June 18, 2008

Classic family memories

I still love this movie. It was a movie we watched all the time when I was growing up and I love that the DVD has scenes that I had never seen before. This is truly a classic that will get you singing along by the end of the movie. May 12, 2008

The Roadshow Edition...not anamorphic widescreen

This film is not one of Disney's best, but if, like my wife, you were raised on musicals, it will not disappoint.

What did disappoint was Disney's failure to enhance the Roadshow Edition for 16 x 9 televisions. I recently bought my first HDTV, and in going through my DVD collection to determine which discs were enhanced, this was one of the few issued since 2000 which was not. A bit odd, but buyer beware. December 27, 2007

The Last of an Era

It has been told that film was the last live action Disney film which supervised by Walt himself(The last animated film Walt had his stamp on was the Jungle Book). This forty year old film was and still is a weak musical Disney vehicle. You could see that there were Disney touches in this production. However, in this film, touches would help only slightly...like a bandade does not help a gaping bleeding wound

This musical with songs and score from Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, the studio's resident songwriting team seems forced into this film. This motion picture could have worked better without being a musical. One of the problems is the film fall flat with the off key and out of tune singing of Fred MacMurray and Greer Garson. British import Tommy Steele as the wise-alec butler John showcases his British song and dance reputation. the two vocal duets of Leslie Anne Warren (who was hand picked for this role by Disney himself ) and John Davidson is sweet, but too few.

One would assume this movie would be in genre of Mary Poppins, Disney's other live action musical hit...but it misses in many ways including its casting. Fred MacMurray may have been a great actor for the studio, but he is the weak link as the Biddle father figure. The characters of the Biddle boys (Paul Peterson & Eddie Hodges) vanish after one scene

In hinesight, this stylized musical seems like a dinosaur in the Disney Backlist compare to other films. Norman Tokar's direction, which is usually fast paced, focus on odd long shots, focusing on MacMurray's close ups and Tommy Steele's smiling mug, rather than moving this film to any pacing.

As classic family entertainment, It is okay. but rather long timewise and tonewise. For those parents who want to share this film with their kids, note this DVD is the Roadshow edition which has an intermission. so I suggest ,you can show this film to the kids in two parts

With all the talent involved, I rate it three stars for all that is jammed into this movie.

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD November 15, 2007

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