Main Cast: Clifton Webb, Jeanne Crain, Myrna Loy, Edgar Buchanan
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Even allowing for the fact that it owed its existence to the popularity of Life with Father (1947), Cheaper by the Dozen is one of the freshest, funniest and most enduring "family" films ever to emerge from Hollywood. Based on the autobiographical novel by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, this is the mostly true story of famed efficiency expert Frank Bunker Gilbreth. As played by Clifton Webb, Gilbreth is a benevolent despot in his own home, managing to keep order and (sometimes) sanity despite the presence of twelve children (hence the title). Myrna Loy co-stars as Gilbreth's wife Lillian, who provides balance to her lively household, while Jeanne Crain is allotted the somewhat thankless role of eldest daughter Ernestine (who also narrates the story). The original book was basically a series of non-chronological anecdotes: Lamar Trotti's screenplay provides a throughline in the form of Gilbreth's ongoing ambition to deliver a series of lectures in Europe. The best moments (taken almost verbatim from the novel) include: Papa Gilbreth's insistence upon filming his family's tonsillectomies, including his own; a cruel but undeniably funny vignette wherein the Gilbreths flummox a lady advocate of planned parenthood (Mildred Natwick); Mr. Gilbreth giving an impromptu demonstration on how to take a bath in the least amount of time; and daughter Ernestine's senior prom, where her father ends up as the life of the party (appearing in this sequence as a Southern belle is Betty Lynn, who later played Thelma Lou on TV's Andy Griffith Show). The decision to retain the book's surprisingly downbeat ending provides a poignant coda to this heartwarming comedy. Cheaper by the Dozen was followed in 1952 by a sequel, Belles on their Toes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A big hit in its time, and a favorite for many year after, Cheaper By the Dozen has lost a considerable amount of its appeal in more recent times. Simply put, while it has its charms and some considerable assets, Cheaper is dated. For some, this won't be much of a problem, but others will find it challenging to watch a man who is basically a dictator, who cares little for the opinions of others (while professing otherwise) and whose obsession with efficiency may strike some as a bit monomaniacal. Cheaper has some other problems, notably that it's basically just one long series of incidents and vignettes rather than a single cohesive story. However, it also has a warmth and charm about it, and many of the sequences do inspire genuine laughter. This is especially true of the "birth control lecture" sequence, which is just about perfect and which also benefits from a spot-on performance by Mildred Natwick. And whatever issues one may have with the father, there's no denying that he is played to the hilt by Clifton Webb. Myrna Loy plays another of her perfect wives to perfection, and Edgar Buchanan does well as the family doctor. Jeanne Crain is a bit stiff as the eldest daughter, though Barbara Bates as the next in live is quite good. Walter Lang's direction keeps things moving and is ultra-professional, if a bit impersonal. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Barbara Bates - Ernestine; Mildred Natwick - Mrs. Mebane; Sara Allgood - Mrs. Monahan; Anthony Sydes - Fred Gilbreth; Roddy McCaskill - Jack Gilbreth; Carol Nugent - Lillie Gilbreth; Jimmy Hunt - William Gilbreth; Teddy Driver - Dan Gilbreth; Betty Barker - Mary Gilbreth; Evelyn Varden - School Principal; Frank Orth - Mr. Higgins; Craig Hill - Tom Black; Virginia Brissac - Mrs. Benson; Walter S. Baldwin - Jim Bracken; Bennie Bartlett - Joe Scales; Sid Saylor - Plumber; Ken Christy - Mailman; Mary Field - Music teacher; Patti Bundy - Martha Gilbreth; Betty Lynne - Libby Lancaster; Norman Ollestad - Frank Gilbreth, Jr.; Robert Arthur
Credit
Walter Lang - Director, J. Watson Webb, Jr. - Editor, Cyril Mockridge - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer, Lamar Trotti - Producer, Lamar Trotti - Screenwriter, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. - Book Author, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey - Book Author
The parents were time and motion study and efficiency experts Frank Bunker Gilbreast's and Lillian Moller Gilbreast's. The title comes from one of Gilbreast's favorite jokes which played out in the movie that when he and his family were out driving and stopped at a red light, a pedestrian would ask "Hey, Mister! How come you got so many kids?" Gilbreast's would pretend to ponder the question carefully, and then, just as the light turned green, would say "Well, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know," and drive off. In the book Frank Gilbreast's died of a heart attack while talking to his wife on the telephone; in the movie when his wife answers the telephone, there is no reply on the other end of the line, although she is told by the operator she is still connected.
Sequel
Because of the success of Cheaper by the Dozen, Gilbreth and Carey wrote a follow-up to their book, entitled Belles on Their Toes, which was also made into a movie by 20th Century Fox in 1952.
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)
The version of Cheaper by the Dozen made in 2003 is not a straight remake of this motion picture. The similarity between the 2003 movie and the 1950 book and film is that both stories feature a family of twelve children and the family moves. The 2003 version does not have the melancholy ending of the 1950 release, and it is centered around a completely different family and course of events. It bears no resemblance (except twelve children and the moving) to the original book.
