JohnHowardReid Copyright 22 March 1950 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 31 March 1950. U.S. release: April 1950. U.K. release: 26 June 1950. Australian release: 22 December 1950. 7,733 feet. 86 minutes.SYNOPSIS: On a summer day in 1921 Frank Bunker Gilbreth (Clifton Webb), a time and motion expert, imperils traffic in all directions as he pilots his Pierce Arrow down a street in Providence, R.I. Stepping into the hallway of his home, he whistles the "family assembly", and children of all ages quickly converge on him. Home from a trip, he has presents for everyone, for his wife, Lillian (Myrna Loy), who is carrying a baby, Jane. For Ann (Jeanne Crain), his eldest daughter, Ernestine (Barbara Bates), and all the other children. The children are thunderstruck when he breaks the news that they are moving to Montclair, N.J. Mrs Monahan (Sara Allgood), the cook, helps them pack, and a few days later they climb into the Pierce Arrow and head for Montclair. As they are moving into their new house, the mailman comes by. "How do you feed 'em?" he asks. "Oh, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know," Dad answers.NOTES: Number 4 at the domestic box-office for 1950 with a rentals gross close to 4½ million. The movie came in at number 11 in Australia for 1951, but did less well in the U.K. A sequel "Belles On Their Toes" was released in 1952. Although sold as a remake, the 2003 movie is really a different story altogether.COMMENT: A period comedy based on a best-selling book about an eccentric but decidedly fertile and opinionated pater familias. Sound familiar? Fox's attempt to cash in on the success of Warners' "Life With Father" demanded ditto Technicolor — and got it from Fox's ace cameraman Leon Shamroy. Although the book was written by Ernestine (Barbara Bates) and Frank (Norman Ollestad), the movie is narrated by Jeanne Crain's Ann, the spoiled, willful daughter who comes to realize that father knows best after all. Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy, Edgar Buchanan and company do fortunately manage to make their characters likable — so much so in fact that you often have the feeling that moments of bright comedy are just around the corner. Alas, the film never really delivers this. The scriptwriter seems determined to stick to the facts – a recipe that many will argue is highly admirable!Nonetheless, there's really no excuse for Lang's dull-as-usual direction. Lang also cops the blame from me for allowing some of the less attractive youngsters to hog the camera to the exclusion of more promising moppets.For me, the film's most entertaining asset turns out not to be Technicolor nor players nor script, but the wonderful music score. Songs include "When You Wore a Tulip" by Jack Mahoney (lyrics) and Percy Wenrich (music); "Memories" by Richard A. Whiting and Frederick Hollander; and Bob Carleton's "Jada, Jada" to which Clifton Webb and Jeanne Crain dance their famous "Toddle".AVAILABLE on an excellent Fox DVD.

btm1 This movie is based on the biographic book written by two of the 12 children of Frank Gilbert, Sr. Frank Gilbert, Sr., was a prominent pioneering efficiency expert. Efficiency experts were hired by manufacturers as consultants on how to increase the productivity of 20th mass production. (An example of the kind of work Gilbert pioneered is in the musical comedy, "The Pajama Game". Eddie Foy, Jr. plays the time-control manager, Hines.) But the movie and book are about his home life. With a huge family and limited bathroom facilities, organization is needed to make the parents' lives manageable and to prevent chaos. Some of his ideas seem good (such as decorating the children's bedrooms with educational material so that they will become familiar to them without studying. But others, such as an industrial scale tonsillectomy on the 12 children makes for a good story. The title of the movie and book come from the father bargaining for quantity discounts.This is a comedy the whole family can enjoy. It gives us an opportunity to view what life was like in an upper middle class family at the dawn of the 1920's jazz age. It hasn't any car chases, pratfalls, and its more of a series of vignettes (individual chapters of the book relate incidents in the family's life) than a story following a plot. I saw this movie when it was first in the theaters and after I had read the book. It remains one of my fondest biographical films, with the other being "Aunty Mame."

Jackson Booth-Millard I confess that I had seen the Steve Martin remake before seeing this original from director Walter Lang (Call Me Madam, The King and I), but that didn't stop me. Basically in Providence, Rhode Island, the Gilbreth family are made up of husband/father Frank Bunker (Clifton Webb), wife/mother Lillian (Myrna Loy), and their eleven children, and including daughters Ann (Jeanne Crain) and Ernestine (Barbara Bates). There is no specific story, it is just seeing how the family cope in certain situations, e.g. going on a day out and stuff, but you do see some storyline concerning marriage and that. I will admit I dozed off somewhere in the middle, but I woke up to see the quite sad ending with father Frank dying. Also starring Betty Lynn as Deborah Lancaster, Edgar Buchanan as Dr. Burton, Mildred Natwick as Mrs. Mebane and Sara Allgood as Mrs. Monahan. I did laugh at quite a few moments, I almost prefer the concept of the remake, but this original period comedy certainly does feel like it deserves three stars out of five. Worth watching!

Kristine I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed enjoyed the classic "Cheaper By The Dozen", despite how cheesy it could be by today's standards, I thought it had such a kind feel to it and felt like a baby blankie. I wanted to see the original before ever thinking about seeing the remake with Steve Martin, but Hilary Duff is holding me back from seeing it, shallow, I know, but she's so annoying! But the original just had such a sweet and touching story about the struggles of coming from a huge family.Cheaper by the Dozen is about the Gilbreth family, a family of a mother, who is a house wife, a father, who is an engineer, and 12 of their children. They move together in a bigger house only to find that it wasn't big enough for them, but too small for the maids to be hired, so they must chip in and work on the house together. The kids are growing up and the father is finding it so hard learning how to sometimes let go.Honestly, I don't know if I'll see the remake, I'm afraid of what today's Hollywood has done to it, not to mention my sheer dislike of Hilary Duff. But please see the original Cheaper By The Dozen if you get the chance, it may be a little Leave It To Beaver, but I think it's one of America's finer family films.7/10