Belles on Their Toes (1952)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

Phoebe Ephron (screenplay) and
Henry Ephron (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

May 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Engineer | Graduation | Male Chauvinism | Social Dance

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Ann Gilbreth
Myrna Loy	...	Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth
Debra Paget	...	Martha Gilbreth
Jeffrey Hunter	...	Dr. Bob Grayson
Edward Arnold	...	Sam Harper
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Thomas George Bracken
Barbara Bates	...	Ernestine Gilbreth
Robert Arthur	...	Frank Gilbreth
Verna Felton	...	Cousin Leora
Carol Nugent	...	Lily Gilbreth
Tina Thompson	...	Jane Gilbreth - as a Child
Teddy Driver	...	Jack Gilbreth
Tommy Ivo	...	William Gilbreth
Jimmy Hunt	...	Fred Gilbreth
Anthony Sydes	...	Dan Gilbreth

Also Known As:

Belles on Their Toes: The Further Adventures of the Gilbreth Family (UK) (long title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #15490) | UK:U | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Paradise Cove - 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Sam Harper: [hearing muffled explosion] What on earth was that?
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth: The childern have a chemistry set in the cellar.
Sam Harper: Smells like alcohol.
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth: Mr. Harper, alcohol is a chemical.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Remembers: Myrna Loy - So Nice to Come Home to (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Hail to the Chief

Not As Fun As The First Film But Acceptable

Cheaper by the dozen was the first story involving the Gilbreth family and was headed by Frank Gilbreth, played by Clifton Webb. He died at the end of the first movie as he gave charge of the family to his wife, Lillian Gilbreth played by Myrna Loy. This film probably would have been a little more inspiring if it had centered on the strength of Mrs Gilbreth overcoming the odds of raising a dozen children and a dog during a time when woman were not as accepted in a "man's world of business." But this film was a comedy, so it centered on the teenage daughters and their love lives. Jeannie Crain plays Ann Gilbreth, the only daughter shown getting married but only after finally accepting the idea that children grow and leave home. This was a tightly knitted family and this was how they overcame many difficult times. The ending entails a fine salute to the man that would have loved to have seen his children all grown up as an aged old mother Gilbreth remembers the many memories that will never leave her heart. A job well done by Mrs Gilbreth.