Father Is a Prince

Grant Mitchell is an irascible fellow. He's the penny-pinching owner of a company that manufactures carpet sweeper. His daughter, Jan Clayton, has just gotten engaged to George Reeves. He's no Superman, but his father runs a vacuum-cleaner manufacturing company. Mitchell doesn't know about the engagement, but his wife, Nana Bryant, has invited them to dinner. Unfortunately, Miss Bryant is feeling poorly.

It's one of those Warner Brothers B movies of the era, short on funny and long on frantic, that I usually don't care for, but this expert cast -- which includes John Litel and Lee Patrick -- pull it off, thanks to some dramatic turns.

Miss Clayton, like Reeves, is probably better known for her television work than her movies. She was the first mother figure on the long-running Lassie series. After that, she guest-starred around TV through 1972. She died in 1983 at the age of 66.