Sitting Pretty

Mr.Belvedere was the vehicle, by which, I "discovered" Clifton Webb. Played to perfection (Mr.Belvedere is the definition of perfection) by Webb, he has ruined the chance for anyone to improve, or even approach, his performance. (As, for example, the weak effort to duplicate Mr. Belvedere, on the TV sitcom of the same name. The TV show may even be reason someone might stay away from this movie. Don't make that mistake.) Clifton Webb IS the "show". I can't think of anyone who has the "confidence" to carry off being the know-it-all who can/did teach the experts. A great comedic performance, like this, is an extra special surprise when coming from such an unexpected source. The usually "starched", serious actor is hilarious. The 2 sequels, Mr.Belvedere Goes to College, and Mr.Belvedere Rings the Bell, are also very good. In fact, excellent as sequels go....

Suggested movies for Clifton Webb fans..."Laura"..."Stars and Stripes Forever..."Three Coins in the Fountain"...They span his long career, show you his range, and will most definitely entertain you..........

As the self-proclaimed genius, Mr. Belvedere, CLIFTON WEBB delivers every line of dialog with such crisp authority that you believe he IS the eccentric character who volunteers his services as a live-in babysitter for ROBERT YOUNG and MAUREEN O'HARA and their unruly brood.

Webb simply steals every scene with skillful ease, except when RICHARD HAYDN enters the film as a snobbish, adenoidal neighbor who is another kind of genius at snooping. Before you know it, Belvedere has all of these citizens under his thumb, exposing the hypocrisy of small-town gossip in his novel, much the way Grace Metalious did when she pried open the lid of PEYTON PLACE.

It's all for laughs and never fails to delight. This is the film that really established Webb's long career at Fox in roles that seemed tailor-made for his kind of pompous charm.

With Sitting Pretty, Clifton Webb created his most enduring film character, the aesthetic and acid tongue, self-styled genius, Mr. Lynn Belvedere. He enters the lives of the King family by answering an advertisement Maureen O'Hara puts in a paper about needing a live-in baby sitter.

Never assume folks, Maureen doesn't specify the gender of whom she seeks and with that first name of Mr. Belvedere she and husband Robert Young assume they've got themselves a female.

Belvedere moves in and he's quite the character. I'm not sure there's a subject or a field he's not well versed in and he's not above letting one know it. Thanks to a fussy busybody neighbor, Richard Haydn, Webb and O'Hara become the focal point of a lot of neighborhood gossip.

Clifton Webb never had any luck with his three Oscar nominations. In 1944 for Laura he lost to Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way. In 1946 in The Razor's Edge he lost to Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives. Those two were for Best Supporting Actor, but in 1948 he was nominated for Best Actor and this time lost to the greatest actor of his generation playing arguably the greatest acting role ever, Laurence Olivier as Hamlet.

Robert Young as O'Hara's husband is not generally commented on, but I've always had the sneaking suspicion that some astute casting directors saw Young in this film and decided he'd be perfect as THE television suburban all American father when it came time to casting Father Knows Best.

For some reason Maureen O'Hara gave this film a fast mention in her recent memoirs and didn't discuss it at all. I'm not sure why, she certainly did well enough in it.

Richard Haydn is also not commented on too much, mainly because he was playing a very typical Richard Haydn part. Clifton Webb of course was the cinema's closest thing for almost 20 years to an out gay actor and I'm sure Mr. Belvedere if done today would be more explicitly gay. So would that first meeting of Haydn and Webb where today it would be shown for exactly what it is, Haydn trying to pick up Webb and Webb turning the prospect down cold.

Almost sixty years later, Sitting Pretty has not lost a bit of its entertainment value. Clifton Webb's Mr. Belevedere is an enduring cinema legend. I only wish the two succeeding Belvedere films were shown. I've never seen either of them as of today and don't ever even recall them being broadcast.

This movie is hilarious! I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time. Everything about it is cute and funny, with the perfect counterbalance of wit and sophistication. Robert Young is in handsome lighthearted form, and the children are of course adorable and winsome - especially Roddy, who wails at the slightest provocation. It has everything! The more I watch it, the more humorous subplots emerge. My favorite scenes are when the nosy neighbors spread rumors of Lynn and Tacey's sordid affair, and she says at the lounge as they pass by, "Let's give them something to gossip about!", and proceeds to jitterbug with him. And when Mr Belvedere exposes the hypocrisy of the townspeople: Priceless. I'm so pleased with Ms O'Hara's versatility when you think about the vastly contrasting films in their genres, themes and moods that she made around the same time within the space of a few years, how they display her dynamism and acting genius with her outstandingly unique ubiquitous great theatrical stage presence that translates well to the screen which is so rare and difficult a feat to accomplish. She appears equally at home with deep brooding roles as she does the urbane comedic together-woman. This is definitely one of her best!

A very pleasant, agreeable little effort, dominated by the magnificent Clifton Webb - as sanguine and savourably sour a figure as rarely seen in Hollywood...

His character, Lynn Belvedere, is absolutely wonderful; wry, serene, roundly honest and arrogant; he is the focal point of the majority of the humour. The other actors are fine, with Maureen O'Hara, Richard Haydn and Robert Young more than capable supports. Yet... Belvedere's superiority is never in question: when asked at *what* he works, he simply and unequivocally states, "I am a genius".

Says it all really! There are so many witty one-liners, and amusing touches in comparison to many modern films on the same themes of babysitting and American suburbia. This is one of the most enjoyable films of its era; propelled to lofty heights by Clifton Webb's indomitable prescence. A touch of waspish, queer old England thrust into the picket-fence garden of American suburbia.