Father Goose [1964] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

I was brought up on this film.......2004-08-31

Well, this and Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. An excellent film, and a must see for anyone who has a single funny bone in their body. One of Grants best performances in my opinion, shows so many good aspects of his amazing acting abilities, although not nearly in the same league as north by north west.....
a definite must see

A romantic comedy in the old style.......2002-12-30

If you liked the original ODD COUPLE - slob and compulsive neatnik thrown together in the same apartment - or HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON - tough guy WWII Marine marooned on an enemy-held South Pacific island with a pretty nun, then you should enjoy FATHER GOOSE starring Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard. I saw it once again on the telly this past weekend while doing the ironing, and I'm fortunate to be old enough to have an appreciation of all three films.

Grant is Walter Eckland, an antisocial, unkempt escapee from "civilization" that spends his time bumming around the South Seas on an old yacht. At the start of WWII, he's coerced into service as a "coast watcher", an observer stationed on a remote island as a lookout for Japanese planes or ships, by the wily and dry-witted local Royal Navy authority figure, Comdr. Houghton (Howard). Eckland is bribed with booze to perform in His Majesty's service. One of his first assignments is to boat over to another island and rescue a fellow coast watcher. But, on arriving, he finds only his colleague's grave and the Caron character, Catherine Freneau, the daughter of a French government official, who's been stranded with a bevy of underage schoolgirls of which she has charge. Walter naturally takes them back to his island and his hovel, where the differences between the two adults soon surface. To Eckland, Freneau becomes "Goody Two Shoes", while, to the latter, her knight in stained armor becomes the "Filthy Beast".

While admittedly silly entertainment, FATHER GOOSE is a delightful romantic comedy that doesn't, like some of the current Tinseltown offerings, rely for laughs on sensitive body parts being caught in zippers, bodily fluids masquerading as hair gel, or carnal knowledge of apple pies. This film has Class, chiefly due to the presence of Grant, who character demonstrates more suavity unshaven and without socks than any one of today's crop of male actors dressed up in a tux. (Perhaps only Sean Connery, Robert Redford and Paul Newman are close to being in the same league.) Caron's strong-willed and very feminine Freneau is more than a match for Eckland's obstinately boorish masculinity - a pairing made in heaven, or at least Hollywood.

Perhaps my high esteem for this film is more a function of nostalgia. But there're a lot of other films from that same period of my youth that are eminently forgettable, so I have to think that FATHER GOOSE is a cut above.

Goody Two Shoes and the Filthy Beast.......2002-10-23

Walter Christopher Eckland (Cary Grant) A drifter, has obtained a boat from someone fleeing the oncoming war. Due to a lack of coast watchers (the "should have been" watcher getting himself eaten), Walter is pressed into service. Certain measures were taken to get him there and to encourage his participation.

On a mission to save a fellow cost watcher Walter ends up with Catherine Louise Marie Ernestine Freneau (Leslie Caron), who is escorting several schoolgirls out of harms way and was stranded. Place any man and woman on an island toss in some schoolgirls, a little liquor, snake, tie, Japanese, and you have a mixture for comedy.

A surprisingly amusing film.......2000-11-26

This was the first Cary Grant film I ever saw (being only 18) and I was surprised how good it was. Grant is on superb form as an unwilling, alcoholic loner dragged into secret surveillance of the Japanese in the Philipines during WW2.

Although the film is somewhat predictable, Grant manages to hold it together with his performance. If Leslie Caron had contributed more I would have given it 5 stars.

Average customer rating:

Typically good Henson puppets: 3+1/2 stars

Jim Henson's Mopatop Shop
Mopatop's Shop
Manufacturer: Hit Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Children's TV | Television | Categories | DVD | Video
All Children's DVD | Children's DVD | Categories | DVD | Video
DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock - Let The Music Play - Vol. 1

Time to Wash Faces!: Story 3 ("In the Night Garden")

ASIN: B0006I028G
Release Date: 2005-03-14

Customer Reviews:

Typically good Henson puppets: 3+1/2 stars.......2005-05-20

The puppets are up to the usual standard of the Jim Henson studios. My 2 1/2 year old loves the Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House, and he also enjoyed watching Mopatop and the puppets singing. It's a bit odd to hear English not American accents as we've come to expect from these types of puppets, but the stories are just the right length to keep my son entertained - Other DVDs have too short stories that don't help kids' attention spans, or are too long so they get bored - this one seems to be good. Has a good mix of storyline, songs and dancing puppets. Six episodes. 3 1/2 stars

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