Wikipedia

Father Goose (film)

Father Goose is a 1964 American Technicolor romantic comedy film set in World War II, starring Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard. The title is a play on the children's fiction character of "Mother Goose," which is used as a code name assigned to the coast watcher character played by Grant. Based on a story A Place of Dragons by Sanford Barnett,[2][3] the film won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It introduced the song "Pass Me By" by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, later recorded by Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and others.

Father Goose
Film poster
Directed byRalph Nelson
Written byPeter Stone
Frank Tarloff
Based onA Place of Dragons
short story
by S. H. Barnett
Produced byRobert Arthur
StarringCary Grant
Leslie Caron
Trevor Howard
CinematographyCharles Lang
Edited byTed J. Kent
Music byCy Coleman
Production
company
Granox Productions
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • December 10, 1964 (1964-12-10)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$12.5 million[1]

Plot

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While the Royal Australian Navy evacuates Salamaua, Papua New Guinea, in February 1942[4] ahead of a Japanese invasion, Commander Frank Houghton coerces an old friend, American beachcomber Walter Eckland, into becoming a coast watcher for the Allies. Houghton escorts Eckland to deserted Matalava Island to watch for Japanese airplanes. To ensure Eckland stays put, Houghton has his own ship "accidentally" knock a hole in Eckland's cabin cruiser while departing, leaving him only a utility dinghy to get around in. To motivate the alcoholic Eckland, Houghton had his crew hide bottles of Scotch whisky around the island, rewarding each confirmed aircraft sighting with directions to one.

As Japanese forces threaten another nearby coast watcher, Houghton has no one else to evacuate him. He entices Eckland to use the small motorized dinghy to make the dangerous journey. In return, Eckland extorts the location of his entire supply of whisky (and gathers the cache). Upon arrival on Bundy Island he is instead greeted by a parade of eight females: Frenchwoman Catherine Freneau and seven schoolgirls under her care since escaping Rabaul, but no coast watcher; he'd been killed in an air raid and buried by Freneau. Recognizing their plight, Eckland dutifully takes the troop back to Matalava.

The next morning, Freneau clashes with Eckland, whom she decries to Houghton as "a rude, foul-mouthed, drunken, filthy beast." In return, Eckland dubs Freneau "Miss Goody Two Shoes".

Eckland settles into a grudging détente with the group. One by one, he befriends the girls (four British, two French, and an Australian), becoming pals with the outgoing tomboyish "Harry" and even getting the youngest, traumatized mute since being separated from her parents to speak again.

When the girls frantically report that Freneau has been bitten by a snake and Houghton confirms that all on the island are deadly venomous, Eckland commences a vigil over her. To ease her pain, he's advised to administer an 'analgesic sedative', which he does liberally. A veteran social drinker from her consulate days - evidently entirely out of practice - she enthusiastically downs the whisky.

When she passes out Eckland mistakenly believes she has succumbed (and taken with her solemn secrets he revealed in their reverie), only to learn she'd merely been pricked by a thorny stick that just looked like a snake. The next day she remembers everything - to his horror.

Realizing they are in love (rather than a case of lust they once narrowly averted), the couple arrange to be married by a military chaplain via radio. Houghton then finally agrees to evacuate them, by U.S. submarine the following morning.

Unsurprisingly, the couple is unable to consummate their marriage, spending their honeymoon night on the beach with the girls waiting for a signal from the sub. Before it arrives a Japanese patrol boat returns and sends a pair of landing parties shoreward in rafts. Ordering Freneau and the girls into his dinghy, Eckland heads out to sea in his newly repaired cruiser in the opposite direction to draw the Japanese away.

On station, the sub is unable to torpedo the patrol boat because of an intervening reef. The cruiser runs full-out, bracketed by Japanese shells. Finally the patrol boat is in the clear, but before the torpedoes can hit their mark the cruiser is blown to splinters.

All is not lost, though: Eckland had lashed its wheel and jumped overside to safety. He pops up cheerfully alongside the dinghy.

Cast

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The children:

  • Sharyl Locke as Jenny
  • Pip Sparke as Anne
  • Verina Greenlaw as Christine
  • Stephanie Berrington as Elizabeth Anderson
  • Jennifer Berrington as Harriet "Harry" MacGregor
  • Laurelle Felsette as Angelique
  • Nicole Felsette as Dominique

Production

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The film was based on a short story by S Barnett called A Place of Dragons. Producer Hal Chester hired Frank Tarloff, with whom he had worked on School for Scoundrels, to write the screenplay. Tarloff turned the project down at first calling it "a poor man's African Queen" but changed his mind. Originally the film was going to be a "small British picture" directed by Cy Enfield, who like Tarloff was an American blacklistee living in England. Tarloff added the children, who were not in the original story. Chester then sold the project to Universal, although they refused to let Chester produce.[5]

According to the New York Times, Cary Grant was given the original story by an executive at Universal who liked it. He passed it along to Peter Stone, who told him he wanted to write the screenplay.[6] Grant then arranged for Stone to be signed to Father Goose; Stone's contract called for a picture a year for five years.[6]

At one stage David Miller was going to direct but that job eventually went to Ralph Nelson.

There were a number of films and TV shows in the early 1960s that featured coastwatcher characters, in part due to the fact President John F. Kennedy's life had been saved by a coastwatcher during World War Two.[7]

Father Goose was filmed on location in Jamaica.[citation needed] Filming began in May 1964.

The Japanese patrol vessel at the end of the film was portrayed by a former U.S. Coast Guard wood hull 83-foot WPB patrol boat.[citation needed] Director Ralph Nelson stated he tried to avoid professional child actors; with one exception,[who?] he succeeded.[6]

Reception

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Box office

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The film grossed $12.5 million at the domestic box office,[1] earning $6 million in US theatrical rentals.[8]

Critical

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In its contemporary review, Variety was positive: "Cary Grant comes up with an about-face change of character.... [He] plays an unshaven bum addicted to tippling and tattered attire, a long way from the suave figure he usually projects but affording him opportunity for nutty characterization. Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard are valuable assists to plottage...."[9]

Bosley Crowther, The New York Times critic, considered it "a cheerfully fanciful fable" and "some harmless entertainment".[10] Of the title character, he wrote, "It is not a very deep character or a very real one, but it is fun."[10]

Awards and nominations

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S. H. Barnett, Peter Stone, and Frank Tarloff won the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, which was written directly for the screen. Ted J. Kent was nominated for Best Film Editing and Waldon O. Watson for Best Sound.[11] It received a nomination for the 1965 Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy award.

When Stone accepted his Oscar he said "Thank you to Cary Grant who keeps winning these things for other people.”

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Box Office Information for Father Goose. The Numbers. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  2. ^ "OBITUARIES : Sanford Barnett, 79; Writer Won Oscar". Los Angeles Times. 16 April 1988. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. ^ "My Father's Oscar". 19 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  4. ^ Established by the mention of the surrender of Singapore
  5. ^ McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Tender comrades : a backstory of the Hollywood blacklist. St. Martin's Press. pp. 652–653. ISBN 978-0-312-20031-2.
  6. ^ a b c Murray Schumach (May 17, 1964). "Hollywood 'Father Goose' Saga". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018.
  7. ^ Vagg, Stephen (2023). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Coastwatchers". Filmink. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 6
  9. ^ Daily Variety, December 31, 1963
  10. ^ a b Bosley Crowther (December 11, 1964). "The Screen: 'Father Goose'". The New York Times.
  11. ^ "The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
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