Product: Father of the Bride [VHS] (1950)
Rating: 1.0
Has not stood up well over time
Viewers who have fond memories of America of the 1950s may find this film amusing. Others will find it dated and wonder how anyone could have ever enjoyed it.The problem is one of values. Spencer Tracy plays a upper middle class lawyer, whose innocent daughter Elizabeth Taylor (somehow even a young Liz fails to cut it as as an ingénue) announces one day that she has decided to marry Buckley Somebody. (Here, as in life, the groom is a cipher. It is telling that a no-name actor plays Buckley).At first Dad is concerned that Liz will be marrying a pauper, but not to worry, Buckley's family turns out to be rich -- in addition to having a larger house, they have a white maid, while Liz's family only has Delilah, a black maid! Good stuff.The most interesting aspect of the film is its depiction of 1950s "sophistication": Mom and Dad sleeping in separate beds in pressed nightclothes that leave everything to the imagination, the heavy drinking of hard liquor (Tracy comes across as an alcoholic, but a "loveable" one), and a formal wedding meant to generate lots of presents and impress the business associates of the parents.All in all, a thoroughly depressing film.If you do decide to buy it, try to get the original black & white version, not the more recent "colorized" one which adds an unintended level of vulgarity to the film.