Sitting Pretty (DVD)

Clifton Webb brings the imperious fussiness that made him a prissy film noir icon in such films as Laura and the Dark Corner to the role of Lynn Belvedere, the self-proclaimed genius who takes a position nannying a trio of bratty boys. This professed child-hating bachelor proves to be a godsend for flustered parents Maureen O'Hara and Robert Young. Within days his unconventional mix of child psychology and strict discipline tames the three rambunctious boys-faced with an infant who insists on spattering him with oatmeal, he simply dumps the bowl on the tyke's head. The trouble in paradise begins when a snoopy neighbor spreads gossip about an affair between Belvedere and the mother of the house, which sends hot-headed Dad into a tizzy, but just as things look their darkest Belvedere turns the tables on the neighborhood when the real reason of his suburban relocation is revealed. Director Walter Lang underplays his hand so much that the film takes on all the style of a 1950s TV sitcom, but his fine direction of performers brings out the humor of this middle-class satire with warmth and wit. Ultimately, however, the film belongs to Webb, whose witheringly snide insults and cutting comments roll off his tongue with comic effortlessness.

Starring: Ed Begley, Sr., Louise Allbritton, Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, Clifton Webb, Richard Haydn, Louise Albritton, Randy Stuart, Ed Begley, Larry Olsen, John Russell, Betty Ann Lynn, Willard Robertson, Anthony Sydes, Roddy McCaskill, Cara Williams, Charles Arnt, Ken Christy, Mary Field, Betty Lynn, Grayce Hampton, Marion Marshall, Ann Shoemaker, Minerva Urecal, Jane Nigh, Sid Saylor, Bill Sheehan, Ruth Warren, Isabel Randolph, Ellen Lowe, Dave Morris, Anne O'Neal, Albin Robeling, Josephine Whittell, Charles Tannen, Billy Wayne, Charles Owens, Iris James, Robert Tidwell, Barbara Blain, Lee MacGregor, J. Farrell MacDonald, Gertrude Astor

Director: Michael P. Flannigan, Roger Corman, Samuel G. Engel