The Seven Little Foys (1955)

A vaudeville comedy song and dance man (Bob Hope) falls in love with an Italian girl (Milly Vitale, WAR AND PEACE) and they promptly have seven children after they are married. But when his wife dies, he must cope with raising the kids on his own while his sister in law (Angela Clarke) protests the way he is raising them. Based on the story of vaudeville star Eddie Foy and directed by Melville Shavelson (YOURS MINE AND OURS). In the mid 1950s, Bob Hope attempted a few relatively serious roles in an attempt to stretch his acting chops beyond his one line quip persona. BEAU JAMES (1957) and this film were the fruit of that venture. This one is hopelessly sentimental (he fared better with BEAU JAMES) and any movie with this many kids is bound to score high on the treacle meter. The second half of the film after the wife dies is much better than its first half and Hope gets to do some serious acting. But it remains a pretty listless affair. The movie does come alive briefly when Hope and James Cagney as George M. Cohan exchange put downs and do some dancing and it's pure movie happiness watching these two pros go at it. With George Tobias, Billy Gray, Dabbs Greer and King Donovan.