Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962)

When a banker (James Stewart) suggests to his wife (Maureen O'Hara) that they take a vacation, he didn't expect that she would include all the children including the adult children and grandkids! The family reunion gets off a bad start when their rented beach house looks like something out of Edgar Allan Poe! Based on the novel MR. HOBBS' VACATION by Edward Streeter (FATHER OF THE BRIDE) and directed by Henry Koster (THE ROBE). This film is not unlike those family friendly live action comedies Disney was churning out in the 1960s with Fred MacMurray as the put upon dad. This time it's 20th Century Fox and James Stewart as the dad. It's a painless sit but I've always preferred the dark James Stewart of the Anthony Mann westerns and Hitchcock films to the "oh gosh" Stewart of the Capra films and his comedies. This one has only one truly funny sequence when Stewart gets locked in the bathroom while Marie Wilson (as a house guest) is taking a shower. Other than that, it may as well be a TV sitcom. The Henry Mancini score helps a bit. With Fabian, John Saxon, Natalie Trundy, Lauri Peters, Reginald Gardiner, Michael Burns and Lili Gentle.