This first "Mr. Belvedere" film is a film with very modest goals and it achieves them quite well. It is a family comedy about an incredibly stuffy know-it-all named Belvedere who comes to live with a couple whose kids and dog are extremely difficult, to say the least. Mr. Belvedere isn't exactly a nanny or housekeeper, but sort of like a boarder who also helps out with the kids but doesn't do the cooking. Miraculously, the kids and dog shape up very quickly (though I really couldn't see why) but although the arrangement seems ideal, nosy neighbors (especially the one played by Richard Hayden) try to undo this by spreading rumors that Belvedere and the lady of the house were having an affair! All this is handled very cutely and much of the credit needs to go the the writers as well as the great performance of Clifton Webb as Belvedere. While Maureen O'Hara and Robert Young are just fine as the husband and wife, Webb truly steals the show with his charming performance that seems highly reminiscent of the later cartoon character, Mr. Peabody (who is rumored to be modeled after Webb). An excellent family movie that deliberately avoids sappiness or extreme sentimentality.
Review of Sitting Pretty
