An On-Set Break During Life With Father


Here’s an illustrious gathering from the Warner Bros. 1947 hit Life With Father. From left to right --- director Michael Curtiz, production supervisor Steve Trilling, Jack L. Warner, Irene Dunne, William Powell, and the authors of the Broadway play from which the picture was adapted, Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay. With a negative cost of $4.7 million, Life With Father was the most expensive of all Warner Bros. projects as of that year (beating the previous record of $4.4 million for Night and Day) and though it did sensational business ($6.4 million in worldwide rentals), the eventual profit was only $131,000. The present day ownership of Life With Father remains a little cloudy. Some would claim it resides in the public domain. As to the negative itself, I assume Warners has custody. Competing claims and/or underlying literary rights may have delayed its appearance on DVD, though it would certainly be a welcome title for most collectors. I seem to remember CBS running it years ago as one of their prime time network movies. Otherwise, the only sightings I can report have been confined to super market bargain bins where Life With Father can be had for as little as one dollar. You can imagine the quality of those transfers. Until the rights question is (hopefully) settled, this will probably remain an orphan title…