John Lawless (Steele), an Irish immigrant, finds a job as a butler in the home of an eccentric American millionaire in Philadelphia, in 1916. His employer, Anthony J. Drexel Biddle (MacMurray), keeps a solarium full of alligators (who occasionally wander about the mansion) and insists on teaching boxing in his Bible study classes. Although based on some true people (the folks behind the Drexel Institute and the investment banking house) who also distinguished themselves in World War I, this movie concerns itself mainly with Biddle's daughter, Cordelia (Warren), who is fearful she will never land a beau because her father's odd ways scare all the boys away. She goes off to boarding school and finds the right fella (Davidson), but his family disapproves of Drexel pere as well. This 1967 movie, the last live-action film Walt Disney personally oversaw, was based on a 1957 hit Broadway play, which in turn was inspired by Cordelia Biddle's autobiography, _My Philadelphia Father_. It's a light, fluffy thing, a little long at 164 minutes, but buoyed by the Sherman Brothers' bouncy songs and Steele's energetic personality.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
