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Comedy

The Pleasure of His Company

- What a pleasure... and it's all yours!

Biddeford "Pogo" Poole, an urbane charmer, has been absent for most of the life of his daughter, Jessica, but he pops up again as she prepares to marry a California rancher. Though Pogo's ex-wife remains unimpressed, Jessica quickly falls for her father's charismatic offensive. Soon, however, his reappearance causes complications for the bride-to-be, and she must decide whether or not to go ahead with the wedding.

Release Date : 1961-06-01

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Paramount Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Fred Astaire

Character Name : Biddeford 'Pogo' Poole

Original Name : Fred Astaire

Gender : Male

Debbie Reynolds

Character Name : Jessica Poole

Original Name : Debbie Reynolds

Gender : Female

Lilli Palmer

Character Name : Katharine Dougherty

Original Name : Lilli Palmer

Gender : Female

Tab Hunter

Character Name : Roger Henderson

Original Name : Tab Hunter

Gender : Male

Gary Merrill

Character Name : James Dougherty

Original Name : Gary Merrill

Gender : Male

Charles Ruggles

Character Name : Mackenzie Savage

Original Name : Charles Ruggles

Gender : Male

Harold Fong

Character Name : Toy

Original Name : Harold Fong

Gender : Male

Elvia Allman

Character Name : Mrs. Mooney

Original Name : Elvia Allman

Gender : Female

Eleanor Audley

Character Name : Mrs. Thompson (uncredited)

Original Name : Eleanor Audley

Gender : Female

Edith Head

Character Name : Dress Designer (uncredited)

Original Name : Edith Head

Gender : Female

Lomax Study

Character Name : Patron (uncredited)

Original Name : Lomax Study

Gender : Male

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2023-02-12

There is something of the "Philadelphia Story" (1940) about this film. Debbie Reynolds is "Jessica" a San Francisco sophisticate who is about to marry hunky Texan cattleman "Roger" (Tab Hunter). Their wedding is all set when her absentee father "Pogo" (Fred Astaire) turns up and chaos ensues. His ex-wife - her mother - "Katharine" (Lili Palmer) and her new husband "James" (Gary Merrill) are soon at the end of their tethers and it seems that only their cook "Mrs. Mooney" (Elvia Allman) will put up with his annoying and selfish antics. Around an hour in I actually felt sorry for poor old "Roger": tempers are fraying; "Pogo" seems to have it in for him and his dreams of a perfect wedding appear to be going the way of the dodo. Pre-wedding jitters or the Machiavellian scheming of his soon-to-be father-in-law? There are moments when this is funny - and Reynolds goes at it was enthusiasm and gusto, but after a while I found the joke started to wear a bit thin, and there was a subtle, but definite, nastiness that seemed to creep in to try and string out the story for almost half an hour longer than it ought to have been. I imagine this would have worked far better on stage, the slightly episodic nature of the story would probably work better there offering a better avenue for the punchlines the are frequent, but not always very strong. I also found George Seaton made a bit too much use of Alfred Newman's rather dominating score, too. It's enjoyable enough, but with a cast of this calibre I was expecting something just a bit better.