The Happy Time (1952) DVD-R

Starring Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, Marsha Hunt, Bobby Driscoll,
Linda Christian
Directed by Richard Fleischer

Print: black/white
Runtime: 94 min.
Genre: comedy
Print Quality: B

The Happy Time was adapted from the long-running Broadway play by
Samuel Taylor, which in turn was based on the novel by Robert Fontaine.
Set in Quebec during the early part of the 20th century, the film
concentrates on the activities of a large French-Canadian family headed
by Charles Boyer. Most of the humor arises from "coming of age"
complications and sexual awakenings, especially when worldly prodigal
son Louis Jourdan returns to the fold and exercises his influence on
impressionable young Bobby Driscoll. Not permitted to include the racier
portions of the play, director Richard Fleischer compensated by adopting
a frenetic, farcelike pace, which works about half the time. Happy Time
was later musicalized on Broadway in the 1960s, with Robert Goulet in the
Louis Jourdan part.