Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Screen legends James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara co-star in this sunny 1962 comedy from Henry Koster (who also directed Stewart in Harvey) about an urban family who rent a crumbling house for a summer-long, seaside vacation. Pop sensation Fabian co-stars (the marketing strategy was that Stewart would draw in an older crowd while Fabian would appeal to younger viewers), but it's really Stewart's deftness with jokes about bad plumbing and his perfect pitch performance as an attentive dad and husband that lend this otherwise lightweight movie—adapted by noted veteran Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath) from a novel by Edward Streeter—some substance. Presented with a fine widescreen transfer, DVD extras (though uncredited on the box) include a “Fox Movietone News” excerpt and trailers. Recommended. (T. Keogh)