A pack of school girls in uniform and caps running around in constant tropical heat? Food and water never a priority and nobody showing a trace of sweat? This movie is so silly and unbelievable the comedy seems to be straining and never hits home.Cary Gant and Trevor Howard put in good performances. But I don't know how these fine actors could have resisted smirking and scoffing at this silly script. With all the alcohol consumption tagged as funny and frivolous by the storyline, no wonder Trevor Howard became a serious alcoholic and later succumbed as a result.The World War 2 setting as backdrop for a situation comedy rivals Hogan's Heroes. If this had been a story about survival on a tropical island during the war, even with some comedy, it might have worked. But the party-like atmosphere and antics under what would really be fear and hardship makes it simply silly, vapid, and uninteresting. A waste of acting talent and energy.

I've loved this movie since it was on "Saturday Night at the Movies" on NBC in about 1967 - I was 12 years old and I suddenly wanted to be Cary Grant - not the debonair Cary Grant of "To Catch a Thief" who hooks up with Grace Kelly (that desire would come about a year later) but the beach-bum Cary Grant with the cool boat from "Father Goose." I've re-watched the film a couple of times since then, including one viewing quite recently, and it strikes me as completely charming. Grant is outstanding (he felt this role was close to his real-life self). Caron is good. The kids are marvelous - very funny and alive. The boat is as cool as ever. Trevor Howard - that old grizzled Trevor Howard - is very fine. He doesn't have a whole lot to do - I get the feeling he shot his role in about a week in a Hollywood studio - but he makes the most of it. The script offers some interesting subtleties, such as the way Grant proves himself worthy of Caron's love - nothing REAL subtle, but kinda subtle. All in all, good family fare. And I still want to be a beach bum with a cool boat.

I know the plot sounds awful -- Cary Grant marooned on an island with Leslie Caron and half a dozen young girls -- but I found this pretty consistently funny. Of course you can predict just about everything that happens but it's so well written and the cast good enough that it should entertain most people.Grant is a grizzled, irritable, hard-drinking loner in New Guinea at the start of World War II and is finessed by the local Navy Commander, Trevor Howard, into manning a coast watcher station on an isolated island. Howard and his crew have buried bottles of whiskey around the thatch-roofed hut and arranged for the location of one bottle to be revealed with each confirmed sighting of Japanese aircraft or ships.Before long, circumstances force Grant to accommodate Caron and her diverse little charges -- two French, one Australian, and the rest British. There follow innumerable conflicts, small and large, as the unshaven, slovenly Grant is forced to sleep on his boat and does his best to avoid the kids, grumbling at their disruption of his unique life style and Weltanschaung.Largely because of Grant's superb comic timing and his expressive features and body language, the encounters are far more often funny than silly. Nor are they over-written. Example: While the others are out somewhere, Grant sneaks back into the hut to search for the whiskey that Caron has hidden from him -- again. One child has been left behind and she stares at him silently as he rummages through the junk. Balked, frustrated, he glances sideways at her, there is a lengthy pause, then he speaks: "Beat it." Example two: Believing Caron to have been fatally bitten by a venomous snake, Grant cuts the wound and sucks on it, then gets her drunk to make her death easier. Caron: "What did it taste like -- my blood." Grant: "How would I know? I'm not a vampire." Caron: "Was it salty?" Grant is nonplussed: "Well, a LITTLE salty." Caron: "OHH, was it TOO salty?" Grant (at his wit's end): "No -- it was JUST RIGHT." Caron sobs a little and says: "No, I know it was too salty." On the screen, with Cary Grant at his best and Caron doing a fine job, it's not nearly as ridiculous as it sounds. Grant delivers exactly the right measure of chagrin.It's not an important film, not enough to go on about, but it's largely effective and should keep the kids laughing as well as the adults. The alcohol abuse we see is genteel. Grant swigs it straight out of the bottle but it's good Black & White scotch and he's never drunk. He is naturally reformed at the end. He even drinks a non-alcoholic beverage at dinner. "Coconut milk. Mmmm. Young coconuts must love it."

During WWII many an island coast watcher were found not only useful, but often invaluable to the Allies in the Pacific. In this zany but delightful comedy, the film " Father Goose " takes Cary Grant and nearly replicates his actual persona. He plays Walter Eckland a crusty, middle age, south seas beachcomber with no intention of changing his lay-back lifestyle simply because there is a major war taking place. However, his lifetime friend Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) once harbor master, now a Naval Commander for the British Navy and his aid Lieutenant Stebbings (Jack Good) convince him to join the coast watching service. Having little choice, Eckland reluctantly agrees. Things are tolerant enough for him as long as he's stuck alone on a deserted island keeping an eye on the Japanese navy when overnight, he's invaded by a bevy of preteen girls. They not only disturb Eckland's solitary existence, but completely disrupt his once peaceful solitude. The girls' prissy guardian/governess, Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) immediately sets out to make the best of a difficult situation and that includes altering the reclusive life of reluctant Father Goose. This movie was listed among Grant's favorites and watching it, easily becomes an audience Classic as well. ****