Take Her, She's Mine - A Jimmy Stewart Comedy and 1960's time capsule

“Take her she’s mine” is a 1963 comedy film, starring Jimmy Stewart as Frank a father struggling to deal with the sexual awakening of his artistic daughter, Mollie, played by Sandra Dee, as she attends college and begins her independent life.

The movie begins with a framing device - Frank (who is the president of the board of education) is under threat of being dismissed by his peers. The ‘prosecutor’ shows the board three outlandish newspaper photos of Frank, the first of which has the headline “LAWYER AND COEDS FIGHT LAW FOR DIRTY BOOKS” the 2nd, “Los Angeles Lawyer nabbed with Queen of Chinese Underworld” and the third “Frolicking Frank the Lawyer in Orbit on Paris Nudist Cruise”

Before being dismissed Frank is given a chance to try and explain what really happened in those photos. He begins his defense “I suppose it would be unfair to blame it all on Picasso-”
”Picasso?”
”Yes - He’s an artist who paints women with three breasts”
”American woman?’
This receives a great blank stare from Jimmy Stewart, who then continues on…
”Of cause he has a lot to answer for, but I doubt very much whether he could be held accountable for the awakening of sex in my daughter-”
”Easy there Frank… Mixed company”

After a little more dialogue, the story proper begins in flashback. Fear not, I haven’t given anything much away, all the above happens in the first 5 minutes of the movie.

There is no need to write anymore about the plot, other than the fact that Franks fears, anxieties and misperceptions about his daughter cause most of the humorous situations to occur.

The movie, adapted from a successful Broadway play, was commercially (if not critically) successful because it is distinctly relevant to the time it was made. It was a comedy, from a fathers viewpoint, about the beatnik / early hippy generation.

In the movie his daughter Mollie becomes involved in the beatnik / hippy scene, works as a folk singer at a local coffeehouse, engages in the social issues of the day, and spends her time joining and organizing various protests. Later she goes to France to study under a successful French painter.

An interesting sidenote, the character of Mollie was based on Nora Ephron, the real life daughter of the husband-and-wife playwritght team Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Nora went on to write the script for ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ and both wrote and directed ‘Sleepless in Seattle’

Jimmy Stewart plays Frank with his characteristic everyday man persona. Society is changing, and there is a new youth culture developing. There are changes in art and social mores, all of which leave him exasperated, but he is never ‘stuck in the mud’ He is willing to try and learn, and understand. His motivation never wavers, nor turns to anger, or punishment. He does what he does out of love for his daughter, out of a need to protect her, and perhaps, her virtue.

It is important to remember that this movie (at the time of writing) is 62 years old, and that the young men and women portrayed in this film are now firmly part of the ‘Baby Boomer’ Generation. As an aside - what happened you guys? You used to be cool!

Anyway, 62 years is a very long time, and the film is a time capsule of the time it was made. This includes some cringeworthy casual sexism in the first 15 minutes. Besides that, there is one scene where the daughter calls home from France, collect (which means that the receiver pays for the very expensive call) and Frank gets annoyed at her.

“Dad, of course I’m fine”
”Well then what the hell is the idea of scaring us to death?
”Scaring you to death?”
”Molly - Long distance is for bad news. You can’t call from Paris to California and ask somebody if they’ve read a magazine. You can ask the same question is a letter for 5 cents, for 15 cents…’

Is this movie worth watching 62 years later?

Yes! Even though it is not one of Jimmy Stewarts strongest outings, it is humorous and offers a window into a completely different time period. I personally found it entertaining, it treats the themes lightly, and plays for laughs over social commentary.

Oh yes! There is a brilliant running gag, where everyone keeps thinking that Frank really looks like, or actually is, Jimmy Stewart. There is also a running gag about French taxi drivers, which is also very funny.

You can view the film on YouTube: Please be aware that the picture isn’t great. I cast it to the TV and despite a couple of blurry scenes, it was still perfectly watchable

Thank you for taking the time to read this show essay / review.

Please check my last film article -