At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Blistering performances.

During World War II, a man (Cary Grant) persuaded to live on an isolated island and spot aircraft finds himself responsible for a teacher (Leslie Caron) and several students, all daughters of diplomats.Some people complain that there is nothing likable about Catherine (Caron), and they make a very fair argument. This man has a small shack and has important duties. Yet, Catherine and her charges stomp all over him and get in the way of both his personal life and his work. The teacher acts like everyone else is more important, and she has no right to take his alcohol away. Very little effort is given in thanking him for saving them.Grant, however, has a very likable character. He starts out gruff but reasonable and gets increasingly caring as the plot goes on. The war elements are sparse, but make him into a minor action star, as well. This would make an interesting double feature with "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison".Although the situation is comical and some of Grant's one-liners are worth a chuckle, the film never quite reaches the highest level of perfection because there is the forced romance angle added in. There is never any need for it, and frankly it makes no sense -- aside from a few moments here and there, the lead characters have no chemistry and certainly should not be pursuing anything!

During the start of World War II, Walter Eckland (Cary Grant) buys a boat on cheap to sail around in the south Pacific. He doesn't care about the world and not even the war. Australian Naval commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) forces him to observe for the incoming Japanese. Just to be sure, Frank punches a hole in Walter's boat. Walter is stranded on a deserted island. His code name is Mother Goose. Frank has hidden bottles of boozes and gives Walter each location when he gives a confirmed sighting. Frank tricks Walter to rescue a man in danger from the Japanese. When he gets there, the man is dead and he finds schoolteacher Catherine Frenau (Leslie Caron) and seven schoolgirls. He's a drunk and she's a "Goody Two Shoes". They clash and eventually fall in love.Cary Grant is funny and charming as always. Leslie Caron is a bit young for Grant but they develop good chemistry. Verbal combat is always a good way to develop that chemistry. She's playing a bossy spinster. This is a fun little rom-com.

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."