Father Goose (Universal Pictures) (1964)

billing CARY GRANT LESLIE CARON in “FATHER GOOSE” TECHNICOLOR co-starring TREVOR HOWARD with Verina Greenlaw Pip Sparke Stephanie Berrington Jennifer Berrington Laurelle Felsette Nicole Felsette Sharyl Locke Screenplay by PETER STONE and FRANK TARLOFF Based on a story by S. H, BARNETT Directed by RALPH NELSON Produced by ROBERT ARTHUR A Granox Company Production A Universal Release the east Walters 8 CARY GRANT Catherine.............. LESLIE CARON Houghton ____.. TREVOR HOWARD Stebbings ___..............JACK GOOD Bhzabethi= = oe ee STEPHANIE BERRINGTON Hetriei 2 eee JENNIFER BERRINGTON Christine .... VERINA GREENLAW Anuvelique sigan re eee LAURELLE FELSETTE Dominique....NICOLE FELSETTE Mahe Se PIP SPARKE Jennyens ee SHARYL LOCKE the staff Director of Photography, Charles Lang. Jr.; Production Manager, Ernest Wehmeyer; Art Directors, Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead; Film Editor, Ted J. Kent; Set Decorations, John McCarthy, George Milo; Sound, Waldon O. Watson, William Russell: Make-up, Bud Westmore; Hair Stylist, Larry Germain; Assistant Director, Tom Shaw; Music, Cy Coleman; Music Supervision, Joseph Gershenson. Trevor Howard Uses Film Roles As Mask For His Urge To Shun Limelight (Current) Trevor Howard is the Walter Mitty of the movies. Mitty, of course, is Thurber’s invincible hero of the written page, indomitable in all his imaginary adventures. Howard, a genuinely shy and sensitive man who can rarely be persuaded to talk about himself, finds his screen charac terizations a made-to-order mask. “T can come on like a knight in armor, eager for the fray,’ he points out, “and who can tell that underneath this fearless figure is an entirely different sort of creatune.” Howard, who is most comfortable when curled up in an armchair with a book, or when listening to his favorite classical recordings, is doing another Mitty in his current co-starring stint with Cary Grant and Leslie Caron in Universal’s romantic adventure comedy, ‘“Father Goose,” now screening™in Technicolor at the...-.-....2..... Theatre. He reaches the color screen in the role of a crusty, hard-bitten Australian Navy commander upon whose decisions rest the lives and fates of untold thousands of dedicated men, each of whom reveres the very ground he walks upon. This doesn’t happen to include Cary, the way the script is put together, since Cary is an extrarugged individualist, but that doesn’t invalidate the Mitty role. “I can strut and pose and pontificate to my heart’s content,’ discloses the man generally considered to be one of Engiland’s finest performers, ‘and how is anyone going to catch on that that’s a far, far cry from the real me ?’’ It must not be inferred from Howard’s reticent manners that he is lacking in old-fashioned courage. When he was invalided out of the British 6th Airborne “FATHER GOOSE Trevor Howard is the Australian Navy Commander who cajoles Cary Grant into giving up his life as a beachcomber to become a spotter in Universal’s romantic adventure comedy in Technicolor, ‘‘Father Goose.” (Still No. 1944-108) Division, a unit for which he had volunteered, he took with him a Military Cross for the invasions of both Norway and Sicily. He’s back in uniform for the “Father Goose’ assignment, a circumstance ideally suited for the make-believe world he uses to shield the inner man from exposure to outsiders. (Still No. 1944-13) ‘the story (Not for Publication) Unshaved, unpressed, sporting worn jeans, battered hat, old tennis shoes (no _ socks), Walter Eckland (CARY GRANT) sails the azure waters of the tropical South Pacific in a one-man-operated launch — undisputed master of his private destiny. He is as errant as the sea zephyrs, oblivious to the war now encroaching ever closer on his oceanic paradise. However... Australian Navy Commander Frank Houghton (TREVOR HOWARD) is desperately in need of a civilian to man a strategic watching station on Matalava. Aware of Eckland’s intimate knowledge of the waters he goodnaturedly conspires,. under threat of confiscating Eckland’s craft, to persuade him to ‘volunteer.’ A gunboat accompanies Eckland to the outpost. Houghton, to make sure Eckland remains, rams the launch, putting it out of commission. Only his dinghy is navigable. In radio communication with headquarters Eckland is to identify himself under the code name of Mother Goose. To keep Eckland on his toes, Houghton has had his men hide the liquor supplies. For every enemy plane or ship movement he reports he’ll be told where the bottles are—one by one. When the Japanese close in on another watcher, on Mundy Island, Eckland gces to the rescue, in his 8-foot dinghy, across 40 miles of open sea. He arrives too late. The watcher has been killed in a strafing attack. To his surprise Eckland finds an attractive young woman, Catherine Freneau) (LESLIE CARON), and seven young girls. The youngsters are Elizabeth (STEPHANIE BERRINGTON) 15; Harriet (JENNIFER BERRINGTON), 12; Anne (PIP SPARKBE), 11; Angelique (LAURELLE FELSETTE), 10, and Dominique (NICOLE FELSETTE), 9, sisters; Christine (VERINA GREENLAW), 8, and Jenny (SHARYL LOCKE), 6. Catherine explains an American plane left them on_ the island when the pilot was instructed to pick up survivors of a crashed bomber. Eckland, crowding the group aboard his tiny craft, ferries them to his own island. He learns that Catherine is the daughter of the French Consul at Rabaul. The girls were students at the consulate school. When enemy bombing started they had to leave. Eckland’s once-inviolate island outpost now is overrun with females. Headquarters informs him it might be a month or more before the group can be taken off. Eckland sees no reason to change his antic habits because of the “invaders.” Like it or not they will have to adapt to his ways. Catherine pleads that, as a “father figure’? to the children, he must watch his language, improve his eating habits, stop drinking, freshen up his appearance. Catherine’s poor impression of Eckland undergoes a _ change when, at great personal peril, he saves the life of one of the children after a surprise Japanese landing. Other events soon make it clear that under his misleading exterior exists quite a different being. After Catherine mistakenly believes she has been bitten by a snake, Eckland plies her with liquor. Inebriated, she confesses feelings previously hidden in her secret heart. Eckland, somewhat to his own astonishment, finds he loves her, too. Eckland has Houghton enlist the services of a chaplain. A marriage ceremony is conducted over radio. Headquarters informs Eckland a submarine will rescue the party in the morning. Meanwhile, Eckland has repaired his launch. A Japanese torpedo boat shows up moments before the scheduled arrival of the sub. Eckland diverts enemy fire to his own launch, which is sunk. The surfacing sub now sights the torpedo boat, sending it to the bottom. Eckland, who had jumped from the launch, is unharmed. Also unscathed are Catherine and the children. The sub prepares to take them aboard. Page 5 hilarious adventure comedy in Technicolor, “Father Goose.”’ Leslie Caron is the romantic interest. (Still No. 1944-33) “FATHER GOOSE” (2-6) Almost swamped by the weight of Leslie Caron and her seven charges, Cary Grant manages to sail his small dinghy over many miles of enemy infested open ocean to his island in Universal’s romantic adventure comedy, “Father Goose,” photographed in Technicolor. (Still No. 1944-19) "FATHER GOOSE" {2E) As Japanese aircraft attack their shack, Cary Grant and Leslie Caron seal their marriage with a kiss in Universal’s romantic adventure comedy in Technicolor, ““Father Goose.’ Clean shaven and dressed in the best clothes they have available, the pair have just been married in a ceremony via radio performed by a Naval chaplain many miles away. (Still No. 1944-71) “FATHER GOOSE" (2-M]} With Pip Sparke holding the prickly vine, which was the “snake” Leslie Caron believed bit her, the students are disconsolate in Universal’s romantic adventure comedy in Technicolor, ‘Father Goose.”’ From left, the girls are: Jenifer Berrington, Verina Greenlaw, Stephanie Berrington, Miss Sparke, Nicole Felsette, Laurelle Felsette and Sharyl Locke. Cary Grant co-stars with Miss Caron and Leslie Howard. (Still No. 1944-66)