Tom Winters (Cary Grant) is a very busy lawyer in DC. Divorced, he rarely sees his three beautiful children, David (Paul Petersen), Elizabeth and Robert. Yet, a fateful day arrives. His ex-wife passes away and he is suddenly in charge of the trio of kids. He is out of his element and the kiddies don't like bunking with a virtual stranger, either. Also, the three siblings are used to living in rural Virginia and don't appreciate the "sights" of the big city that Dad tries to show them. Unbelievably, Tom takes his family to a stuffy concert near the Washington Monument. Robert turns up missing but is rescued by a beautiful lady, Cinzie (Sophia Loren). This single woman is running away from the demands of her father, a famous conductor. Very quickly, changes arrive. Cinzia is hired as the housekeeper, although she can't cook or clean. She obviously loves to care for children, though. Then, Tom decides to move to the country and commute to DC and ends up installing the kids in an old Houseboat. Will this really work? Tom and Cinzie are going to be in very "close" quarters! Also, David is still mourning the death of his mother and may need special attention. Can Tom give it? Well, Cinzie is there to help, right? This darling romantic comedy from the late fifties is quite charming. Grant is always a delight and Loren is beyond alluring and lovely while also showing a comic tough. (Just an observation, Loren and Penelope Cruz look very much alike!). Peterson and the other two child actors do a nice job as well, as does all of the other supporting players. Then, the setting of a houseboat in rural Virginie is fun and scenic while costumes, script and lively direction help move the movie along well. Do bring Houseboat to your house soon. Despite its date of release, its story and issues are timeless.

Yeah, it's one from the good old days, where everything is damn polished, all the jokes are so polite, and the end is always happy. But why I felt it's idiot ! The story was a well ground for a sex comedy, and with the capacities of Miss Loren it could have been super sex comedy, but nobody thought of making something like it, or else.. since as a pure comedy it has few nice moments, very few. Although Sophia's beauty is all over it however wasted. I was provoked to the extreme while the dance scene; how not to show the many talents of Sophia's marvelously voluptuous body?!! Furthermore I don't know why the heck the cinematography made her face look like a black girl ?! There isn't a problem in being black; the problem is that Sophia IS brunette. She seemed really strange and for strange reasons ! Nothing did thrill me. It was like a slow-paced play. We didn't even get the chance to see the train that hit the house ! So, accordingly, don't wait for comedy, sexy moments, or thrilling ones !The things to be watched in here : The scene of Cary Grant talking philosophically, yet beautifully, to his kid about life and death; only in the 1950s I think. At certain scenes Sophia's performance dazzled me; no wonder that she's the only seduction queen, from her era, who won an Oscar. The looks of Grant to Sophia; Oh my god, the man was in deep desperate love with her indeed. And the moment in which Sophia's butt got slapped by some drunken; now this is a dream comes true, Marilyn Monroe herself didn't give us that honor ever. I don't know how the audience received that outrageous moment back then, I may know how the male audience did though !Here's a movie that totally mistreats its idea, along with this heavy sexual charisma of a star named Sophia Loren. Enjoyable is what you can describe (Houseboat) with if only you're talking about it as a time capsule. Regardless I watched uncreative, naive and unfunny movie. Compared to it Grant and Loren's earlier movie, (The Pride and the Passion – 1957), is way more interesting; at least she danced a real *dance* there !

Cary Grant plays Tom Winters, a widower and a father to three kids, David (Paul Petersen), Elizabeth (Mimi Gibson) and Robert (Charles Herbert).Tom gets unexpected help from the Italian Cinzia (Sophia Loren).Soon they find themselves from a lousy Houseboat.Melville Shavelson's Houseboat (1958) was nominated for two Oscars.It is a very nice romantic comedy for the whole family.Cary Grant and Sophia Loren make a great team in it.All the child actors are wonderful.Martha Hyer plays Carolyn Gibson.Harry Guardino is Angelo Donatello.Werner Klemperer is Harold Messner.Kathleen Freeman is seen there as Laundromat gossip.The movie is funny in many places, like when Robert plays the harmonica at the concert.And the song with a bing, bang, bong is very amusing.

Cary Grant, prominent diplomat and widower, is trying to get acquainted again with his three kids, Paul Petersen, Mimi Gibson, and Charles Herbert. He's also got a sister-in-law, Martha Hyer, crushing out on him big time.But after the youngest kid, Herbert, wanders away after a concert, he meets Sophia Loren who is also running away from her conductor father, Eduardo Ciannelli. They are soul mates Herbert and Loren and before long she's moved in on the Grant family.Which is forced by circumstance I won't reveal to live on a houseboat in the woods in Maryland. The Houseboat and its many problems lend itself to a whole lot of physical problems and one rather dramatic one, when one of the kids nearly drowns. Cary gets a lot of good mileage out of the comedy.This was Cary and Sophia's second film together and it was one big improvement on the overblown Pride and the Passion. No doubt that the two of them were still involved from The Pride and the Passion lends a lot of truth in the scenes Grant and Loren play together.Also look for a nice performance by Harry Guardino who's the one who is responsible for the group being on the Houseboat.Houseboat is a nice family comedy and hasn't aged a bit from the Fifties when it was made.