Houseboat (film)
Houseboat is a 1958 American romantic comedy film directed by Melville Shavelson. Both the love theme "Almost In Your Arms", sung by Sam Cooke and "Bing! Bang! Bong!", sung by Sophia Loren, were written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. It was presented in Technicolor and VistaVision. Starring Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Harry Guardino, the film was written by Shavelson and Jack Rose on the basis of an original script by Grant's wife at the time, Betsy Drake. It was released on November 19, 1958. Plot For three years, Tom Winters, a lawyer working for the U.S. State Department, has been separated from his wife and three children: David, Elizabeth and Robert. Tom returns to Washington, D.C. from Europe, after his wife died. The children want to stay in the countryside with their mother's wealthy parents and her sister Carolyn, but instead Tom takes them with him to live in Washington. They visit the Washington Monument. Robert complains about visiting dead people. One evening, they attend the Boston Symphony. Robert disrupts the concert by using the harmonica. An Italian girl, Cinzia, laughs. After the concert ends, Robert separates himself from the family and disappears. Cinzia has an argument with her father. Robert later shows up in a small rowboat with Cinzia, who seeks to experience America up close and personal. They land at a nearby carnival, where they eat pizza, dance and win the harmonica. Robert catches on quickly on how to play a song. Later, she brings Robert home to a worried Tom. Cinzia's father is upset with her arriving home so late. He demands that she travel with him. Cinzia decides to accept Tom's job offer. The next day, he hires her as a maid to care for the children, while he is away. What follows are a series of misadventures as Tom attempts to move Cinzia and the children away from Washington to a house in the country. Unfortunately, a train destroys the house. They wind up as inhabitants of a leaky, rotting houseboat. However, a complete renovation of the premises proves successful, and their floating new home becomes the backdrop for various episodes, where Tom discovers that Cinzia cannot cook, do laundry, or make coffee. David tries to leave in order to be with his aunt Carolyn. However, Tom rescues him after David almost drowns. The next day, Tom discovers that the house is lopsided. He decides to go fishing with David. Tom manages to win over his children and Cinzia. Cinzia eventually learns how to cook. Winters' sister-in-law, Carolyn, suspects Cinzia's relationship with Tom is not entirely platonic. She discovers that the houseboat is all fixed up. So does Tom's military aide, Captain Wilson, who while somewhat drunk, jokes about Cinzia's living arrangement with Winters. All misunderstandings are explained and Tom marries his maid, as the children look on approvingly. Cast Production Grant's wife Betsy Drake wrote the original script, and Grant originally intended that she would star with him. After he began