Jamais trop tard

In those early Sixties Kennedy years this play and film were big hits with an across the board appeal to generations, but particularly the senior citizen crowd. Paul Ford and Maureen O'Sullivan who repeated their roles from the 1007 performance run Broadway play show that those thought past their prime can still do some things totally unexpected.

Menopause was late coming in the Lambert household of Concord, Massachusetts because Maureen O'Sullivan has announced after a 20 year span after the birth of her daughter Connie Stevens that she is pregnant again. She and Paul Ford are about to be parents again at an age when they should be expecting their first grandchildren. That is of particular interest to Connie Stevens and her husband Jim Hutton who are trying ever so hard to get Connie in a family way.

But in general Ford who is a conservative man by nature is getting all kinds of Ooohs and Ahs from the town for his unexpected virility. His neighbor and rival Lloyd Nolan who is the mayor of the town is really ribbing him something awful.

Sight gags abound in Never Too Late usually involving Ford and his middle age paunch. There's a scene in the pediatric waiting room where Ford is sitting with a bunch of young fathers to be. There's another one in an elevator with Ford and a little girl and some pregnant women with the young girl drawing all kinds of conclusions.

In the non-visual category Ford and Hutton both really tie one on and a bit of truth telling emerges from the booze.

I remember seeing this in the theater back when it first came out and the timeless family situations make Never Too Late as fresh as it was when I first saw it. This could get a remake today and not lose a thing. But until then this fine version will suffice.