Father Goose

Walter Eckland lives a solitary, unhurried life as a beachcomber on a small South Sea island during the Second World War. Pressured by an old acquaintance, Commander Frank Houghton of the Australian Navy, he agrees to stay put and report on Japanese aircraft passing overhead, paid in whisky. His routine is disrupted when Catherine Freneau, a French schoolteacher fleeing the Japanese, arrives with a group of her pupils in tow. The reluctant watcher finds himself responsible for the teacher and the children, and the arrangement reshapes his isolated existence.

Ralph Nelson directed the film, which came after Lilies of the Field and Fate Is the Hunter in a run of features stretching from the late 1950s into the 1970s. Cary Grant plays Eckland, with Leslie Caron as Catherine Freneau and Trevor Howard as Houghton. Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff wrote the screenplay, and Robert Arthur produced. The film runs 118 minutes and blends adventure and comedy with romance.

Released in December 1964, it took about 13 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from roughly 14,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7/10 from about 206 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6/10 from 14 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.