Sitting Pretty (1948 Walter Lang)

A year before, Gwen Davenport wrote a novel called 'Belvedere' about a snooty British butler who takes a job with a dysfunctional family to get material for a book. Someone at Fox had the bright idea of getting Clifton Webb to act that role in F. Hugh Herbert's adaptation, making him at the same time a 'genius'.

Webb was born Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck and this character is supposedly very like his real persona. Gay, a close friend of Noel Coward, he never recovered after the death of his beloved mother.

With Maureen O'Hara, Robert Young, Richard Haydn, Louise Allbritton, Randy Stuart, Ed Begley. Shot by Norbert Brodine and composed by Alfred Newman.

Has a particularly satisfying ending.

The TV version Mr Belvedere ran from 1985 - 1990 and starred Christopher Hewett as the English butler.