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Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

Jim Blandings (Cary Grant), an urban transplant renovating his just-bought Connecticut home (an 18th-century farmhouse), runs into a host of problems, like a waterless well, a flooded basement, doors that lock on the wrong side, unintelligible carpenter's lingo, and of course, huge cost overruns. Best quote: "And if it can happen to me, what about the guys who aren't making $15,000 a year?"

Moral: Dream renovations cost more than you can afford, no matter how much you make.

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