Reviews (3)

Ma & Pa get their own movie since "The Egg and I" (1947)
This is he first starring role for Ma & Pa Kettle, but not the first film they appeared in. The very first film Majorie Main and Percy Kilbride as "Ma & Pa Kettle", along with Richard Long was in the film "The Egg And I" (1947). They were only minor characters in the film, but made such an impact and was considered so down-home funny that it was decided they should be given a movie of their own. Thus "Ma & Pa Kettle" (1949) was made. In fact, they made eight more films to follow. The films are quite wholesome and Ma & Pa Kettle living on the farm, I'm sure you will enjoy the country-life humor. Ma & Pa Kettle didn't always stay on the farm. They did go to the fair and traveled to the city and even Hawaii. In this film, they finally get to move into a new model home. Wait until you see all the fancy stuff this house can do. I highly recommend you see "The Egg And I" (1947) first, to get the good flavor of the films and appreciate the humor. Enjoy! Followed by: Ma & Pa Kettle Go To Town (1950), Ma & Pa Kettle Back On The Farm (1951), Ma & Pa Kettle At The Fair (1952), Ma & Pa Kettle on Vacation (1953), Ma & Pa Kettle At Home (1954), Ma & Pa Kettle At Waikiki (1955), The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956), The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm (1957). Note: Be sure to catch Majorie Main in "Dead End" (1937).

NUTS TO BIRDIE HICKS!
Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main star in this spin-off of the EGG AND I, a 1947 flick in which they were scene-stealing supporting characters. The Ma & Pa Kettle series - corny and unsophisticated as they were - proved huge money-makers for Universal Pictures. The hoi polloi just loved watching the antics of these loveable country bumpkins who lived out in Hicksville! In this offering, Ma & Pa play the down-and-out parents of 15 kids who are faced with being evicted from their ramshackle home. Pa wins a slogan contest for a tobacco company, and wins his wife and brood an ultra modern (for 1949) brand-new, fully automated house. Local grouch Esther Dale (as the hilarious Birdie Hicks, a sour old beldame with the face of curds) is jealous of the Kettles' new fortune and accuses Pa of plagiarizing the slogan...Note the the eldest son - Tom - is played by 22 year-old Richard Long who would go on to play Jarrod Barkley on TV's THE BIG VALLEY.

reminds me of growing up in my big family
I grew up in a family of nine, with parents like man and pa. I just love these movies and am looking to collect all their titles..Does anyone know how many video's have been released and where I can get them. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Lots of good old fashioned laughs and fun down on the farm
This film has always been a favourite of mine. Claudette Colbert, a superb commedianne always stated that the corn ball humour of this film was not really to her liking after appearing in such sophisticated fare as "Midnight", "The Palm Beach Story" and "Skylark". In reality Claudette has never been better than in this her last really successful film after a brilliant collection of both dramas and comedys during the 30's and 40's.
Some people might call the humour "corn ball" or "un sophisticated" but it is a lot of fun and the great cast carry it off wonderfully.
The film has many funny moments, Betty and Bob (Fred McMurray) meeting the unstoppable Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main, a superb and totally underated actress, in an Oscar nominated role...she should definately have won!) for the first time, Betty's hilarious "initiation" to Kettle table manners during her first visit to Ma and Pa's for lunch complete with children to numerous to count (even Ma doesn't know all their names!!). I also love the dance sequence when Claudette gets dumped with the oddest array of local yokels as dance partners. It still gets me laughing every time.
I strongly recommend this film to those of you who like old fashioned humour. I certainly have a soft spot for it, not only because of the excellent cast and the great acting by all but because my own mother was alot like Claudette Colbert in this film, she was a sophisticated city gal who moved to the country encountering many strange and funny instances along the way in her introduction to country life. Enjoy this film!! and to quote Ma, " sit back and don't stand on no ceremony!!"

Meet Ma and Pa Kettle in their first appearance.
Hop in the old truck with Bob (Fred MacMurray) and Betty (Claudette Colbert) and head for the hills of rural Washington State. Betty is unprepared for what awaits her--life on a chicken farm! Bob is gungho for the idea, but Betty has never gone near the kitchen to cook, much less to "put up all those canned goods" that Bob expects her to do! Down the road apiece live Ma and Pa Kettle and their hard-to-count-how-many children. Ma is an expert quilter and Pa is an expert borrower! You will experience life along with them going to the county fair, the weekly dances, planting a garden, everything right down to slopping the hogs. This movie is great fun to watch. I read the book, too. Try to get a copy, if you can. It is Betty's real life story. The movie is based on the book. I am sure you will be well entertained by them both.

A Funny Movie Based on a Hilarious Book
"The Egg & I", a movie based on the book of the same title, is entertaining, clean( you can let the kids watch this one), and funny. It's not quite as funny as the book, though.
Claudette Colbert is perfectly cast as Betty, the convenience-loving city girl who gets much more than she bargains for when she marries Bob, who is bent on pursuing his dream of owning a chicken ranch.
The ranch turns out to be isolated and primitive even by chicken ranch standards.
Poor Betty is forced to adjust quickly, and does so reluctantly and clumsily.
Those who read the book before seeing the movie may be a little puzzled by the appearance of "the other woman", who is absent from the book.
My suggestion: Read the book, then buy the movie, but don't expect the latter to be exactly like the former.
Both are VERY worthwhile buys, though.
If you have to choose between the movie and the book, I'd suggest going for the book.
The movie is very worthwhile, especially if you want a film that the whole family can enjoy.

Good clean fun... recommended!
A genuinely funny, old-school comedy, featuring Fred MacMurray as a city slicker gone country boy, a white collar executive who decides to chuck it all in and become a chicken farmer, somewhere deep in the boonies, and Claudette Colbert as his long-suffering, stand-by-her-man, newlywed wife. Both actors have superb comic timing, and their chemistry together-- he blithely missing her every disatisfaction, she gulping back her exasperation -- is quite good. This was also the first movie to feature the iconic "hick" couple, Ma & Pa Kettle, a Lil Abner-ish pair who went on to make several films together after this debut. I suspect this film, however, is the best of the lot. Recommended!

This is very funny!
Hi. I'm Aaron ... . Not only video game expert, but movie expert. Thank you, thank you. I couldn't laugh hard enough. Betty dances with all kinds of men, meets interresting people, falls in mud, gets ditched by her husband (or so she thinks), allows people to chatter her ears off, makes mistakes all the time, watches people act like pigs, lives around lunatics (and bears it), faints in the middle of crowds, bases her life around chickens, and bears all of it. Ma and Pa Kettle are part of this movie. You should watch it! ... Read more

Description

sical about a family that moves to a small Indiana town and their tomboy daughter who begins a romance with the neighbor across the street, who bears radically unconventional views on love and money. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

On Moonlight Bay Is A #1
Marjorie Winfield(Doris Day) and her family move to a new town so her father George Winfield (Leon Ames) can be living closer to the bank that he works at along with his wife Mrs. Winfield (Rosemary Camp), Wesley Winfield (Billy Gray). Their she meets and falls in love with William Sherman (Gordon MacRae) at first her parents are all for it until they find out that he doesn't support marriage and that he hates banks. Which Mr. Winfield is the president of the Town Bank! So they have a lot of fun with everything fun that they do! Their are a lso a lot of other fun songs that are being sung like Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee, And On Moonlight Bay. This is one Movie Musical that you are for sure to enjoy!

Nostalgic America
Traditional American values and warm nostalgia blend seamlessly in this WB film based on Booth Tarkington's 'Penrod' stories. Starring a young Doris Day and Gordon MacRae and set in Indiana during WWI it is more a sweet story of love and family values scattered with songs than a traditional Hollywood musical. The end of this film will leave a warm feeling in your heart just as it did the public in 1949.

The sets of Indiana during the early 20th century are marvelous and a cast that includes Leon Ames, Jack Smith, Ellen Corby and Rosemary De Camp give Doris Day and Gordon MacRae all the fun and drama they need to fall in love.

Doris Day is the baseball playing tomboy, Margie, who meets William (MacRae) in the unlikliest manner when she takes a gun away from her mischievous little brother, Wesley, and almost shoots William in the process! Of course, love blooms and soon she trades her cleats for high heels as she and William overcome her father's objections and the enlistment of William and his entire graduating class of Indiana U into the army.

Along the way we get snowball fights and the sweet angst of young and innocent love, not to mention some really nice songs. A few belly laughs are provided as Margie's little brother, Wesley, makes up a horrible story about his family to sidestep some homework, based on a 'flicker' he has seen, that has the whole town talking!

Perhaps because this film so often gets compared to the perfect musical of American nostalgia, 'Meet Me in St. Louis,' it doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Doris Day shows that glowing magic that endeared her to audiences around the world and the film itself is a warm and wonderful reminder of America and its values.

Doris plays a tomboy who turns into a lady.
Doris Day plays a teenage girl to parents Leon Ames and Rosemary DeCamp. Doris is pretty much a tomboy. She can lift furniture and play baseball. The father decided to move into this new big house to live in a more refined neighborhood so his daughter could meet someone to marry. Well, while playing baseball and then trying to keep her brother (Billy Gray, "Father Knows Best" tv series 1954-60) out of trouble with the new neighbor kid, she meets Gordon MacRae in the worst way, and even gets a spanking from him. This leads to her first time in an evening dress and afirst date. A nice , cordial romance begins.
Mary Wickes plays the house maid. Ellen Corby plays a school teacher.
Funniest line in the film: Billy gray says, "Everyone in town knows marjorie's old petticoat!"
Sequel: BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON (1953).

Innocent romantic classic!
Outspoken college boy, William Sherman (Gordon MacRae) falls for tomboy Marjorie Winfield (Doris Day) in this fun romantic musical set in a small Indiana town in the early 1900's. After accidentally shooting him and missing in the barn, Marjorie gives up baseball and embarks on a series of romantic adventures with the handsome William.
Their romance is sweet and innocent from beginning to end. They share their first date at the Moonlight Bay amusement park where they enjoy a canoe ride, dance a two-step, win a kewpie doll, and share their first kiss. They sing beautiful songs together and to each other like "Cuddle Up A Little Closer," "Till We Meet Again," and many more.
They also face opposition from Marjorie's father and a near elopement as they find themselves being separated by William's enlistment in the army during WWI.
The nostalgic atmosphere created by the period music, clothes, and sets is unforgettable from the houses to the streets to the old fashioned school house. If you want to get lost in an old-fashioned romance and bring to life the feeling of old town Americana, then this movie is it!!

Fun, Fun
This is a sequel movie to By The Light Of The Silvery Moon and is really funny. Great for the whole family. Doris Day and Gordon Macrae make a cute pair. The kids will love it too! ... Read more

Reviews (13)

This movie is a great film!
Curly (Shirley Temple ) and her sister Mary are secretly adopted by Mr. Jones. Curly adds joy to Mr. Jones life while Mary falls in love with Mr. Jones. Curly sings and dances through-out the movie with some of her best songs yet. She sings "When I Grow-up" and "Animal Crackers in my Soup". Mary and Mr. Jones also sing and play a few songs as well. There are a few comic moments and the ending is a happy one. This film is apporiate for people of all ages and a film everyone can watch over and over again. Curly Top is wonderfully cheographed and has a great moral to the story.

A delightful Shirley Temple Film!
Shirley Temple is pint-sized in this film and is fun to watch as she sings some of her number one theme songs "Animal Crakers in my Soup" and "When I Grow Up." Shirley plays Elizabeth, an orphan living at an orphange that her sister Mary works at. Shirley charms one of the trustees and he imediately falls in love with her spunk. The movie has some entertaining moments that strike us all. I always laugh when Elizabeth is trying to adjust to her new rich and spoiled life. All though Shirley seems to be sweet and innocent through the whole movie, she has a selfish point where she says she rather have a pair of roller skates when her gaurdian gives her a pearl necklace. She saves that little rude comment by putting on a benefit for her orphan friends. The story line at times is hard to follow, but as always ends happily. Curly Top is a wonderful movie for young children, but doesn't have a moral or a point. Shirley of course will dazzle you!

Wonderful!!!!
Shirley stars as loveable Elizabeth in this movie. She and her older sister Mary live in an orphanage where the girls are not allowed to sing which is hard for Elizabeth. But one day a man named Mr. Jones comes and visits the orphanage and falls in love with Mary, who is much younger than him. He and Elizabeth take to each other right away and her golden curls earn her the nickname, Curly Top. But Mary recieves a marrige proposal from a boy her age, and Mr. Jones is jealous and upset. Will Mary realize that she and Curly Top belong with Mr. Jones? Find out in Curly Top!

One of the cutest movies ever
... enough said about that, but why did FOX Video spend all their money for colorizing a charming silver screen movie -instead of actually RESTORING it? This was a hit movie in the 30s, there must be dozens of copies still available from which they could have made a mint-condition B&W video release, knitting together the good pieces. Bigger scratches could have been re-touched, the audio digitally remastered and sent carefully through a noise reduction filter. But no! They splashed all sorts of unnatural colors onto the poor film; esp. in scenes with moving camera the color layer shakes visibly. No use switching your TV to B&W - contrast and fine details are all gone. Bad job, FOX.

GOTTA BE ONE OF SHIRLEY'S BEST.
Shirley Temple, whose career as a child star was over by the age of 10 (and who, according to her very good autobiography, reaped a mere $18.00 from it when she asked her father for her reapings upon her second marriage), shines and super-shines in this adorable and heart-rending film.

She and her sister are orphans. A mysterious benefactor adopts them and they enter a life of luxury, but also a life of love. Rochelle Hudson is delicately beautiful as the sister, and John Boles is excellent and exceedingly handsome. I wonder what happened to them both?

"Animal Crackers" and "When I Grow Up" are the top numbers, as well as several sung by Boles and Hudson. All works out as it should be.

There's just something very moving about this movie. It's a genuine heart-tugger.

And Shirley is simply a delight! So glad the camera caught this amazing little girl with such a natural talent shining through her girlhood. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Hawaiian fun with legendary characters Ma and Pa kettle
I always find the Ma and Pa Kettle films alot of fun to watch and although they could be dismissed by some people as a "guilty pleasure" I feel there is alot to enjoy in the old fashioned comedy that was their special charm. Alot of their appeal for me results from the wonderful playing of veterans Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride in their immortal roles of the wacky Ma and Pa Kettle. It's obvious that never once in all their films as the Kettles did these two actors ever loose respect for the characters they were playing which I feel explains their enduring popularity with audiences.

"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" came late in the hugely successful run of Kettle films and rather sadly marked the last appearance by Percy Kilbride as Pa. He retired due to ill health after this film and died soon after. Certainly this film's story lacks some of the freshness of the earlier installments but it is still very enjoyable with Ma's trademark raw voice and down home outlook combining beautifully with Pa's lazy, dont give a care view on life.

"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" finds Ma and Pa along with eldest daughter Rosie (played by beautiful starlet Lori Nelson), answering an urgent call from cousin Rodney kettle to come to Hawaii to help out with the operation of his Pineapple Canning factory while he recovers from a medical condition brought on by stress from his failing business. It seems Pa in his letters has boasted to Rodney about his great business acumen and Rodney feels some of Pa's obvious "genius" might help his ailing business. What develops is a typical Kettle misadventure where Pa through a series of mistakes like causing an explosion and bringing his new fangled music player into the workplace actually improves productivity and business practice in the factory. Ma meanwhile has her hands full trying to cope with the wives of Rodney Kettle's business associates. It is in these scenes that Marjorie Main really comes into her own. A veteran of so many classic films like "Dead End", "Susan and God", "A Woman's Face", and "Meet Me in St. Louis" Main is hilarious adapting herself to the fancy living and refined tastes of the ladies forced to invite her for an afternoon tea. Mabel Albertson, still best known as one of the interfering mother-in-laws on the classic 60's comedy series "Bewitched" excells as the bitchy and snobbish Mrs Andrews who has the misfortune to encounter the Kettle's on the boat to Hawaii (ending up in the swimming pool fully clothed for her troubles!!) and then finds herself having to play host to Ma at one of her afternoon soiree's. The highly unlikely proceedings result in "business wizard" Pa Kettle being kidnapped by Rodney's creditors who are anxious to take over the operation of the factory. It's interesting to see a very young Russell Johnson pre "Gilligan's Island" in the role of a hired thug determined to get rid of Pa. The scenes of Ma's "rescue" of Pa where she does everything from paddle an Hawaiian fishing boat to organising a coconut bombardment of Pa's captors is very funny and carried off in Marjorie Main's unique style. Its very amusing to see the Hawaiian family who help Ma with the rescue are a carbon copy of the Kettles with the Hawaiian Pa exactly like Pa in character and Hawaiian Ma the same as Ma together with 15 children of their own!

"Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" might not be straight out of the pages of Oscar Wilde but it is a unique opportunity to see two seasoned performers in roles that absolutely suited them to a tee. Alot of the humour might seem very familiar to those of us used to TV sitcoms however one has to remember that the Kettles came first and influenced humour in the decade to come as seen in such hugely successful TV series as "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres". Marjorie Main in particular is wonderful as Ma and I still feel she never received the recognition she deserved for her acting. Enjoy the laid back charm one last time of the movies most famous country bumkins Ma and Pa kettle when they travel to Hawaii.

If you are a Kettle fan don't miss seeing Waikiki.
Ma and Pa Kettle in Waikiki is a rib tickler of a comedy. You'll laugh and roll as this down to earth family finds themselves in Hawaii. By shere mistake and accident Pa blunders his way to the top of his cousin's pineapple business. His goofs turn out to be incredibly beneficial and helpful to Rodney Kettle. You won't be sorry buying this video. If you don't like it, something is wrong in your humor zone. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Technical Tour de Force!
I saw this movie a few times when I was a kid, and of course I remembered that it was a good twin/bad twin story. But it was only last year or so when I rented it as an adult that I was bowled over the special effects employed to have Bette play opposite herself. Quite frankly, this movie ought to be part of film studies curricula everywhere--it's an outstanding job! There's a remarkable scene where Bette comes over to talk face to face with her "sister", and even puts her hands on her "sister"'s shoulders. It's wonderful! Excellent use of a good body double for scenes when Bette walks past herself in her bedroom. The only downside is that the men kind of let it down: Glenn Ford as a boring leading man, contended for by both sisters (the war must have still been on or something), and Dane Clark as a misunderstood misfit artist who tells the good twin Kay that she's missing something as a woman. Why would she put up with that, really? But I guess that's so she can flirt with walking on the wild side before being reunited with Glenn. After all, even he knew Kay was lacking something or other, what he described as "icing" to the bad twin when he thought she was the good twin who had suddenly turned up the voltage sexually. Yeah, the real stars are those special effects--don't miss 'em!

Good Bette And Bad Bette, Both In The One Movie
"A Stolen Life", is a real curiosity piece in the work of Bette Davis and was the last of her highly successful films in her incredible run from 1937 - 1946 as Queen of Warner Brothers. This period saw her play everything from Queens, to murderesses, heroines dying of brain tumours and flighty heiresses. This incredible body of work produced an almost unbroken string of Box Office Hits culminating in this rather (for the time) original story. "A Stolen Life", offers fans of this legendary actress like myself, the unique opportunity of seeing her play identical twins, and secondly for witnessing the at times superb special effects of having Davis supposedly performing with herself in many scenes. Even by todays standards the effect of having two Bette's apparently performing in the one scene is stunningly achieved and this excellence to a certain extent makes up for the rather incredible story with its unlikely twists and turns. After this film Bette Davis experienced a real career slump which was only rectified four years later after she had left Warner Brothers, in her stunning comeback film "All about Eve".

Bette Davis plays New England sisters Kate and Patricia Bosworth, and typically in these kind of stories their personalities are for the most part the exact opposite. Kate a struggling artist is the more sensible and down to earth of the two while Patricia tends to be the more forward one who is also quite aggressive about getting the men in her life. Kate while on a trip out to the Maine lighthouse falls in love with young lighthouse keeper Bill Emerson (Glenn Ford), a romance develops however when Patricia sets her eyes on Bill a tug-a-war for his affections begins which eventually sees Patricia winning out and marrying him much to Kate's distress. Comforted by cousin Fred Linly (Charles Ruggles) she then makes the acquaintance of tempermental artist Karnock (Dana Clark) who begins to work with her in her studio which also ignites a stormy love/hate relationship between the two. Kate is surprised however to find Patricia on her doorstep at the Maine house and in an attempt to get along better the two decide to go sailing which unfortunately results in Patricia drowning. Recovering after the accident by a fluke Kate is mistaken for Patricia as she is clutching Patricia's wedding ring and with little thought Kate decides to play along with this charade as a way of finally getting the man she has always loved. However it is not smooth sailing when she assumes Patricia's identity as it is revealed she and Bill were heading for divorce and Patricia has had a string of ex lovers one of which is still very much part of her life. Finding it impossible to maintain the charade any longer Kate flees back to her New England roots where eventually all is resolved and Kate's real identity is revealed . Reconciled with Bill the belief is that the two will start again to use Bill's words and make a new beginning as Kate was always the one he was best suited to of the sisters anyway.

Despite the stories incredible situation and very predictable conclusion there is much to enjoy in "A Stolen Life". Bette Davis does sterling work as the two very different sisters and it's a mark of her great abilities that she doesn't go down the easy path of making each sister the total opposite of the other. Both clearly have shades of grey in them and her acting supposedly against herself in the sister's joint scenes is a masterwork of technique and receptive acting. Glenn Ford handles his role in a capable style but in her first effort as a producer in her new contract with Warner Brothers it is obvious it is Bette's show all the way. The film has a very romantic feel about it with the stunning Cape Cob settings with many of the scenes taking place on mist shrouded hillsides looking down onto crashing waves. First and foremost however this film will always be remembered and talked about because of the special effects that see one performer playing two characters in the one scene. Indeed the technique here is smoothly done and scenes where the two "sisters" actually touch or look each other directly in the eye are quite remarkable. Bette Davis obviously saw this as a challenge as she repeated this in a similiar story about two sisters called "Dead Ringer", in 1964. Directed by veteran director Curtis Bernhardt the usual expertise you expect from all personnel in the golden years of the great Studio system is evident from sets, musical score by Max Steiner and well selected supporting players such as Charles Ruggles and the always excellent Walter Brennan.

"A Stolen Life", makes highly entertaining viewing and shows the multi talents of Bette Davis in full bloom. While certainly not one of Bette's best efforts it has alot to recommend it to viewers. The seemingly tacked on "happy ending", does seem forced and unnecessary but when viewing these types of melodramas one has to look past it's obvious flaws to appreciate the great effort that went into it's construction. It has to be remembered too that in 1946 the idea of two sisters, one good and one bad was still a fresh one and hadn't been done to death yet in countless television productions. Either way Bette Davis always makes compulsive viewing and here she has a field day playing twins who are headed for a collision over the love of one man. Enjoy!

Great Entetainment
This one features Bette Davis at her devious, overwrought best.
If you've ever seen Carol Burnett's parody, "A Swiped Life", you will have a hard time keeping a straight face through the real thing.
"A Stolen Life" is great fun, especially if you're in the right mood.
No one is more watchable than Bette, and I think this is one of her best.
She is wonderfully entertaining in the role(s) of twins, while those around her, particularly the men, react with appropriate bewilderment.When the character Bill marvels that "I can't tell you apart",I want to shout, "That's because they're the SAME PERSON, moron!"
This movie is not exactly subtle. The old standards are present: the crusty old salt with a heart of gold under the gruff exterior, the sensitive loner who needs only to meet the woman who understands him, and the misunderstood, non-conforming artist who tries to "awaken" inhibited Kate but mercifully stops short of telling her that she's beautiful when she's angry.
It all amounts to a lot of fun, though.

pure genius
I throughly enjoyed this film especially the twist in the end. I would love to see it again, and again, and again!!

A Stolen Opportunity
Bette Davis stars as twins after the same man. There's Good Bette, a sensitive, reserved artist, and there's Bad Bette, a socialite apparently without morals. Glenn Ford is the man who finds himself between them. He opts for Bad Bette, leaving Good Bette heartbroken and deflated, willing to accept berating from a rough artist, Dane Clark. However, she gets another chance, following a boating accident in which Bad Bette drowns, and people accidently assume it was Good Bette. She has the opportunity to take her sister's life and get back the man she wanted ... if she can pull it off. Like the twins, there are good and bad points to the film. On the good side, you have Davis and the effects. She does a very good job with two characterizations here, even when one is pretending to be the other. The special effects to create the illusion of twins are surprisingly good for 1946. It's not the usual split-screen work you would expect, but more complicated set-ups where they pass things to each other and appear to be touching. On the bad side would be the story and Ford. The story starts promisingly, but begins to fall apart after Ford chooses Bad Bette. The Dane Clark character is irrelevant to the film, since he does not figure into the resolution. The resolution is also very weak, neatly wrapping up a situation that is far too complicated to be so easily solved. Glenn Ford comes across very weakly here, a combination of a badly drawn character and poor performance. Davis and the special effects help to salvage the film. Too bad the script lets them down. ... Read more

Amazon.com

One of the lesser holiday movies, this 1949 comedy stars Janet Leigh as a war widow who can't afford to buy her son a toy train for Christmas. A veteran (Robert Mitchum) who happens to be standing by in a department store overhears her plight and offers to purchase the toy, thus setting into motion a series of funny complications. Wendell Corey plays Leigh's suspicious, condescending boyfriend, whose jealousy compounds Mitchum's problems, and Harry Morgan is very good as a night-court judge trying to make sense of everything that happens. The movie didn't do so well at the box office at the time of its release, but it has gained an affectionate fan base over the years. Don't expect Miracle on 34th Street, but as a spirited lark for Yuletide, this is a lot of fun. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Intelligent Christmas Fun
Holiday affair is never mentioned when the roster of Christmas cinema classics is read, which is unfortunate because it's actually a very good movie. It would be unfair to compare this with It's A Wonderful Life which came out three years earlier, or even Miracle on 34th Street (two years before). But the similarities in style and tone are there, this being a feel-good Christmas family movie made with intelligence. The studios must have realised they were on to a good thing.

Underneath the layer of seasonal schmaltz is a story with its roots in the then popular obsession with psychoanalysis. The jilted fiancé makes references to subconscious desires of Janet Leigh's character, and the whole story is based around a Freudian-Oedipus arrangement with the son taking the place of a dead father. But this is all (just) under the surface of the story of little boy who Santa Claus forgot, whose Christmas is made special by a selfless eccentric played by Mitchum. Mitchum is an actor who could be accepted in almost any character - his face gives so little away that he is often described as 'laconic', but it's clear that here he is a good guy who is so honest he even cuckolds poor old Wendell Corey's character in front of him rather than be deceitful. Corey's character of 'the other man' is so doomed from the start to be a poor runner up to Mitchum that it must have been a thankless role for him, but he tackles it well. Watch out too for future M*A*S*H* star Harry Morgan (credited as Henry Morgan) who steals one small scene as a bemused police lieutenant. If you want a change from Frank Capra or James Bond, try this with your turkey and Brussels sprouts.

Such a great movie, I'm reviewing it for the 2nd time!
I had the pleasure of watching this again last night. Invited my family over & we were all in the mood for a nice, holiday movie. I quickly pulled this off the shelf, knowing that they hadn't yet seen it, telling them they were in for a real treat. I tend to watch this every 2 years, so it was time. This movie is like a hidden gem, and though I am sure it received decent reviews when it was first released, there were probably more people who preferred It's A Wonderful Life & other more popular Christmas movies. Holiday Affair holds up well, despite the way things were at the time of the story(late 1940s). Guy meets girl, who is already practically engaged to another man, but that doesn't get in the way of his falling for her in a big way. One way to her heart is the way he quickly wins over her young son, by getting him the much desired set of trains he covets more than anything. Robert Mitchum shines in this film, & plays off both Janet Leigh & Wendell Corey quite well. When I previously reviewed this movie back in November of '98, I wrote it in such a hurry that I misspelled Ms. Leigh's surname, which I made a point to correct this time around. Yet again, I must highly recommend this terrific little movie, and it is an absolute must-have for those that like to collect Christmas themed movies. Definitely a movie to be enjoyed for many Christmases to come, & despite an attempt a few years back with a so-so remake, they just don't make 'em like this anymore. 'Nuff said!

Save your money.
I thought this was a a cheap shot to cash in on the season. It has poor character development, stilted language and a hackneyed plot. It just isn't a cozy Christmas film. Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh rely on sterotypical roles like the "tough guy with a heart of gold" and she is the damsel in distress who almost marries the wrong man." I think a much better holiday sleeper is Christmas in Connecticut.

Holiday Affair
I remember this movie from my teen years and I liked it then as much as I liked seeing it again. Good story line and good acting. I've always liked Bob Mitchum and he plays a good role in this movie. I was happy to add this movie to my collection.

holiday affair
I saw this movie in australia in the fifties and Im almost sure it had an other name it was called christmas in july can anyone help me on that one ? thnk you ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Ma enters the Bread & Jam event at the Fair and a horse race
It was the film THE EGG AND I (1947) in which the MA and PA KETTLE first appeared in a film. Someone got a smart idea and decided two years later to give them there own film series. The next film was simply titled, MA AND PA KETTLE (1949), followed by MA AND PA KETTLE GO TO TOWN (1950), MA AND PA KETTLE BACK ON THE FARM (1951), and this MA AND PA KETTLE AT THE FAIR (1952). The video starts out with animated "Preview Pete" giving you a sneak preview trailer of the movie you are about to see. The beginning of the film is the mailman trying to put some mail in the Kettles mailbox, sort of simular to the "BLONDIE " film series. The County Fair is here again and Ma is going to be stiff competition in the Bread & Jam event like she did in THE EGG AND I (1947) (they lived on the poor farm then). I like this film because it really has that small town feeling, back to a simpler time. The way towns should be. That is actor James Best as "Marvin". Wait until you hear Pa speak in the church. The Kettles also try to figure out a way to send Rosie to college. The next film in the series is MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION (1953), the following films are: MA AND PA KETTLE AT HOME (1954), MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (1955), THE KETTLES IN THE OZARKS (1956), and the last THE KETTLES ON OLD MACDONALD'S FARM (1957).

ma and pa at their best
Fun family movie. I highly recommend it

A decent Kettle film, but not the best one.
During the course of the Kettle films, there are a few character traits that are written in stone. Pa appears lazy, but has a penchant for winning things....just enough to keep his family ahead. So when big things come up, like a college education, events such as the fair provide opportunity. However, by this time Pa has won a house and a trip for two to New York City. Perhaps this plot is getting thin by the time it is used in this film. Also, to this point, Ma has been hard working, but never rewarded. This film attempts to fix this by bringing these ideas together. Ma wins money to help send a daughter to college through her work and talents making jam and quilting. Unfortunately, this film doesn't flow as well as some of the other Kettle adventures, though there is a wealth of screwball comedy and veiled social commentary to keep one entertained. Pa's "assistance" with Ma's breadmaking is worthwhile, and is an effective use of the "slippery slope" type of humor common to this genre of film. Overall, I'd say worth seeing, collect them all. Better than MacDonalds Farm and In the Ozarks, but probably #7 of the 10. ... Read more

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Even people habitually hostile to John Wayne movies tend to cast an indulgent eye on this rumbustious comedy-Western--partly because the Alaska gold rush setting seems more exotic than, say, Texas or Arizona, and because there are no Indians to discriminate against and no macho gunplay to fret about. As for John Wayne as all-purpose icon of male chauvinism, Big Sam McCord (the Duke) spends much of North to Alaska in a state of growing discombobulation because he has fallen in love with, and is thoroughly flummoxed by, "Angel" (Capucine), the woman he's brought back from Seattle to marry his heartsick partner George (Stewart Granger). Henry Hathaway directs in a broader vein than usual, but he hits pay dirt. Even Fabian, the latest pop music idol to be dragooned into supporting the elder roughnecks, is fun, and Ernie Kovacs is droll casting as chief "villain." --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (12)

John Wayne, Stewart Granger & co. shine in Alaskan adventure
The tremendously entertaining "North to Alaska" is easily John Wayne's most light hearted and fun filled movie and is wonderful viewing for all ages !!

Henry Hathaway's lively film is loosely based on the play "Birthday Gift" by Ladislas Fodor and Hathaway shows a wonderful hand in the romantic, comic nature of this film.

Confirmed bachelor Wayne and love lorn Grainger strike it rich in Nome, Alaska at the turn of the century and there begins all there problems. Wayne returns to Seattle to bring back Grainger's fiance, finds she has married another man, and ends up in a dance hall and brings back to Nome the glamorous Capucine (she was a knock out in her day !) for Grainger, but the big Duke falls for her womanly charms himself ! Songster Fabian is loads of fun as Grainger's overly amorous kid brother, Billy...and noted funnyman Ernie Kovacs is slick conman Frankie Cannon...eager to get his hands on anyone's fortune. And Johnny Horton's resonant voice sings the title track to the movie !

Henry Hathaway often got the best out of the Duke on screen, and if you never thought screen tough guy John Wayne could be funny...see this film...the honeymoon cabin sequence with cunning Grainger and reluctant Capucine stirring up trouble with an irate Wayne listening is simply priceless !

Watch closely during the all out brawl in the snow and the mud at the conclusion of the film where Wayne cops a hit on the jaw, falls backwards, and his toupee flies off !

Fun, action & romance..."North to Alaska" has got it all !

The Duke......
It's the Duke. What more can I say. John Wayne was one of the most wonderful actors that ever existed. North to Alaska has incredible scenery, memorable music and quite an interesting cast. The fight scenes are hilarious. The romance is so French and refreshing. There truly is something for everyone in this movie. As was said in "Rio Lobo" with John Wayne, he's just so comfortable.

John Wayne Strikes Movie Gold!
They must have had a blast making this movie, set in the snowy mountains of Alaska during its exciting boomtown days. Complete with romance, hilarity AND and some really fabulous fist fights, North to Alaska is definitely one of John Wayne's best.

Claim jumpers, love triangles and power plays keep best friends Granger and Wayne on their toes, and almost at each other's throats, and right smack in the middle of it all is a delectable French lady named Capucine. Her cap is set for Wayne, but she soon finds out he's one of the most mule-headed men in Alaska!

Capucine really shines in her comically romantic role. As she employs all of her feminine wiles you will actually find yourself rooting for her! Granger and Wayne are fabulously paired up in this movie as partners, especially since they are exact opposites. This film has it all - love, laughs and lots of exciting action. A definite gold mine.

We Go North - the rush is on!!
Great fun here in gold rush fevered Nome sees John Wayne as his inimitable self playing (suprise suprise) himself aka Sam McCord the man's man in gold country. A gentle comic tale sees him return to Seattle and bring back a girl for his lovesick partner played superbly by Stewart Granger. He begins to regret this trip, and task after the initial maiden he is sent to fetch has unexpectantly married whilst Granger was away panning for Gold, and he must quickly find a replacement. Add in some claim jumpers, a romantic subplot, a greedy villian and the ever present sandpaper like comic tension between the main characters, and the end result is a real treat. With an excellent supporting cast, great scenery and nothing too serious to get excited about, this is quality family viewing. The location alone precludes the usual Wayne western formula, but the action and laughs come thick and fast. A great classic. Enjoy

My favorite John Wayne film!
"North To Alaska" caught my attention when I first heard the title song by Johnny Horton. I decided to watch this film, considering I like John Wayne and his movies. There's a lot of what anyone who enjoys a western comedy; John Wayne, of course, a humorous good-natured storyline, funny antics, and fisticuffs. There aren't many gunfights, just fistfights, with sucker punches here and there. Wayne is Sam McCord and is sent by his partner George Pratt (Stewart Granger) to Seattle to bring back his love, Jenny. However, she has married someone else. Sticking around Seattle, he finds a dance hall girl named "Angel", played by French model-actress Capucine. Can George accept her in place of Jenny? Find out for yourself. If you're a John Wayne fan, it's a must! ... Read more

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Before Hollywood had entirely typecast Alfred Hitchcock as the master of suspense, with Mr. & Mrs. Smith he was allowed to fashion an elegant romantic trifle starring Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. It probably won't replace Rear Window or Psycho in your affections, but the film is more than a curious footnote to the director's career. The two leads play David and Ann Smith, a devoted but endlessly squabbling couple who discover their three-year marriage isn't legal. When he unexpectedly hesitates to arrange a second wedding, she storms out in a huff and soon begins dating his solid, dependable business partner Jeff (Gene Raymond). The rest follows the formula laid down by such previous screwball comedies as The Awful Truth (1937) and Bringing Up Baby (1938): David employs fair means or foul to win back Ann's heart, causes all sorts of complicated mischief, then... well, three guesses what happens in the end.

The intriguing thing about the movie is how Hitchcock takes Norman Krasna's paper-thin script and adds sly undercurrents of menace. Violence seems about to erupt in the recurring scenes where Ann shaves her husband (suggestively holding a razor up to his throat)--and there's a touch of Vertigo in one scary moment when a jammed amusement park ride leaves two characters dangling helplessly high above the ground. Montgomery and Lombard keep the mood acceptably frivolous, while indicating the flawed nature of the marital relationship. From the evidence of this one-off, Hitchcock might have been among the best comedy directors in the business, had he so wished. --Peter Matthews ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Best romantic comedy
(...)This is a wonderful movie!

Carole Lombard gives a brilliant, elegant & understated performance in this film. It is often overlooked for her more over-the-top roles such as Mildred Plotkin in "Twentieth Century" or Maria Tura in "To Be or Not To Be". Watch her facial expressions carefully, especially in the hallway scene on the way to the bedroom - -"Get goin' Annie". But enough boring analytics. Why should you watch this film?

1)Robert Montegomery & Carole Lombard have unbelievable sexual chemistry in this film.
2)If you've ever been in a relationship (...) you will get a good laugh out of this movie. It shows up both men & women and their foibles but in light-hearted way.
3)Robert Montegomery is hilarious as a manly, capable, sexy & yet hen-pecked husband.
4)It has a politically incorrect ending but it is still funny and very sexy.

So if you enjoy a good romantic comedy like me and are fed up with the trash Hollywood has been putting out lately (bad acting, bad scripts, lots of sex & NO sex appeal), ignore the stodgy Hitchcock fans (remember the word fan originates from fanatic), feminists and other assorted dour & unromantic poops and watch this film. By the way, why is this movie not out on DVD?

Not a Typical Hitchcock, but His Trademarks are Still There!
Hitchcock was "The Master of Suspense." His films were famous for combining action, big stars, Bernard Herrmann music, suspense, and even traces of wry and subtle humor. However, in his long career, Alfred Hitchcock only made two films that can be classified as total comedy. One was 1955s The Trouble With Harry, which was a black comedy, but still definitely a COMEDY. His only other comedy, he made 15 years prior to this, in 1940. He made the film as a favor to a friend of his. That friend was Carole Lombard, the undoubted Queen of Screwball Comedy. She had read the script and fallen in love with it, yet she couldn't find a director, so Alfred Hitchcock agreed to do it for her. The film was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and it starred such comic legends as Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond, and a young Jack Carson.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the story of a bickering, but non-the-less happily married couple. In the films hilarious opening scene, the Smiths are locked in their bedroom. It seems that they have a set of rules they follow each time they get into a quarrel. They lock themselves in their room and do not come out until the fight is solved. One time, they stayed in the room for 8 days. When they finally solve the dispute, they sit down for breakfast, where they are as happy and as "in love" as ever, but rule number 7 permits Mrs. Smith to ask Mr. Smith a question, and she asks him, "If you had to do it over again, would you have married me?" He tells her how much he loves her and how happy he is, but he concludes by saying that married life is too much for him, and that if he had the chance, he wouldn't have married her. At first a little disappointed, Mr. Smith soon comes to see that her husband really does love her, and he goes to work happy, and she blissfully starts the chores.

Unfortunately, a man comes to Mr. Smith's office and informs him that because of the fact of "the town is across the river and is in one county and has been considered in another county, but the other county isn't in the state" that Mr. David Smith and Mrs. Ann Smith aren't legally married. The laughter and humor keep rising after he is kicked out of the apartment and has to live in a local men¡Çs' club. Each gets a temporary partner and after a hilarious restaurant scene, a crowd of three is off for a weekend in the county in the uplifting conclusion of Hitchcock¡Çs classic Screwball Comedy.

Marvelously scripted with beautiful and flawless performances by all the cast, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a breathtaking and fast paced classic. Although not typical Hitchcock, his traces are still evident. There are small incidents of suspense, a small chase scene in a department store, a stalled Parachute Jump in the rain at the World¡Çs Fair, and some great chemistry and rapport between the stars on the screen. If Carole had not died tragically a few years later, in 1942, I would not have been surprised if Lombard and Montgomery had made more films together. Looking at them here, how can one have doubt as to how successful they would have been?

When is the DVD going to come out!
I wish that this movie would come out on DVD soon. It is a wonderful comedy filled with humor and action. It is truly a wonderful movie to see if you are looking for a really good classic, but like other Hitchcock films, this movie is a comedy, not a thriller. So, if you are looking for a mystery by Hitchcock, don't pick this one. Hitchcock has a great sense of humor when he created this spectacular classic. If there is a DVD, (which I hope) I hope there are great special features. If you are looking for a great film to make you laugh, Go see this one!

Extremely Funny!
This is a funny movie! It should be put on DVD. If you are expecting a mystery from Hitchcock, this is not the movie to see, but if you are looking for a funny and entertaining film, this is a great one. I recommend this to everyone. Go see it.

Hitchcock Does Comedy!
Alfred Hitchcock has always shown sly humor even in his darkest moves. This 1941 black and white comedy shows what he can do with obvious comedy as well. Mr. (David) and Mrs. (Ann) Smith are a well off couple who find that they are not legally married. When David (Robert Montgomery) is given this information, does he tell his wife? No way. Instead he chooses to toy with her first. Unfortunately, Ann (beautiful and talented Carol Lombard) and her mother have received the same information. Ann's mother makes her promise that as an unmarried woman she won't ---?!. 'Of course not' she promises. Later, Ann and David talk on the telephone, she asks about his day, he does not mention their invalid marriage but he does tell her that they are going to what used to be their favorite restaurant. As David is talking, he writes "Mrs.", crosses it off and replaces it with "Mistress" then smiles. This unshared knowledge starts a wonderful, sexy cat and mouse game between Lombard and Montgomery. The getting ready for bed scene is just super. Gene Raymond as Jeff Custer, David's friend and law partner is full of southern charm and is wonderfully sly as he double crosses David. Jack Carson as the hard drinking womanizing club friend Chuck, who helps to land Montgomery in more hot water than he is already in, is perfect for this role. One of my favorite scenes is the hilarious 'restaurant' scene where Montgomery and Carson are on dates with two of Carson's lady friends. Watch Montgomery's face as he desperately tries to make his nose bleed. It's our loss that they don't make sophisticated screwball comedy like this any more. (~.~) ... Read more

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Of all the screenplays Preston Sturges wrote for Paramount before becoming the greatest comic director of his generation, 1937's Easy Living seems the most like something he would have filmed himself--a satirical fable about chance, class, and the absurdity of the American dream. Jean Arthur is a New York secretary riding to work atop a double-decker bus when a fur coat miraculously descends from the sky and settles on her shoulders. The fur, however, has not dropped from Olympus but from the hand of a millionaire (Edward Arnold) who has just tossed it from a nearby roof to punish his wife. But as if it were a magic fleece (the mythical reference is almost certainly intended by the erudite Sturges), it makes its wearer invincible, conferring an aura of prosperity, celebrity, and power on the previously average working girl. No folk tale is complete without a prince: Sturges's is the millionaire's son, Ray Milland, who is trying to pass as an apprentice stockbroker. Directed with a light, elegant touch by Mitchell Leisen, the film lacks the crazy energy it would have had under Sturges's own hand, but this remains one of the great screwball comedies (in a year that also saw The Awful Truth and Nothing Sacred). --Dave Kehr ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A RARE COMEDY DELIGHT.
In retrospect, this little 1937 flick holds up as one of the funniest screwball comedies of the thirties. Loud millionaire J.B. Ball tells his extravagantly aggressive wife (Mary Nash) that she cannot keep her $58,000 Sable coat. Ball throws it out of the upper window of their mansion where it happens to fall right on top of bewildered Mary Smith (Arthur), who's travelling on an open-air bus. Mary's a poor gal who works for a magazine similar to BOY'S LIFE. Arnold is seen buying Mary a new hat by pussy-cat faced gossip Franklin Pangborn and soon she gets more than just a hat: practically all of New York is at her feet. The scene where she and Milland wreak havoc at the now-obsolete automat is truly inspired and hilarious, as is Luis Alberni - as Louis Louis - when he shows Mary her new "quarters" -- i.e. "And make it snappa...Thaank Yewww". The rather offbeat cast works wonders with the great Preston Sturges script: Milland and Nash make a weird son and wife to the always good (and always loud) Edward Arnold, but somehow it makes for better screwball; the whacko cast helps push the one-joke material through to a happy finish, and the movie helped establish Jean Arthur as a comedienne of the first rank. P.S. While listening to Arthur's wonderfully off-beat voice, I realised it reminded me a little of Julie Harris (!).

a movie for today
Day-traders alert. Cut yourself on every line of this witty, fast-paced and knowing movie that glories in the talents of Jean Arthur, et al. As tight as a fist, construction-wise, it traverses ostentation, banking (and ostentation), stock market manipulation (and ostentation) and that thing called real-honest-to-goodness, in-the-belly hunger. Arnold, Milland and the (forgive me) unnamed actor who plays the hotel proprietor (should have stayed cook) to hilarious effect are all wonderful. But Jean Arthur demonstrates yet again what an underrated talent she was: energy, sweet timing and mercurial delights - poured into the camera.

A fine, early screenplay by Preston Sturges!
Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, a baby Ray Milland, and the beginnings of what became known as the Sturges Players combine for a tight little screwball comedy. This was not available on video until just recently, but if you enjoy the old madcap comedies, ala MY MAN GODFREY, NOTHING SACRED, and Preston Sturges romps like PALM BEACH STORY, THE LADY EVE, etc, I'm confident in recommending EASY LIVING. I didn't notice Sturges wrote it until the final credits, but that didn't alter my feelings. This is an under-appreciated jewel! ... Read more

Reviews (13)

This movie is a great film!
Curly (Shirley Temple ) and her sister Mary are secretly adopted by Mr. Jones. Curly adds joy to Mr. Jones life while Mary falls in love with Mr. Jones. Curly sings and dances through-out the movie with some of her best songs yet. She sings "When I Grow-up" and "Animal Crackers in my Soup". Mary and Mr. Jones also sing and play a few songs as well. There are a few comic moments and the ending is a happy one. This film is apporiate for people of all ages and a film everyone can watch over and over again. Curly Top is wonderfully cheographed and has a great moral to the story.

A delightful Shirley Temple Film!
Shirley Temple is pint-sized in this film and is fun to watch as she sings some of her number one theme songs "Animal Crakers in my Soup" and "When I Grow Up." Shirley plays Elizabeth, an orphan living at an orphange that her sister Mary works at. Shirley charms one of the trustees and he imediately falls in love with her spunk. The movie has some entertaining moments that strike us all. I always laugh when Elizabeth is trying to adjust to her new rich and spoiled life. All though Shirley seems to be sweet and innocent through the whole movie, she has a selfish point where she says she rather have a pair of roller skates when her gaurdian gives her a pearl necklace. She saves that little rude comment by putting on a benefit for her orphan friends. The story line at times is hard to follow, but as always ends happily. Curly Top is a wonderful movie for young children, but doesn't have a moral or a point. Shirley of course will dazzle you!

Wonderful!!!!
Shirley stars as loveable Elizabeth in this movie. She and her older sister Mary live in an orphanage where the girls are not allowed to sing which is hard for Elizabeth. But one day a man named Mr. Jones comes and visits the orphanage and falls in love with Mary, who is much younger than him. He and Elizabeth take to each other right away and her golden curls earn her the nickname, Curly Top. But Mary recieves a marrige proposal from a boy her age, and Mr. Jones is jealous and upset. Will Mary realize that she and Curly Top belong with Mr. Jones? Find out in Curly Top!

One of the cutest movies ever
... enough said about that, but why did FOX Video spend all their money for colorizing a charming silver screen movie -instead of actually RESTORING it? This was a hit movie in the 30s, there must be dozens of copies still available from which they could have made a mint-condition B&W video release, knitting together the good pieces. Bigger scratches could have been re-touched, the audio digitally remastered and sent carefully through a noise reduction filter. But no! They splashed all sorts of unnatural colors onto the poor film; esp. in scenes with moving camera the color layer shakes visibly. No use switching your TV to B&W - contrast and fine details are all gone. Bad job, FOX.

GOTTA BE ONE OF SHIRLEY'S BEST.
Shirley Temple, whose career as a child star was over by the age of 10 (and who, according to her very good autobiography, reaped a mere $18.00 from it when she asked her father for her reapings upon her second marriage), shines and super-shines in this adorable and heart-rending film.

She and her sister are orphans. A mysterious benefactor adopts them and they enter a life of luxury, but also a life of love. Rochelle Hudson is delicately beautiful as the sister, and John Boles is excellent and exceedingly handsome. I wonder what happened to them both?

"Animal Crackers" and "When I Grow Up" are the top numbers, as well as several sung by Boles and Hudson. All works out as it should be.

There's just something very moving about this movie. It's a genuine heart-tugger.

And Shirley is simply a delight! So glad the camera caught this amazing little girl with such a natural talent shining through her girlhood. ... Read more

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Tough stuff from director Fritz Lang(M), making his first American film with this 1936 story of an innocent man (Spencer Tracy) who escapes a lynch mob and then orchestrates his apparent murder at their hands. Tracy is superb, and the film is uncompromising, until studio interference takes some of the wind out of Lang's sails right at the end. But as the portrait of a character who comes to reflect the destiny he is trying to avoid, this is still essential Lang and a pre-noir classic.--Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (8)

That good old American sport...Lynching.
This movie is an indictment of it of course. Quite common in the 30's. This is the first film of Fritz's Lang's American period & it seems like he's got the lingo down pretty good.
Briefly, Tracy plays a good guy, wrongly accused of a terrible crime by the residents of a small town. The evidence is highly circumstancial but the townsfolk want to lynch him & burn down the jail to get at him. He escapes & is presumed dead.
The townsfolk are broadly drawn as xenophobic, intolerant & quick to judge the world outside their little orbit.
Tracy's acting goes over the top, his character changing 180 degrees. One of his better efforts, however & that's saying a lot.

Tracy at his best
This is easily my favourite Spencer Tracy movie. Altough quite a different story line to his Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Tracy uses a similar technique when he changes his personality in Fury from the young easy going loving man on a journey to visit his fiance, to a bitter twisted vengence seeking man.
Although you could not blame him for this

FRITZ LANG & SPENCER TRACY: WHAT A TEAM!
A very unusual M-G-M film from 1936: because of its theme of social consciousness, it seems much more a likely candidate for Warner Brothers. It's a dilly with an outstanding performance by Tracy as the wrong man: En route to see his fiancee, Katherine (Sylvia Sidney) Joe Wheeler (Spencer Tracy) is arrested as a suspected kidnapper and is jailed pending trial. The evidence against him is strickly circumstantial: he possess a bill from a ransom statement. Then a mob forms around the jail, but Sheriff Ellis (Walter Brennan) manages to disband them & send them home... And that's all I'm going to give out plot-wise. Obviously, there is a whole lot more to this famous film in which Fritz Lang made is American directorial debut. This was Lang's favourite American film - and rightfully so: it demonstrates his directorial genius in wasting NOT A FRAME of film, telling his story with sharp cross-cutting between victims and tormentors, while unravelling the mindless and murderous passion of a mob out of control. Sylvia Sidney is excellent as usual as Katherine: this was her sole role for M-G-M. The film awakened America to what the reality of mob violence means. The original working titles for the film were THE MOB & MOB RULE. For a great companion piece, view the excellent Lang production YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE with Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney made the next year, in 1937: it's available on video.

A real thriller
Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film features Spencer Tracy as a man falsely accused of a crime and attacked by a lynch mob. He survives and comes back, seeking revenge. Pretty heavy stuff, and a pretty thrilling film.

Spencer Tracy stars in Fritz Lang's first American film
Director Fritz Lang's first American film is the disturbing tale of a good man, played by Spencer Tracy, turned into a haunting figure of vengeance because of the ferocity of mob rule. Joe Wilson (Tracy) is on his way to see Katherine Grant (Sylvia Sydney), the girl he wants to marry. Passing through the small town of Strand, Joe is picked up by the Sheriff (Edward Ellis) and arrested as a suspect in a kidnapping case. It seems his fondness for peanuts proves his downfall. The citizens form a lynch mob and attack the jail. When they discover Joe has been locked away where they cannot get at him, the mob burns down the jail. Katherine arrives in time to see Joe screaming for help from his cell before she faints. However, Joe has escaped but swears his brothers Tom (George Walcott) and Charlie (Frank Albertson) to secrecy, demanding that the mob be tried for his murder. As Joe sees it, the fact he did not really die does not make them any less guilty. Besides, they did kill Rainbow, the mutt that Joe had taken a shine to. The District Attorney (Walter Abel) tries twenty-two citizens of Strand for Joe's death, all of whom protest their innocence and attack the trial for besmirching the good name of their fair town right up until the moment the D.A. runs the newsreel footage of them gleefully committing the crime. Meanwhile, in trying to nail the case shut for the D.A., Joe makes an error that lets Katharine know he is still alive.

Tracy's performance as the tragic figure of Joe Wilson, a good man who did not die in the fire but who surely lost his humanity, anchors this film and balances the grotesque citizens of Strand. What is upsetting is not the fact that the mob tried to kill Joe, but that they insist on their collective innocence and gloat about being able to get away with their crime. The fact Joe was innocent only makes a couple of them feel bad, but only for a moment. Ironically, while watching the film you can get just as caught up in the idea of vengeance as Joe and perhaps the most remarkable thing about the film is that it does come down on the side of law and order rather than revenge. Then again, remember that Lang had just fled Nazi Germany. Lang and Bartlet Cormack wrote the screenplay for this 1936 film, based on a original story by Norman Krasna. "Fury" is a much more brutal film than "The Ox-Bow Incident," the other recognized classic attacking the idea of a lynch mob, and some will find the ending unsatisfying. But overall "Fury" is quite a powerful film. ... Read more

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One of the top five screwball comedies of the '30s, this helped to cement a genre that waxed golden until the end of WWII. Director Leo McCarey won an Oscar for Best Director for this 1937 romantic comedy--one of the most successful films of his career. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are a squabbling couple who separate because of supposed infidelities on both sides. They part but cannot really keep away from each other. Grant finds himself hooked up with a socialite, Dunne becomes engaged to a millionaire hick played by the hapless Ralph Bellamy (as if he ever stood a chance as the "other" man!). When not dating others or baiting one another in a verbal war, Grant and Dunne wage a custody battle over their pathetic pooch. Gags, double entendre, witty remarks, snide comments, and fast-paced dialogue helped this to garner six Academy Award nominations. The Awful Truth was awfully good to Dunne and Grant, as both were breaking out of much more serious molds and this secured their positions. --Rochelle O'Gorman ... Read more

Reviews (45)

A Screwball Gem
Arguably the greatest of the screwball comedies, The Awful Truth presents Irene Dunne and Cary Grant as soon-to-be-divorced wife and husband who occupy themselves with spoiling each other's prospective new romances. This is my favorite Dunne performance, probably one of Grant's top three comic performances, and the best Leo McCarey picture. This is also the film that first introduced Ralph Bellamy as the other man who always loses out in love (see His Girl Friday for a reprise). The film is chock-full of great comic scenes: my favorites are Grant, Dunne, and Bellamy watching the awful (and risque) performance of Grant's showgirl girlfriend; Grant making Dunne laugh at Bellamy's love poetry; Dunne trying to figure out how to hide another man's hat from Grant; and Dunne's pretense of being Grant's sister (doing the same number the showgirl did earlier). The film ranges from the broad slapstick of Grant becoming entangled in a chair to the subtle expressions of the threesome watching the floor show. What makes the film particularly work are the attractive performances by Grant and Dunne, who engage in skull-duggery to break up each other's love affairs, but who remain likable--partly because underneath the antics, The Awful Truth remains a love story. Even when bickering, Grant and Dunne clearly love each other; they seem to spur each other, make each other more attractive when together. Even Dunne's throw-away line on not having won any dance cups with

Grant has a sweet, nostalgic, longing tone. Grant has a comic sweetness in the final sequence, befuddled as he tries to resist his desire to return to his wife's bed. The film won Best Director for McCarey, who keeps the film on a delightfully fizzy keel and who encouraged his performers to be spontaneous. Dunne inexplicably lost Best Actress to Luise Rainer for The Good Earth; maybe she should have lost it to Garbo for Camille, but not to Rainer. And this is probably the first of the many years in which Grant gave a great comic performance, only to be forgotten when the Oscar nominations were announced. Sure Grant was always identifiable as himself in comedy-after-comedy, but notice the difference between his performance here and the following year's Holiday, and you can better measure his genuine versatility.

Poignant screwballs.
Why is it that best "screwball" comedies are rarely "screwy"? *The Awful Truth* relies more on character and witty conversation than it does on slapstick (of which, in fact, there's remarkably little). The movie's about a pair of bored New York elites (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) with an open marriage who decide to give divorce a chance after one mutual infidelity too many. Dunne's very sincere in her protestations to Grant that nothing happened between her and her musician friend, but we remain unconvinced. Grant, meanwhile, tells his wife that he's going to vacation in Florida, but instead stays in town somewhere else in order to better pursue extramarital opportunities. (How did all this get past the Hays Office?!) While they wait for their divorce papers, each partner tries on different hats: Dunne attempts to amuse herself with a vacationing Oklahoma tycoon (poor Ralph Bellamy in another third-wheel role); Grant has perhaps a better time of it with an unimaginably wealthy heiress. It requires their pet dog, Mr. Smith, to bring these lechers back together. It is to be hoped that they can finally expend their lechery on each other -- the movie's last sequence in the honeymooner's cabin, one of the great romantic sequences in all of film, seems to indicate that this will be so. *The Awful Truth* belongs in any serious film-lover's library.

Sheer Entertainment
One of several tremendously fun screwball comedies Grant made in the relatively early part of his career. In actuality, he had already been in nearly 30 movies before he made this one. In 1932, his debut year, he was in seven movies. He was in six in '33 and so on. I guess the idea was to be in as many movies as possible in hopes something would get noticed. Also, under the studio system, inexperienced or not particularly in demand actors were at the studio's mercy and the studio could work them to death if they felt like it. Only fame gave an actor enough power to call his own shots. That Grant was paired with Dunne is a happy coincidence. Their timing and chemistry are perfect. Talent makes all the difference. Dunne was more famous and accomplished at the time. She had already been nominated for an Academy Award for Cimarron. Grant was still perfecting his witty, offhand, debonair and slightly amoral screen persona. He had been in She Done Him Wrong w/ Mae West and that got him on the map but the late 30's were his breakout period with Topper and The Awful Truth.

Decent movie, Bad release.
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne star in this very funny Screwball comedy directed by Leo McCarey who won the oscar for Best Director. The film was released in 1937 and was nominated for 6 Academy Awards.

The story of it is basically, Jerry and Lucy (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) are a married couple who decide to get a divorce, since they both suspect they are cheating. Lucy finds herself getting engaged to a rich millionaire, named Daniel (Ralph Bellamy, in yet another great role). Jerry and Lucy even try to decide in a court, who is going to get custody over their dog, Mr Smith (Yes, the dog!). Lucy wins, while Jerry gets visiting rights, to see Mr. Smith. This keeps the two seeing each other, and you can guess how it turns out in the end.

The movie is very fast moving, extremely funny, and you will see why it was so successful on its release.

The print on this DVD is not really very good and the sound is not great either, (You might like to compare it to Columbia's other poor effort for the DVD of 'Holiday') but it is worth buying and still very watchable, I am not trying to say it isn't. They just could have done better with it. It has a total lack of extras also.

Even though it has a slightly poor release that could have been a lot better, I would still recommend this brilliant film which I am sure anybody will enjoy.

PLEASE NOTE: I own the Region 2 release, which, appears to be no different to this anyways. The comparison to the bad print on the DVD of 'Holiday', also refers to the Region 2 release.

Nothing awful about the Awful Truth
In 1937 Cary Grant was already a Hollywood Giant... a dynamic actor and a genuine Star. But in the "Awful Truth," Irene Dunn took him to school. Yes, Mr.