WHAT...ME WORRY?
A Selection of Movies Watched Last Month
So...how are you?
I know I should be making a list of movies about mass panic, dystopian futures or zombies, but I think one of the best ways to cope with crises like our current one is through smiling as often as possible. I don't mean gormless grinning like an idiot, but simple smiling at little beauties which are always there (here at home, I appreciate the sound of magpies gargling music in the peppercorn trees and the sheer deliciousness of a cheese & gherkin sandwich...to each their own). Sure beats crying over absent toilet paper.
While I despise most schmaltz & tacky sentiment, I hug close any examples of redemption...a second chance...proof that we can get better. Below is a list of the personally-beloved movies which are all about that: Hope rather than being told that everything is doomed (and who you should blame for it)...optimism is surely as important as inoculation.
6 TERRIFIC HOPE 'n' REDEMPTION MOVIES
MAGNOLIA (1999) d: Paul Thomas Anderson
> THE MESSAGE: they all sing "so, just give up" but none of them actually do
MY MAN GODFREY (1936) d: Gregory La Cava
> THE MESSAGE: even bankers & The Rich can rediscover decency
GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) d: Harold Ramis
> THE MESSAGE: even an egotistical scumbag can learn to help without personal benefit
REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940) d: Mitchell Leisen
> THE MESSAGE: even a lawyer can be kind, can love, has a mother
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) d: William Wyler
> THE MESSAGE: no matter what you've been through, you can still come back
LEAVING NORMAL (1992) d: Edward Zwick
> THE MESSAGE: when Life throws you lemons, learn how to suck contentedly
AND, if you're stuck inside, bored to tears, here's a dozen links to wonderful old movies from the 1930's, all currently on YouTube for free (as of the 31st of March 2020). Enjoy!
> OF MICE AND MEN (1939)
> THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939)
> LITTLE CAESAR (1931)
> EASY LIVING (1937)
> FREAKS (1932)
> DESIRE (1936)
> THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932)
> STANLEY & LIVINGSTONE (1939)
> THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939)
> THE 39 STEPS (1935)
> CITY LIGHTS (1931)
> THE BAT WHISPERS (1930)
I know I should be making a list of movies about mass panic, dystopian futures or zombies, but I think one of the best ways to cope with crises like our current one is through smiling as often as possible. I don't mean gormless grinning like an idiot, but simple smiling at little beauties which are always there (here at home, I appreciate the sound of magpies gargling music in the peppercorn trees and the sheer deliciousness of a cheese & gherkin sandwich...to each their own). Sure beats crying over absent toilet paper.
While I despise most schmaltz & tacky sentiment, I hug close any examples of redemption...a second chance...proof that we can get better. Below is a list of the personally-beloved movies which are all about that: Hope rather than being told that everything is doomed (and who you should blame for it)...optimism is surely as important as inoculation.
6 TERRIFIC HOPE 'n' REDEMPTION MOVIES
> THE MESSAGE: they all sing "so, just give up" but none of them actually do
MY MAN GODFREY (1936) d: Gregory La Cava
> THE MESSAGE: even bankers & The Rich can rediscover decency
GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) d: Harold Ramis
> THE MESSAGE: even an egotistical scumbag can learn to help without personal benefit
REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940) d: Mitchell Leisen
> THE MESSAGE: even a lawyer can be kind, can love, has a mother
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) d: William Wyler
> THE MESSAGE: no matter what you've been through, you can still come back
LEAVING NORMAL (1992) d: Edward Zwick
> THE MESSAGE: when Life throws you lemons, learn how to suck contentedly
AND, if you're stuck inside, bored to tears, here's a dozen links to wonderful old movies from the 1930's, all currently on YouTube for free (as of the 31st of March 2020). Enjoy!
> OF MICE AND MEN (1939)> THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939)
> LITTLE CAESAR (1931)
> EASY LIVING (1937)
> FREAKS (1932)
> DESIRE (1936)
> THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932)
> STANLEY & LIVINGSTONE (1939)
> THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939)
> THE 39 STEPS (1935)
> CITY LIGHTS (1931)
> THE BAT WHISPERS (1930)
A Selection of Movies Watched Last Month
A+ = Adored Masterwork A = Excellent A- = Very Good B+ = Good B = Nice Try B- = Just Scrapes By
C = Significantly Flawed D = Pretty Bad E = Truly Dreadful: Looking Into the Void F = Absolutely Vile: The Void
THE BIRDS (1963)
A MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: Alfred Hitchcock
CAST: Tippi Hedren; Rod Taylor; Jessica Tandy; Suzanne Pleshette; Veronica Cartwright
> while the film du jour is 2011's Contagion, I wracked my movie brain for something with a little more...art...Hitch's The Birds is the ideal choice for these trying times...that is, if you want what you're currently going through shown back as an allegory; it's just another ordinary, humdrum day in small-town USA life...then suddenly the birds are everywhere, attacking people regardless of age, wealth or hairdo...and bloody scary it is too, even after all these years; the brilliance of this is that Hitch offers no logic to it, so, supplied with odd phrasings, vapid characters, talk of fear & love & loss, and a mostly female cast, we try to invent a reason...and I have read some wild theories; Mine? well, I think it's cosmic payback for how we, top of the pecking order, have crippled the future by thinking only of the present; a great horror
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993)
A MOVIE JUKEBOX
d: James Ivory
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Emma Thompson; James Fox; Christopher Reeve; Peter Vaughan
> while not a particular fan of the ever-so-genteel Ivory/Merchant costume dramas (or most of the BBC ones either), this film continues to grow with and impress me; Anthony is the gentleman's gentleman to a stinking rich, naive English fascist on the eve of WWII...as Nazis and British traitors pop in to the lord's estate, the serving staff have their upstairs/downstairs normal people life events: love & death & family & regret & loneliness; exquisitely quiet but still breathing, this film is a masterclass in how to handle the big & the small in a plot and lace all the jagged themes together; Anthony is somehow both softly restrained & emotionally blatant
Award-Worthy Performances
Anthony Hopkins; Peter Vaughan
THE IRISHMAN (2019)
A- FIRST VIEWING STREAMING
d: Martin Scorsese
CAST: Robert De Niro; Al Pacino; Joe Pesci; Ray Romano; Anna Paquin; Harvey Keitel
> yeah, I'm very late on this but I was waiting for the right l-o-n-g free time, and with self-isolation & social distancing, now was definitely it; an engrossing but rather trademark-ish Scorsese gangster film...what it lacks in Goodfellas / Casino flash, it makes up for in rich characterization; despite having the obligatory high guys-being-whacked ratio, this is almost pastoral in tone and structure (and certainly melancholic), so I guess the 209 minutes strolling-time is apt; so nice to see Joe in a calm but still menacing performance...no histrionics, no rapid-fire f-bombs, but he still holds your attention; and Smiley Lewis is on the soundtrack!
Award-Worthy Performance
Joe Pesci
EASTER PARADE (1948)
A- FIRST VIEWING
d: Charles Walters
CAST: Judy Garland; Fred Astaire; Peter Lawford; Ann Miller
> I'm currently re-reading David Shipman's harrowing bio of Judy Garland...this film is where her emotional troubles really cranked up into overdrive...not that you can tell by the finished, rainbow-coloured, MGM-to-the-hilt product; this is one of the rare musicals where I wish the dialogue had been halved and the S&D numbers doubled; the greatest movie singer (and underrated dancer) paired with the greatest movie dancer (and underrated singer)...at least 3 classic routines + at least 2 classic Irving Berlin songs + Ann Miller doing her dervish tap-dancing once (which is enough)...makes up for Peter Lawford (who's as appealing as liver) and all the romantic rubbish; all I need is Judy belting out a good song with that helluva voice and Fred hoofing it like a featherweight gazelle and smiling...gods, both...but you already knew that
I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (1934)
B+ FIRST VIEWING
d: Ray Enright
CAST: Pat O'Brien; Joan Blondell; Allen Jenkins; Eugene Pallette; Glenda Farrell
> a little-known Warner Bros movie that deserves a resurrection; just-sneaking-in as Pre-Code, this is cocky, racy stuff that gives Pat O'Brien (an actor I have clearly underrated) a chance to prove that he was more than just a sidekick; set in the world of telephony(!!), Pat & the wonderful Allen are telephone repairmen...Pat is an all-wisecrackin' all-front guy on the make who falls for switchboardist Joan...there's a seance-scam, a building on fire (with a leap into a fireman's net!), a gang of crims with a racket and a punch-up courtesy of the boys at the telephone exchange; add some funny jokes (some of which weren't intended but time has made so...cringe & laugh along) and you've got fast-breathing fun...as America saw itself before the atom bomb; it's just a shame that Joan's part is nowhere near as big as her name on the poster
REACH FOR THE SKY (1956)
B+ SECOND VIEWING
d: Lewis Gilbert
CAST: Kenneth More; Muriel Pavlow; Lyndon Brook; Dorothy Alison; Alexander Knox
> some of the life of Douglas Bader, the WWII English pilot who flew on tin-legs & a whole lotta pluck; while the script is a little hokey (and clearly nominates Bader for sainthood), the film remains enjoyable with a very stiff upper lip; there are 4 prime reasons for this: #1 the enormous sheer-likeability of Kenneth (how British can you get?) + #2 he has the physical acting of the disability down pat + #3 Muriel is the essence of an English rose (you can see why the hero falls for her) + #4 the true story is genuinely admirable...he was a helluva man; I would've preferred the supporting cast not be so there's-a-good-chap samey but I guess that helps Kenneth shine
Award-Worthy Performance
Kenneth More
LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
B+ FIRST VIEWING IN-CINEMA
d: Greta Gerwig
CAST: Saoirse Ronan; Emily Watson; Florence Pugh; Timothee Chalamet; Laura Dern
> yes, it's pretty good but really...yet another version...I mean, how many do we need...this is #6; this one tries to jigger things up a bit by using a flash back/forward structure (which I think is overdone here...I guess it assumes that we all know the narrative off by heart) and the ending is, at least, different to all the previous ones (but it's more novel than revelatory); this film's real success is based on the performances...while I am a permanent lover of Kate Hepburn's 1933 Jo, Saoirse positively glows in the role and Timothee is the best of all the Lauries...such good actors; the four sisters come across as real family...a great performance partnership
Award-Worthy Performance
Saoirse Ronan & Emily Watson & Florence Pugh & Eliza Scanlen
NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (1940)
B+ SECOND VIEWING
d: Carol Reed
CAST: Rex Harrison; Margaret Lockwood; Paul Henreid; Basil Radford; Naunton Wayne
> while you can forgive this film's propaganda agenda (totally understandable for a 1940 British movie), the steals from Hitch's The Lady Vanishes are another thing entirely...it withers a little in comparison, y'see (almost all films do); Rex is in fine roguish form (a smarmier tilt on the Leslie Howard persona) as an English agent who enters Germany on the eve of war to rescue Margaret & her terribly-important scientist father...and along the way, they are in turn rescued by none other than Charters & Caldicott (how TLV can you get?); the Nazis are amusingly portrayed as obsessive-compulsive bureaucrats who seem to want to run the war like it's one long AGM; while Hitch would've given the film more zip, he couldn't have topped the climax with the aerial tramway...it's a classic that has been used by many other films...always steal from the best
AQUAMAN (2018)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: James Wan
CAST: Jason Momoa; Amber Heard; Patrick Wilson; Yaha Abdul-Mateen II; Willem Dafoe
> I missed this when it first came out, primarily because I wasn't interested...even as a kid, I thought Aquaman to be the blandest of all the DC heroes and I was never really into sea shows...not Sea Hunt, not Stingray, not even Flipper; even with this film's transformation of the bleach-blonde King of Atlantis into a Maori bikie who likes a drink & is a bit of a chowderhead, the character doesn't float my boat; the film looks real good...and I mean REAL GOOD...superb SFX, rich colours, beautifully crafted...but the plot isn't particularly fresh, the inserts of humour lighten more than amuse, the music is more dramatic than the scenes, the fights are the usual and the performances perfunctory (Willem...what are you doing in this?...rest on your Norman Osborn and be done with them); then why isn't this a C?...'cos it looks SO GOOD
I COULD GO ON SINGING (1963)
B- FIRST VIEWING
d: Ronald Neame
CAST: Judy Garland; Dirk Bogarde; Gregory Phillips; Aline MacMahon; Jack Klugman
> while not a particularly good movie (a dull nothing-much), this was Judy's final film and like all of the others after 1948, it had its offscreen ordeals...what makes this film a little riveting is that it is a scrubbed-up/lighter-weight version of what Judy really was going through at the time (child custody battles & lover problems & chronic stage fright & chronic boozing & a general "is this all there is?" malaise...all propped up by a raw, freakish talent that couldn't be muzzled, and fandom by British audiences that bordered on worship); Judy is a concert singer who visits London for work and while she's there, catches up with ex-flame Dirk (in a distant performance) & their son who she gave up years before...motherhood vs the stage; while the three songs are rather anonymous, Judy sings them spectacularly...which is what makes a viewing still worth your while
THE GREEN COCKATOO aka FOUR DARK HOURS (1937)
C FIRST VIEWING
d: William Cameron Menzies
CAST: John Mills; Rene Ray; Charles Oliver; Robert Newton; Frank Atkinson
> this would have been an A-class film in Britain when it was released (lotsa talent involved... Graham Greene story / Miklos Rozsa score / Director Menzies) but it sure isn't now; village girl goes to Big Bad London and within minutes is involved in a murder, is on the run, witnesses a knifing or two and is kidnapped by gangsters...but it all works out nice; you can see where the influence of 1930's Hitchcock is present, and the story had potential, but the film was lumbered with one handicap: John Mills - playing a tough streetwise spiv who croons in pubs, the young actor is clearly out of his depth (he packs a peculiar punch and a dreadful singing voice...but at least does a rather nifty tapdance early on); the few attempts at humour all fizzle and really, nothing much happens after the first 10 minutes; watch 1937's Young and Innocent instead
MA & PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (1955)
D FIRST VIEWING
d: Lee Sholem
CAST: Marjorie Main; Percy Kilbride; Lori Nelson; Byron Palmer; Loring Smith
> this is the only part of the Ma & Pa franchise I never saw when I was a kid...and pretty dire it is, too...the movies which took the Kettles out of their rural environment were usually the cruddy ones...this obviously takes them to Hawaii, where there is the compulsory grass-skirt song & dance and laffs involving coconuts & poi; Pa is asked to take over his cousin's pineapple business in Honolulu, but is kidnapped by competitors...Ma finds a group of local kids (hers are away on camp, y'see) to rescue Pa and save the company; yes, there is the usual sappy romance + Pa is a quiet loafer while Ma is a loud whirlwind + snobs are on the receiving end of some slapstick comeuppance, but it all comes across as production-line filming at its most apathetic...oh well, at least they never went into space; RIP Percy & his final turn as Pa
THE BIRDS (1963)
d: Alfred Hitchcock
CAST: Tippi Hedren; Rod Taylor; Jessica Tandy; Suzanne Pleshette; Veronica Cartwright
> while the film du jour is 2011's Contagion, I wracked my movie brain for something with a little more...art...Hitch's The Birds is the ideal choice for these trying times...that is, if you want what you're currently going through shown back as an allegory; it's just another ordinary, humdrum day in small-town USA life...then suddenly the birds are everywhere, attacking people regardless of age, wealth or hairdo...and bloody scary it is too, even after all these years; the brilliance of this is that Hitch offers no logic to it, so, supplied with odd phrasings, vapid characters, talk of fear & love & loss, and a mostly female cast, we try to invent a reason...and I have read some wild theories; Mine? well, I think it's cosmic payback for how we, top of the pecking order, have crippled the future by thinking only of the present; a great horror
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993)
d: James Ivory
CAST: Anthony Hopkins; Emma Thompson; James Fox; Christopher Reeve; Peter Vaughan
> while not a particular fan of the ever-so-genteel Ivory/Merchant costume dramas (or most of the BBC ones either), this film continues to grow with and impress me; Anthony is the gentleman's gentleman to a stinking rich, naive English fascist on the eve of WWII...as Nazis and British traitors pop in to the lord's estate, the serving staff have their upstairs/downstairs normal people life events: love & death & family & regret & loneliness; exquisitely quiet but still breathing, this film is a masterclass in how to handle the big & the small in a plot and lace all the jagged themes together; Anthony is somehow both softly restrained & emotionally blatant
Award-Worthy Performances
Anthony Hopkins; Peter Vaughan
THE IRISHMAN (2019)
d: Martin Scorsese
CAST: Robert De Niro; Al Pacino; Joe Pesci; Ray Romano; Anna Paquin; Harvey Keitel
> yeah, I'm very late on this but I was waiting for the right l-o-n-g free time, and with self-isolation & social distancing, now was definitely it; an engrossing but rather trademark-ish Scorsese gangster film...what it lacks in Goodfellas / Casino flash, it makes up for in rich characterization; despite having the obligatory high guys-being-whacked ratio, this is almost pastoral in tone and structure (and certainly melancholic), so I guess the 209 minutes strolling-time is apt; so nice to see Joe in a calm but still menacing performance...no histrionics, no rapid-fire f-bombs, but he still holds your attention; and Smiley Lewis is on the soundtrack!
Award-Worthy Performance
Joe Pesci
EASTER PARADE (1948)
d: Charles Walters
CAST: Judy Garland; Fred Astaire; Peter Lawford; Ann Miller
> I'm currently re-reading David Shipman's harrowing bio of Judy Garland...this film is where her emotional troubles really cranked up into overdrive...not that you can tell by the finished, rainbow-coloured, MGM-to-the-hilt product; this is one of the rare musicals where I wish the dialogue had been halved and the S&D numbers doubled; the greatest movie singer (and underrated dancer) paired with the greatest movie dancer (and underrated singer)...at least 3 classic routines + at least 2 classic Irving Berlin songs + Ann Miller doing her dervish tap-dancing once (which is enough)...makes up for Peter Lawford (who's as appealing as liver) and all the romantic rubbish; all I need is Judy belting out a good song with that helluva voice and Fred hoofing it like a featherweight gazelle and smiling...gods, both...but you already knew that
I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (1934)
d: Ray Enright
CAST: Pat O'Brien; Joan Blondell; Allen Jenkins; Eugene Pallette; Glenda Farrell
> a little-known Warner Bros movie that deserves a resurrection; just-sneaking-in as Pre-Code, this is cocky, racy stuff that gives Pat O'Brien (an actor I have clearly underrated) a chance to prove that he was more than just a sidekick; set in the world of telephony(!!), Pat & the wonderful Allen are telephone repairmen...Pat is an all-wisecrackin' all-front guy on the make who falls for switchboardist Joan...there's a seance-scam, a building on fire (with a leap into a fireman's net!), a gang of crims with a racket and a punch-up courtesy of the boys at the telephone exchange; add some funny jokes (some of which weren't intended but time has made so...cringe & laugh along) and you've got fast-breathing fun...as America saw itself before the atom bomb; it's just a shame that Joan's part is nowhere near as big as her name on the poster
REACH FOR THE SKY (1956)
d: Lewis Gilbert
CAST: Kenneth More; Muriel Pavlow; Lyndon Brook; Dorothy Alison; Alexander Knox
> some of the life of Douglas Bader, the WWII English pilot who flew on tin-legs & a whole lotta pluck; while the script is a little hokey (and clearly nominates Bader for sainthood), the film remains enjoyable with a very stiff upper lip; there are 4 prime reasons for this: #1 the enormous sheer-likeability of Kenneth (how British can you get?) + #2 he has the physical acting of the disability down pat + #3 Muriel is the essence of an English rose (you can see why the hero falls for her) + #4 the true story is genuinely admirable...he was a helluva man; I would've preferred the supporting cast not be so there's-a-good-chap samey but I guess that helps Kenneth shine
Award-Worthy Performance
Kenneth More
LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
d: Greta Gerwig
CAST: Saoirse Ronan; Emily Watson; Florence Pugh; Timothee Chalamet; Laura Dern
> yes, it's pretty good but really...yet another version...I mean, how many do we need...this is #6; this one tries to jigger things up a bit by using a flash back/forward structure (which I think is overdone here...I guess it assumes that we all know the narrative off by heart) and the ending is, at least, different to all the previous ones (but it's more novel than revelatory); this film's real success is based on the performances...while I am a permanent lover of Kate Hepburn's 1933 Jo, Saoirse positively glows in the role and Timothee is the best of all the Lauries...such good actors; the four sisters come across as real family...a great performance partnership
Award-Worthy Performance
Saoirse Ronan & Emily Watson & Florence Pugh & Eliza Scanlen
NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (1940)
d: Carol Reed
CAST: Rex Harrison; Margaret Lockwood; Paul Henreid; Basil Radford; Naunton Wayne
> while you can forgive this film's propaganda agenda (totally understandable for a 1940 British movie), the steals from Hitch's The Lady Vanishes are another thing entirely...it withers a little in comparison, y'see (almost all films do); Rex is in fine roguish form (a smarmier tilt on the Leslie Howard persona) as an English agent who enters Germany on the eve of war to rescue Margaret & her terribly-important scientist father...and along the way, they are in turn rescued by none other than Charters & Caldicott (how TLV can you get?); the Nazis are amusingly portrayed as obsessive-compulsive bureaucrats who seem to want to run the war like it's one long AGM; while Hitch would've given the film more zip, he couldn't have topped the climax with the aerial tramway...it's a classic that has been used by many other films...always steal from the best
AQUAMAN (2018)
d: James Wan
CAST: Jason Momoa; Amber Heard; Patrick Wilson; Yaha Abdul-Mateen II; Willem Dafoe
> I missed this when it first came out, primarily because I wasn't interested...even as a kid, I thought Aquaman to be the blandest of all the DC heroes and I was never really into sea shows...not Sea Hunt, not Stingray, not even Flipper; even with this film's transformation of the bleach-blonde King of Atlantis into a Maori bikie who likes a drink & is a bit of a chowderhead, the character doesn't float my boat; the film looks real good...and I mean REAL GOOD...superb SFX, rich colours, beautifully crafted...but the plot isn't particularly fresh, the inserts of humour lighten more than amuse, the music is more dramatic than the scenes, the fights are the usual and the performances perfunctory (Willem...what are you doing in this?...rest on your Norman Osborn and be done with them); then why isn't this a C?...'cos it looks SO GOOD
I COULD GO ON SINGING (1963)
d: Ronald Neame
CAST: Judy Garland; Dirk Bogarde; Gregory Phillips; Aline MacMahon; Jack Klugman
> while not a particularly good movie (a dull nothing-much), this was Judy's final film and like all of the others after 1948, it had its offscreen ordeals...what makes this film a little riveting is that it is a scrubbed-up/lighter-weight version of what Judy really was going through at the time (child custody battles & lover problems & chronic stage fright & chronic boozing & a general "is this all there is?" malaise...all propped up by a raw, freakish talent that couldn't be muzzled, and fandom by British audiences that bordered on worship); Judy is a concert singer who visits London for work and while she's there, catches up with ex-flame Dirk (in a distant performance) & their son who she gave up years before...motherhood vs the stage; while the three songs are rather anonymous, Judy sings them spectacularly...which is what makes a viewing still worth your while
THE GREEN COCKATOO aka FOUR DARK HOURS (1937)
d: William Cameron Menzies
CAST: John Mills; Rene Ray; Charles Oliver; Robert Newton; Frank Atkinson
> this would have been an A-class film in Britain when it was released (lotsa talent involved... Graham Greene story / Miklos Rozsa score / Director Menzies) but it sure isn't now; village girl goes to Big Bad London and within minutes is involved in a murder, is on the run, witnesses a knifing or two and is kidnapped by gangsters...but it all works out nice; you can see where the influence of 1930's Hitchcock is present, and the story had potential, but the film was lumbered with one handicap: John Mills - playing a tough streetwise spiv who croons in pubs, the young actor is clearly out of his depth (he packs a peculiar punch and a dreadful singing voice...but at least does a rather nifty tapdance early on); the few attempts at humour all fizzle and really, nothing much happens after the first 10 minutes; watch 1937's Young and Innocent instead
MA & PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (1955)
d: Lee Sholem
CAST: Marjorie Main; Percy Kilbride; Lori Nelson; Byron Palmer; Loring Smith
> this is the only part of the Ma & Pa franchise I never saw when I was a kid...and pretty dire it is, too...the movies which took the Kettles out of their rural environment were usually the cruddy ones...this obviously takes them to Hawaii, where there is the compulsory grass-skirt song & dance and laffs involving coconuts & poi; Pa is asked to take over his cousin's pineapple business in Honolulu, but is kidnapped by competitors...Ma finds a group of local kids (hers are away on camp, y'see) to rescue Pa and save the company; yes, there is the usual sappy romance + Pa is a quiet loafer while Ma is a loud whirlwind + snobs are on the receiving end of some slapstick comeuppance, but it all comes across as production-line filming at its most apathetic...oh well, at least they never went into space; RIP Percy & his final turn as Pa
SITE CHANGES, UPDATES, CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS & GENERAL MAINTENANCE
1934 & 1935 pages updated
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