Ma and Pa Kettle
Complete Comedy Collection
823 min. / B&W / 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 200:1 / HD Master Audio English 2.0 / SDH
Universal Blu-ray $29.98
Available from Movie Zyng
Betty MacDonald's hilarious 1945 best-seller The Egg and I, inspired by her miserable life as a young wife on a chicken farm, was purchased by Universal, which tossed the story and kept very little. It's safe to say that films are rarely as good as the source novel when based on a good book, but it's simply baffling to me why a very funny book about a woman struggling to cope with a world that defeats her at every turn is transformed into a typical romantic comedy, with little romance and almost none of the comedy or comedic possibilities of MacDonald's situations.
Still, one has to review the film one has, doesn't one?
Claudette Colbert discovers on her wedding night that husband Fred MacMurray's one-time-off-handed remark that he'd like to own a chicken farm is actually his life's dream, and off they go to a ramshackle farm to raise chickens and four-legged beasties. She has a running battle with the stove, is terrified by local Native-Americans, and deals with the neighbors, not least of all Ma and Pa Kettle; Ma’s loud and Pa's lazy. Mostly, though, she frets about the designs one of the neighbors, pretty divorcee Louise Allbritton, has on Fred, and on sucking up to nasty Donald MacBride, the prudish dairyman whose purchase of the MacDonald eggs would save them from ruin. It all works out in the end.\
In the book, Bob (husband) is a single-minded, hard-working grouch who probably married Betty because she had wide hips, perfect for child-bearing. He's coldly efficient and has little patience for his wife's many, many (MANY) shortcomings as a farm wife. In the film, Bob is a boob who chops down a tree and takes out the chicken hut and loses his taste for eating meat when his wife points out they knew the critter when it was still walking around on all fours. A book filled with funny, interesting, and realistic characters, all of whom are dirt poor, becomes a script full of rich, glamorous neighbors (oh, and the Kettles) who live in houses nicer than Andy Hardy's.
Ah, yes, the Kettles (Marjorie Main, Oscar nominated for this, and Percy Kilbride) are the best thing in the film, easily, and it's no small wonder they got their own sequel 2 years later, followed by EIGHT more Kettle films that became perhaps the most lucrative and successful film franchise of the 1950s. Funny world, no? Universal had gathered them all together for a previous DVD release, and this upgrade is sorely appreciated.
Not sure how the City Slickers enjoyed these things, but thanks to a couple of Balconeers, we have first-hand reporting on how the Ma & Pa Kettle films played in the rural areas:
"When I was growing up in small town America my parents were not much on movies. But when a new Ma and Pa Kettle movie came out we went to the movie on Saturday night. I believe that was the only movie series that my parents never missed. And as I remember the theatre was always a sell out (300 seats) all three night the Kettles were showing.”
“The Kettles were huge in my home town too. Their movies played in the town's biggest theater (of five, counting the drive-in), and every seat was full… The Kettles were like friends of the family. I never felt that way about Andy Hardy.”
There you have it, Mr. & Mrs. America. A brief overview of the rest of the series:
Ma and Pa Kettle (1949) The Kettles (and their 15 children) win a radio contest and move into a dream home of the future with all automatic doodads and geegaws, and Pa can’t cope because you can’t turn the radio on by slamming the chair down.
Ma and Pa Kettle go to Town (1950) Well, the plot device worked once, why not have the Kettles win another radio contest and go to Manhattan, where they tangle with gangsters, including Charles McGraw and Jim Backus.
Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951) And thankfully so; they return to their ancestral home to await the birth of their first grandchild (did I mention that Richard Long played their oldest of 15 children?) but there may be uranium on the property and besides, their daughter-in-law’s parents (including Ray Collins) don’t like them. Nobody ever said that these films featured groundbreaking plots.
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952) In a get rich quick scheme, the Kettles go for broke at the County Fair, and Pa has dealings with a racing tout. You can always count on rising stars in Universal’s 1950s films, and here the oldest Kettle daughter is Lori Nelson, wooed by James Best.
Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation (1953) Remember the in-laws that didn’t like them? Well, they’ve invited the Kettles to vacation with them in Paris(!) and the tour group gets mixed up with a spy ring, including Sig Ruman, and after this film, I was waiting for Ma Kettle to join the Marines or Pa Kettle to become a professional wrestler, that’s how 1950s comedy series always went.
Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954) Aspiring writer, son Edwin Kettle, has submitted a magazine article boasting of his parents state-of-the-art farm, and when magazine editor Alan Mowbray shows up for inspection, the Kettles have to put on an act in what is generally considered the best and funniest of the series. Edwin is played by Brett “Return of the Fly” Halsey.
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955) And the family is off to Hawaii to save a relative’s pineapple farm and tangle with yet more gangsters. Lori Nelson is back, and familiar faces Richard Reeves, Myron Healey, and Ben Weldon are among the villains.
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) When there’s more gangsters, you know the series is running on fumes. Ma and the kids leave Pa at home off camera (Percy Kilbride refused to renew his contract, he was tired of the role, bless him) and visit relative Sledge Kettle (Arthur Hunnicutt). Una Merkel is a guest star; young Bonnie Franklin is one of the Kettle kids.
The Kettles on Old McDonald’s Farm (1957) 10 years and the tenth film in the series is an homage to the original, more or less, as young bride-to-be Gloria Talbott, hapless in the way of agriculture, takes farming lessons from Ma Kettle to learn how to be a good farm wife. John Smith is the groom, and Claude Akins and Roy Barcroft are in there somewhere.
Fans of Green Acres will eat this stuff up (the early films even have a Mr. Haney-type character who has anything you might need in the back of his truck) and in general, they’re good natured pictures with affable running gags and loveable leads. The new Blu-ray release includes a short feature on Claudette Colbert (who, in case you’ve forgotten way down here, was in the first film) and it’s nice to see the original aspect ratios on all the films, although we miss trailers. We always miss trailers. Include trailers, people.
