As I stated with our review of Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), the Kettle movies helped a struggling Universal pivot from the horror films that kept the studio in the chips through the 40s as monster films lost favor. I’m a sucker for cornpone humor and B-movies, so this is right up my alley.
In Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town, Pa Kettle has won yet another slogan contest and this time they won a trip to New York. This time they will be “a fish out of water” not in a new modern home, but in the big city.
I was surprised that they started this film still in the “house of tomorrow” they were in at the end of the first film. I figured they would have the “sitcom reset” and be back in their old house with a throwaway line stating they are now back in the old place. It was a true sequel which I wasn’t really expecting.
A bank thief on the run comes across Ma and Pa Kettle and offers to watch their 15 monstrous children so the Kettles take their trip to New York. He plants the loot on the Kettles and tells his gang to collect the cash from the rural rubes.
Jim Backus, Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island, had a role as one of the gang. He had none of the vocal affectations he would made famous as Howell and later Mr. Magoo. It was rather interesting seeing him in such a different role than I was used to for him.
Of particular interest is seeing the New York of the 1950’s and seeing the cars and streetscapes of the time. I’m sure real New Yorkers would find it even more of interest as they saw a couple of the big sightseeing locations around the city.
A number of running gags and telegraphed plot devices follow. Amazingly, despite the age of the gags, some are still able to tickle you. That’s due to the expert craftsmanship these films were made with. What helps these movies is that despite the personal foibles of each of the characters, you can’t help but like the people you are spending the film with. Gags like popcorn getting mixed in with the pancake batter, endless soda deliveries due to winning the contest, not to mention chestnuts such as the Kettles forgetting their children’s names, still pay off.
Nothing mean spirited here, just goodhearted fun and quiet understated humor. A standout line comes when Ma meets a hostess in a lowcut dress at a ball. She says, “That’s a pretty dress you’ve got on… too bad the top wasn’t finished in time for the party.”
There are so many gags that you see coming a mile away, and yet the slow paced charm spins an irresistible charm. Key to that charm is Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride’s continued portrayal of the title characters. This was the third of eight they would do together and you can tell that they have really grown into the parts by the time they made this film.
The B-story of the criminal attempting to babysit the wild Kettle brood barely scraped the surface of the comedic material that was there. If anything was a shame, it was that we didn’t get to see more of that parallel tale since the Kettles in town wasn’t nearly as madcap as it could have been. I think the bank robber plot was overkill and slowed down the comedy. Just seeing the Kettles interact with high society would have been comedy enough. They didn’t need all the additional hijinks of law enforcement intrigue. We just want to see the Kettles flop around like the fish out of water they were. Thwarting villains isn’t really their bag, but you always needed that in mid century films.
I have to admit a bit where Pa Kettle is calling the Square Dance is more clever than I expected and nice final curtain on the film. Coming in at 80 minutes, it was just the thing for me tonight and maybe it will fit on your schedule, too.
