Blondie Takes a Vacation
Director: Frank
Strayer
Year: 1939
Rating: 5.0
There must be a little bit of the masochist in me, but every now and then
I pick up one of the films in the Blondie series to watch. I always find
them rather annoying and now more so since Baby Dumpling is talking. And
he is the smartest one in the family of Dagwood (Arthur Lake) and Blondie
Bumstead (Penny Singleton). This one is only the third in a series that ran
until 1950 with all the same actors pretty much in place. So there is probably
more of the same ahead for me. To be fair, they do have some comical moments
that actually get a laugh out of me. But mainly I just find it fascinating
that these was so popular once. How our society has changed.
Somehow or another Dagwood gets some vacation days from Mr. Dithers and the
three of them plus Daisy the dog are off on a train for a lovely lakeside
holiday - after of course knocking the mailman down and sending his letters
all over the neighborhood. On the train they get into an argument with a
man (the always irascible Donald MacBride) who turns out to be the owner
of the hotel they are booked for. He refuses to allow them to stay and off
they trudge till they find another hotel that is empty of customers. Along
with them comes Jonathan, a man they met on the train who is an arsonist
and played by the always welcome Donald Meek, who generally lives up to his
last name. Turns out the owner of the other hotel is taking over this
hotel unless business picks up. The Bumsteads who are probably the most incompetent
couple in the world volunteer to help. At one point Baby Dumpling and Daisy
are caught in a fire and you just hope for the worst. Most of these are up
on YouTube.
