Director: Chester Erskine
Year:  1947
Rating: 5.0

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This is the first film in what came to be known as The Ma and Pa Kettle series of films. There were 10 of them in all being released from 1947 to 1957. They are goofy comedies that relate the not too bright going ons of Ma and Pa Kettle and their 15 children. Ma and Pa are country farm folk rubes with little ambition and a whole lot of laziness. Ma and Pa are Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, both veteran character actors. These films were enormously popular, showing just how much audience taste has changed.


In this first film Ma and Pa are actually secondary characters. The leads were two big stars - Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert - who are urban coastals who have decided to buy a broken down chicken ranch. Hijinks follow. Mildly amusing but nothing that you don't see coming a mile away. Kind of interesting is just how gender roles have advanced. The young couple just got married and MacMurray announces that he has quit his white collar job and bought this chicken farm that is falling apart. She has no say in this and is a good wife and grits her teeth and works with the pigs, chickens and no running water. I give Colbert kudos for getting down in the mud with pigs. A good sport.


Ma and Pa are neighbors who were so well liked by audiences that they got their own films afterwards. Fred and Claudette got the hell out of town and were in no more Kettle films. I bought the whole set of these for a reasonable price but have to admit to not being in a rush to watch any more but one of these days I expect I will feel the compulsion. Some comedy ages well and some doesn't - sort of like people - but who knows - maybe I will find the films that focus on the Kettles absolutely hilarious. It is based on a book by Betty MacDonald who also is guilty of bringing the series of Mrs. Piggie-Wiggie books upon children.