Having not seen this picture in years, I wondered if it would still be enjoyable. It is. Claudette Colbert is superb as Betty MacDonald, the author of the best selling book of what this is based upon, uprooting herself from the big city to accompany her husband (Fred MacMurray) on a farming dream. Their trials and tribulations are amusing and cute; MacMurray is well-cast. The film introduced the zany characters of Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride), parents of 15 children, who were a huge hit and spawned their own series of 9 films (2 without Percy). However, my favorite character is Harriet Putnam, deliciously portrayed by Louise Allbritton, a slim, slinky, aristocratic, velvety voiced blonde beauty, with a yen for the burly MacMurray. She owns a very modern farm down the road, replete with farmhands, technology, conveniences, but "no Man." Her scenes with the jealous Colbert are priceless, and Allbritton shows a great flair for comic timing. This classic can be seen as an inspiration for two popular 1960s television comedy series, "Green Acres" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." Enjoy!
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twanurit14 February 2004
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willowgreen17 February 2003The book on which this film was based upon was a phenomenal best-seller in the mid-forties: readers loved the earthy tang and hilariously funny situations of Betty Smith's novel of the same name. Although this film version is rather a tame adaptation of the wonderful book, it definitely provides enough warmth, charm & chuckles to please viewers who aren't too discriminating. Claudette Colbert - in her last great film role - plays Betty with her particular warmth & charm: she and Fred MacMurray have an undeniable chemistry. Although they weren't youngsters here, they make you believe them youthful (Claudette was 44 & Fred was 39 here). For reasons which are unclear, Colbert never cared for this film, but the movie-going public just loved it! The film is perhaps most notable in introducing the characters of Ma & Pa Kettle as played by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride respectively. The public howled at the personalities and antics of this loveable country bumpkins, and they were on the road to a hugely popular series of their own which spanned from 1949-1957. It is really Main's AA-nominated performance of Ma which lingers in the memory: she was born to play the no-nonsense, down-to-earth but loveable Ms Kettle! Note that the Kettle's oldest son, Tom is played by none other than Richard Long, who would star as Jarrod Barkley in the beloved TV western series THE BIG VALLEY eighteen years later. Birdie Hicks is played to hilarious perfection by the acid- tongued Esther Dale.
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ChuckStraub22 October 2004I stumbled upon 'The Egg and I' while trying to find some of the old 'Ma & Pa Kettle' movies. It was great to find out that 'The Egg and I' was the first movie that used Ma and Pa Kettle as characters. Of coarse the Kettles were excellent in this movie. They were such a hit with audiences viewing 'The Egg and I' that it hatched the Ma and Pa Kettle film series. Although the Kettles are an integral part of the movie, don't be misled and watch this with the intentions of watching a Ma and Pa Kettle movie. This is a romantic comedy with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray playing a young couple from the city that buy a run down farm. The entire movie revolves around this couple and their experiences. Most likely the 'Green Acres' TV series predecessor. Around this couple come a very interesting cast of characters of which the Kettles are a part. This movie is a simple, good old fashioned, clean cut, comedy. Sit back and enjoy the great acting and cast of characters. You'll be glad you did.
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I found this to be a very cute and charming little movie. Claudette Colbert was a hoot as the long suffering Betty, and Fred MacMurray was equally as good as Bob, trying so hard to achieve success but neglecting Betty in the process. Ma and Pa Kettle steal the whole film out from under them, so it's no big surprise they got their own film series after this. A warm and funny movie all around.
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This movie won't change your life and it isn't the most memorable film I have ever seen. However, it is a lot of fun and a welcome change of pace. It's also a pretty good movie for the entire family.
Fred MacMurray is married to Claudette Colbert (this pairing is a bit hard to believe, but I can live with that). Out of the blue, Fred announces that he's bored with his executive life and has sold everything to buy a chicken farm in the middle of nowhere. But, he and Claudette know nothing about farming and the "dream farm" turns out to be a real dump. Despite all this, Claudette is a real trooper and goes along with it instead of killing Fred in his sleep (which is what my wife kept suggesting as the film began). Along the way, they meet a lot of odd but nice characters, such as Ma and Pa Kettle (later, of the MA AND PA KETTLE series). They also meet a divorced woman who seems to have her sights set on Fred, though he refuses to believe this.
There's a lot more to the film than the last paragraph would indicate, but I don't want to spoil the film. As for the film overall, it evokes a nice light mood and is pretty funny, but also shies away from broad humor--striking a nice balance. The acting and writing are very good as well. In particular, I loved how the film began and ended with Claudette turning to the camera and talking with the audience--this was a cute touch.
Interestingly enough, when you think about it, this movie must have been the basis for the later TV series GREEN ACRES. There are way too many parallels to have this be due to chance. Apart from the city people moving to the country to farm, the home is a dump, the neighbors are VERY quirky and there's even a traveling salesman much like Mr. Haney! -
This charming, lively and atmospheric sojourn into the country is one of the most famous and influential of all "rustic" films. Like "Mr. Blandings Builds His dream House" and "George Washington Slept Here", Betty MacDonald's "The Egg and I" tells the cautionary tale of a city dweller and his wife trying to establish a new life form themselves far from the city's amenities. Usually one partner is more enthusiastic about the relocation than is the other--in this case, a young wife played by Claudette Colbert--while the mate is hell-bent on leaving the city's inconveniences behind--in this case Fred MacMurray. The film has a deceptively simple plot-line. In pursuit of the goal of running an egg-producing farm, MacMurray drags his new wife into the country; the remainder of the film comprises three plot lines: 1. The way they are rooked, helped, charmed and appalled by their bucolic neighbors, especially Ma and pa kettle played for the first time on the screen my Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride; 2. Involvements with a gorgeous neighbor (Louise Allbritton) whom Colbert thinks is a rival for her husband's affections; and 3. Difficulties with a very old and run-down physical property owing to long-term prior neglect, bad weather, etc. This bare summary of events I suggest captures the essence of the storyline rather succinctly; but it also omits the hysteria of Colbert's reactions, her distaste at first for the entire project, and the genial atmosphere of "what next" that permeates all the couple's dealings with nature, their neighbors and their own negotiations about their new marriage and the terms on which it is to be lived. Unlike many incompetent later so-called comedies, this is a true comedy--something that cannot end badly for the participants if they physically persevere; and it is quite realistic, if broadly mounted. How many other films can you the viewer recall which introduces Ma and Pa Kettle, a slinky blond egg-ranch owner, a 300 pound ladies man, a run-down chicken ranch, a college-trained hillbilly engineer and a succession of incompetent workmen? Frank Skinner provided suitable comedic music; the film was directed by veteran Chester Erskine, from a story and screenplay he adopted from the Macdonald novel along with Fred F. Finkelhoffe. The two produced also along with Leonard Goldstein, and they produced an instant classic and a box-office smash. Milton Krasner supplied a consistent cinematography, helped along by a very fine production design by Bernard Herzbrun and inventive set decorations by Oliver Emert and Russell A. Gausman. The fine cast is headed by Fred MacMurray as a believable Bob Macdonald, and Claudette Colbert, very powerful as always and only a bit too old for the part. As the rival egg rancher, Louise Allbritton is cultured, and brilliant as usual. Billy House as the amorous Mr. Reed, Elisabeth Risdon as Betty's mother, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride and Richard Long as the Kettles are all very much up to their parts, which in lesser hands might have turned into caricatures. others in the well-chosen cast include Samuel S. Hinds as the Sheriff, Ida Moore, Fuzzy Knight, Isabel O'Madigan, Esther Dale, Donald MacBride and John Berkes. It is hard to say enough nice things about the consistent style of this B/W treasure. What makes it work apart from the straightforward direction and the sincere professional actors I suggest is the categorical theme--Betty (Colbert) finally wanting her marriage to work, rather than her husband's equally legitimate desire to make a go of the egg ranch project he has always wanted to head, even if it means making his wife uncomfortable for a while. This is a film many admire, myself among them, and many more like even better that they admire it. It is a fine autumn film any night you want some genuinely-earned laughter.
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writertlc9016 August 2005"The Egg and I" features the first appearance of America'favorite country couple, Ma and Pa Kettle. Unfortunately, it does not star them, but puts them in the supporting cast. The film does center around Betty and Bob MacDonald (Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray), a couple that decides to move from the city out to a chicken farm in the country. The rest of the film follows their trials and tribulations as they try and adapt to their new surroundings. It also focuses on their marital problems, but not so much as to take away from the comedic factor of the film.
The reason that this doesn't appeal to me the way the Ma and Pa Kettle films did is probably because Ma and Pa aren't the main players. Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride's wonderful chemistry were what made their films enjoyable, but "The Egg and I" doesn't pair them up enough to do the same. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray are good enough as Betty and Bob, but they don't have the same charisma and comedic timing that Main and Kilbride do.
The best part about "The Egg and I" is the fact that it did spawn off the "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies, which made Main and Kilbride famous. In fact, Main even garnered an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in this film. Her feistiness steals the show, and ever scene she's in is all the more hilarious. She really was a great comedic actress who deserved more praise than she got.
I'd definitely recommend this to any Ma and Pa Kettle fans, just for the few scenes they appear in. The story itself never has much of a real storyline, but is mostly a bunch of sitcomish events strewn together. The film and cast makes this work, to an extent, but some parts are a bit too dull. This is still a must-see for fans of down home country comedy, and innocent fun. -
bkoganbing22 April 2007The Egg and I is based on a best selling book by Betty McDonald concerning the happenings around an urban city dwelling woman, Claudette Colbert playing Betty McDonald, whose husband, Fred MacMurray, gets an agricultural urge after service in World War II. Back to nature so to speak. They both adapt, he a great deal easier than she did and that's part of the plot.
Doing a little research on the movie and book, I found that Betty McDonald was a resident of Seattle and where they moved was not anywhere near hillbilly country, but to a rural part of Washington state. But of course what Universal was doing was giving in to stereotypes. They couldn't make Ma and Pa Kettle and the rest of the characters convincing without transferring The Egg and I to an Ozark/Appalachian background.
Knowing that it does make me curious as to how the Kettles and the rest of the rustic neighbors were portrayed in the book.
Still somebody apparently knew what they were doing because The Egg and I with a built in audience of those who had already bought Betty McDonald's book cleaned up at the box office. And Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main as Ma and Pa Kettle and their growing family became such a hit it spawned a series of money making films for Universal Studios for the next decade.
How popular were the Kettles? I remember back as a lad watching an episode of Gomer Pyle who when he got a pass to go into town took in a revival film of the Ma and Pa Kettle series. In places like Mayberry, North Carolina the Kettles attained a cult status. Marjorie Main got a Best Supporting Actress nomination, but lost to Celeste Holm for Gentlemen's Agreement. She and Percy Kilbride played variations on their Kettle characters in most of the remaining films in their respective careers.
Still it's Fred and Claudette's film despite the Kettles and both settle into roles very comfortable for both of them. Next to the Kettles, the supporting player who comes off best is Louise Allbritton, the mantrap neighbor who's got her eye on Fred MacMurray. You will also like Billy House as the rotund peddler with everything, even himself for the needy housewife.
Rural Washington state had to wait until the Nineties for a film set in that part of the country. It was hardly a flattering picture that Tobias Wolff painted of where he grew up in This Boy's Life. No rustics like the Kettles in that Leonardo DiCaprio/Robert DeNiro film.
Probably the most successful imitator of The Egg and I had to be the CBS classic series Green Acres. Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were even more out of place in the Ozarks than Colbert and MacMurray were. They too dealt with a collection of rustics that looked like they stepped from the cast of The Egg and I.
They even made Green Acres a success without the Kettles. -
mukava99131 August 2007I have always had fond memories of this film ever since I first saw it on TV as a child. The comic situations seem tailor-made for the juvenile mind chiefly the slapstick sight gags involving the inevitable mishaps suffered by urbanites adapting to farm life, including uproarious encounters with barnyard animals and rural eccentrics. In fact this seems like the inspiration for the 60s TV series GREEN ACRES. The screenwriters have taken liberties with Betty MacDonald's original memoir, retaining only the shell (married couple acquires chicken farm in isolated setting) and a few of the subsidiary characters (chiefly the Kettle family, thereby ensuring their cinematic immortality). Most of the incidents are invented for the screen in a feat of imaginative skill, some inspired by passing commentary in the source material. One of the major changes is taking original characters whose ages are 31 and 18, respectively and casting them with Fred MacMurray (pushing 40 at the time) and Claudette Colbert (mid-40s). Also, MacDonald herself grew up in rural surroundings and was somewhat familiar with "farm livin'", whereas the Colbert character comes from a distinctly urban and even pampered upper-class background making the transition to farm wife that much more extreme, with funnier results. The depiction of the dilapidated farmhouse is much stronger on film than on the page. The wood-burning stove (so intimidatingly difficult to handle that MacDonald personified it with the name "Stove" in the book) is cleverly brought to life; Colbert has many wonderful moments as she interacts with this hilariously inoperable monstrosity. MacDonald's descriptions of the timid dog Sport are also rendered deftly and hilariously thanks to the interaction between a well-trained canine actor and the inimitable Colbert.
The screenwriters give the Kettle family (headed by the great Marjorie Main at her scene- stealing best as "Ma" and Percy Kilbride as "Pa") several more at-home children (in the book it's only 6 or 7 the rest being grown up, married and off to their own lives) and successfully explore choice details of their lives (farm animals in the kitchen, Ma Kettle's personal tics like itching her torso -- the family rush to dinner, the way Ma tosses a few ingredients together and comes up with extraordinarily delicious baked goods, etc.). Colbert and Marjorie Main make an excellent oil-and-water team (Main has said she and Colbert didn't exactly warm to each other during filming).
The film is well paced nothing goes on too long and every scene contains a funny or touching quality. Colbert makes you care about her character; you're rooting for her all the way as the demands of the farm are far more challenging to her than to her husband. Throughout is a parade of colorful rural characters, the Kettles being the most spectacular.
Regarding "political correctness," some people may wince at the way Colbert initially reacts to some local Indians who help her husband hunt game. She screams in terror as if they're going to scalp her. Other than that, they are portrayed as rather taciturn individuals who are always hanging around the edges of the action. But if you want florid political incorrectness of the most extreme variety, check out the original book wherein MacDonald goes on for paragraphs trashing the Indians right and left. She even describes a picnic of Indian families in which their behavior is depicted as slovenly, unsanitary, violent and irresponsible. If anything, the screenwriters seem to have been aware of the author's slanted views and done their best to minimize them. In fact, Colbert is promptly corrected by MacMurray for unnecessarily hysterical behavior.
It's also a wise screen writing move to have eliminated the baby daughter from the core of the narrative. A baby would have diffused our focus on the central characters.
So those who have never seen this, give it a try. It's light entertainment with the extra zing of the unusual. You can't go wrong with Claudette Colbert and Marjorie Main in top form. -
Film Dog10 March 1999Claudette Colbert & Fred MacMurray star in this screwball comedy; a film that had to be a precursor to "Green Acres"...there's even a Mr. Haney. Although adequate, who steals the show are Ma & Pa Kettle. Marjorie Main is a natural, and because of this, their debut film, The Kettles became a household name.
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kellielulu12 August 2022Now it's just okay . The best part is when Betty ( Claudette Colbert) makes a deal with the judge at the fair so Ma Kettle wins the blue ribbon for her quilt . It's just how it's done. The same old high and mighty family have been " winning" it for years . It's great to seem them with EGG on their faces!
For actual comedy Green Acres really does it better .Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor are much funnier. The Egg and I is mildly amusing and has it's moments. -
jcholguin12 August 2001If you loved the TV series Green Acres then you will love this film which served as the incubator for the TV series. Betty & Bob MacDonald played wonderfully by Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray live in the city but Bob desires the laid back country life. They move into a house which looks like a shack that must be fixed up. Neighbors like Ma & Pa Kettle and their many children and Billy Reed the Mr. Haney lookalike. Betty hates the country, pigs and chickens. A good comedy and display of just what could happen to city folk that what to become country folk.
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Hitchcoc20 December 2016Fred MacMurray and Claudet Colbert are newlyweds. They grew up in the big city, so when MacMurray tells his new bride he has bought a farm and plans to raise chickens, it is quite a surprise. What is a bigger surprise is the farm is a run down mess. They have all the mishaps expected of people who have no knowledge of a serious situation. Just when things are getting really serious, in walk the Kettles. This was their initial screen appearance. I was a big fan of these guys when I was about ten, but later it was a bit much for me. Anyway, Ma, hardly a model for Good Housekeeping, and her lethargic husband, come to the rescue. They have fifteen children, so while a bit eccentric, they see things for what they are. Of course, "Green Acres" is a ripoff of this movie. Anyway, the local characters move in and it's craziness. The star quality makes this work. Margery Maine, as Ma, is delightful and embraces her character totally.
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kenjha7 January 2010Newlyweds leave behind city life to become chicken farmers. Hilarity ensues - or so hoped the filmmakers. Unfortunately, the comedy is forced and unfunny and it goes on much too long. Although based on a best-selling novel, the episodic script fails to sustain any kind of narrative flow. It runs out of steam long before the final credits roll. Colbert and MacMurray have both made some fine comedies and they try hard here, but aren't given much to work with. Also, they were a wee bit too old to be playing young newlyweds. Surprisingly, this anemic comedy was a hit at the box office and launched the Ma and Pa Kettle series of films, as well as the "Green Acres" sitcom.
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BibChr1 March 2004As others have said, Claudette Colbert is great, the "Kettles" are great, Fred MacMuray is Fred MacMurray, there are some laughs, BUT....
My son and I were ready to take the MacMurray character out back and have a "talk" with him. (SPOILER WARNING: in three, two, one....)
So, for starters, he quits his job, and doesn't tell his wife until the next day. Then he announces he's decided they'll move and do something totally different in which they have no experience. She goes along with it with a great attitude; good for her, what a terrifically good sport (to put the nicest face on it).
But it gets WAY worse.
So this guy keeps associating with this clearly adultery-minded woman, over his wife's objections, blithely and arrogantly. Then he spends all hours at her house. Meanwhile, his wife faints at the fair and learns she's pregnant. She goes home, makes a wonderful dinner, and waits for him until after 11pm, if I read the clock right. She gets a note saying he's not coming home (no "love," no apology, nothing).
She leaves him. (The precipitiveness of this can be argued, but....)
So for NINE MONTHS, all he does is send her some letters, and otherwise nothing. What, the roads don't run in two directions in their state? No one tells him his wife fainted at the fair? He doesn't notice the burnt dinner and nice setup she made for him?
In the meanwhile, she goes through her entire pregnancy and has the baby, and he doesn't bother to come by.
And then, against all reason, and still (in her mind) suspecting he'd behaved immorally with this hussy, she goes back to him, telling the baby what a swell guy he is.
And rather than grovel in apologies, he gets mad at her and clearly feels very self-righteous about it.
That's only one thing about this, but it was SO unsettling that, in spite of the other genuine charms and laughs, it left a bad taste in our mouths. -
Philipp_Flersheim29 December 2021This film has some amusing and some heart-warming moments, but all in all the premise did not work that well for me. Poor Betty (Claudette Colbert) is in such a pickle, you have to pity her. She does her best to deal with what you can only describe as an extremely nasty surprise that her husband (Fred MacMurray) has sprung on her - you marvel at her patience and forbearance. For me, that overshadowed the funny aspects of the film. The two lead actors are of course doing well; the chemistry between them is good. Moreover, the picture is well-directed, but it is too long for the rather thin story, at least for my taste.
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lasttimeisaw1 May 2019One of the problems with benign Golden Age Hollywood offerings is that sometimes their notions of gender politics are (considerably) pretty retrogressive, which inexorably takes the shine off its crowd-pleasing charm in this day and age. Chester Erskine's THE EGG AND I, adapted from author Betty MacDonald's titular novel, a memoir of her own life experience as a young wife on a chicken farm, stars Colbert as Betty herself and MacMurray as her nondescript hubby Bob, who, in the beginning, casually throws a bombshell to Betty that he has quitted his job in the city and buys a farm to restart their life in the countryside by raising chickens, which smacks of a repugnant whiff of male chauvinism, a wife doesn't need to be apprised on the said matter, it is a decision solely to be made by the breadwinner. Incredibly biddable, albeit her visible misgivings, Betty is game enough to go along with Bob's proposition, and next time we see them, they are en route to their new domicile with their livestock in a banger, chug chug!
While Bob sees their new life through rose-colored glasses, Betty is wrong-footed by a house in utter disrepair and quotidian domestic chores, not to mention starting their business from the scratch, the familiar orbit of a maladjusted urban wife disoriented by displacement then slowly finding her feet in a rural but overall congenial environment is pleasant enough, especially when the pair befriends their neighbor, Ma and Pa Kettle (Main and Kilbride), typified by their hail-fellow-well-met deportment and fecundity with a brood of a dozen, Ma can never tell from who to who. Indeed, Main's hearty vim and vigor earns her an Oscar nomination and the movie's success spawns their own MA AND PA KETTLE franchise (nine features in toto) for Universal.
Through a checkered journey loaded not only with sincere laughter, neighborly affinity and deep-felt affection, but calamity as well, THE EGG AND I sets up the deal breaker through a monkey wrench in the works, Harriet Putnam (Allbritton), an unmarried, luscious owner of a nearby modern chicken farm, who inexplicably takes a shine to Bob and constantly pales Betty into insignificance or humiliation (their first acquaintance is all about jostling for taming a pig named Cleopatra). But ultimately, unlike author Betty's real life situation, who did divorce her first husband and remarried, this feel-good flick opts for a banal merry ending and again, inadvertently or not, makes Bob look superiorly good while Betty has to be answerable for everything in a haste fashion.
Definitely on the wrong side of the age of a young wife, a petite Colbert (44 years old at then, and 5 years senior than MacMurray) cogently but not self-consciously radiates a down-home warmth and alacrity, helped by the full treatment of soft focus, gentle lighting, wardrobe and cosmetic fine-tuning, plus silver-screen's natural inclination of taking a few years off its glamorized subjects, the whole effect is tantamount to that of actor Samuel L. Jackson, who is digitally de-aged to play a character nearly half of his real age in CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019), and somehow, Colbert's effort is more nuanced and embellishes the story's triteness with a distinct allure of gumption and bonhomie, which sheds a light on why those oldies are worth visiting, time and again. -
classicsoncall25 November 2019Let me pose a question to anyone who's seen both this film and the 1942 flick "George Washington Slept Here" with Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. Who would you say had the more ramshackle house that the leading couple moved into to chase a dream? Quite honestly I couldn't tell after seeing both pictures, and wouldn't want to live in either one. Of course, both homes wound up as House and Garden fashion statements later on, notwithstanding the fire that burned out the MacDonald's in this picture.
This is the film that introduced Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) to the movie going public, who became a huge comedy hit with a series of movies during the Fifties. You can see why with their homespun approach to country living and raising a huge family. This would not be your expected setting for a Fred MacMurray/Claudette Colbert team up, but they make it work as a transplanted couple intent on making it by raising chickens and selling their eggs. I hazard to think how many dozen they'd need to sell in order to survive from scratch, but that's the story and you'll have to go along with it.
I guess this would also have been the film to introduce those two spacey Indian characters going by Geoduck (John Berkes) and Crowbar (Victor Potel). Both returned to the Ma and Pa Kettle series portrayed by different actors over the course of that run. Richard Long, who played oldest Kettle son Tom in this story, also returned three more times during the Fifties, beginning with the first film in the series, "Ma and Pa Kettle". In an odd bit of movie casting trivia, Long appeared as the son of Claudette Colbert in the 1946 film, "Tomorrow is Forever"! -
danjgagne2 July 2001I first watched this movie about 5 years ago, and I enjoyed it then. I wanted to watch it again, because I'd since seen a few movies with Marjorie Main. I enjoyed her performance, but it was the role played by Claudette Colbert that blew me away. I thought she was better here than in "It Happened One Night", when she won an Oscar. Ma and Pa Kettle stole the show the last time I watched it, but this time around, I was more interested in the lives of Betty and Bob MacDonald. Ms. Colbert and Fred MacMurray had such an easy-going, natural interaction, which I overlooked on first viewing. Isn't that the sign of good acting? When you don't even notice they're acting?
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This film is included on the Colbert Collection, therefore I watched it. It was delightful - or more accurately I thought Colbert delightful and MacMurray even more so - until the 'facts' of their marriage shook me out of my happy viewing reverie.
Colbert and MacMurray are newlyweds. Without telling or asking Colbert beforehand, Bob has bought a chicken farm and intends to spend the rest of his life in the hills raising chickens. Bob deserves a stern talking to on proper husbandly behavior. But his bride is a good sport and pitches in, dealing with the multiple large and small crises. So far, this follows movie formula 34. Then ... in the last reel, he buys a better chicken farm, again without asking or telling Colbert beforehand. This last reel is, believe me, unbelievable. Our much-in-love couple has a tiff, she leaves him, and returns 7 or 8 months later with a surprise in tow. He says, "Oh, Betty." She says, "Oh, Bob" and they fall into each others arms for the happy-ever-after fade out. Is this factual? What does Betty's book say?
And poo on Pa Kettle. I took an immediate dislike to him when he dropped by to welcome his new neighbors and "borrowed" 6 2x4s, nails, and a can of green paint. So do Betty and Bob set boundaries for Pa? No sirree. Bob has Pa build a water tank on stilts which then ... well, see for yourself what happens. I liked Ma though. Who can resist Marjorie Main? And I liked the silky siren down the road who has a hankering for Bob.
In spite of a story that will have the feminist dragons spouting fire, this is a fun 90 minutes. The 2 stars are wonderful to watch and there are lots of laughs. -
wlandolfi-112 March 2006This movie was based on a book of the same title. The woman who wrote the book, Betty MacDonald, wrote it with her experiences as a young wife living on a chicken farm in the Pacific Northwest. It is worth noting that in the film, Claudette Colbert's character's name is Betty and Fred MacMurray's character's name is Bob (her husband's name). As for the film, we are not told exactly where the characters are supposed to be living although it is safe to say they are far away in the country. What we do know is that Fred MacMurray plays a recent war veteran who tells Claudette Colbert, his wife, that he has just purchased a chicken farm and that he intends for them to live out there so they can raise chickens. This is the beginning of what is a riot because they are both city people trying to get used to life on the farm. Bob (Fred MacMurray's character) is overly enthusiastic about the whole move but one can tell right away that much as Betty (Claudette Colbert's character) tries to be supportive, she is not as taken by it. First of all, the farm house is decrepit, they have to deal with the Kettle clan (especially Pa Kettle who is always asking for things but never returning favors) as well as a seductive woman who has a mechanical farm next door and has eyes for Bob.
The movie is a riot as we see the couple dealing with everything I have mentioned. I have watched the movie a number of times and even have the video tape of it. I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like if someone said to me one day, "You're moving on a farm tomorrow. Now go to work!" Well, I guess it would probably not be much different from this film! -
The Egg And I (1947) : Brief Review -
The real life good Rom-Com that we usually see in fiction. We often see and enjoy romantic comedies, and it is one of the most beautiful genres in filmmaking too, but somewhere down the line, we all know that these things don't happen in real life. Take any classic rom-com from the 30s to notice how good those male/female characters were and why we don't find them in real life. Well, here's that real-life good rom-com brought to the reel life. It took me a minute to digest the fact that this was the real story of Betty MacDonald. It felt so natural, organic, and genuine. In the end, when she says, "You know, I could write a book," I didn't get it at first, but then I thought for a moment that why would a director end his feel-good romantic comedy with such a normal dialogue? I was blown away after knowing that she actually wrote the book. Craziest ending dialogue of its time maybe? The Egg And I, this title doesn't really fit the way she speaks in the beginning. It's a story of a newly married couple who move to an abandoned chicken farm. The wife is supportive but finds the farm life difficult, and moreover, an attractive woman's affection for her husband makes her uneasy. It's not a dark or intense film that way; it's fun, and a lot of it. There is a good message of humanity too, just like many other good films from the 30s and 40s that we have been missing since the 60s. Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray's chemistry is fine, despite a little bit of dragging in the conclusion part. "I am though," didn't make much sense, and before you can argue, you are actually through with the film. Louise Allbritton's gorgeous dame is attractive, and her unknown fatalism isn't harmful either. Chester Erskine's rom-com is slow in the middle but still manages to leave a mark. Overall, a fun-filled ride into a farm of humans and animals.
RATING - 6.5/10*
By - #samthebestest. -
Keedee23 July 2001This film is totally delightful. Light romantic comedy with a cast of colorful characters. I saw it once and I've been hooked every since. It also made me life-long fans of Ma and Pa Kettle but that's a whole other basket of eggs!! Sit back and enjoy!!!
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DKosty12315 September 2008Fred MacMurray & Claudett Colbert star in a romantic comedy which is pretty well done. More important in the long term was the supporting cast which they had - especially Percy Kilbride & Marjorie Main. This film is actually a movie pilot.
The Kettle family was created here and became a series of films after starting in 1949. This family became dear to a lot of the film publics heart because it is the depression type big old farm family. Granted not every family featured Richard Long as a child as this one would, but the mom & pa that Main & Kilbride created resonated with the public strongly.
This movie was a little better than the series of films because it does concentrate more on Fred & Claudette's plot, but overall the film is just a good one. If you are a fan of the Kettles, this film is essential in showing you where the idea of the folks started. It is interesting that Main's character also got a start with Abbott & Costello in The Wisful Widow Of Wagon Gap, but in spite of that, it took the balance with Kilbride to really round out her Ma Kettle character. -
Doylenf28 September 2006How often have you heard the term, "The book was better than the movie"? Well, you'll hear it again from me, since Betty MacDonald's book was much more than the conventional slapstick comedy it has been turned into, using only the cleanest episodes from the racy novel to appear in this sanitized screen version where even the studio stage mud looks sparkling clean.
It's been turned into a typical CLAUDETTE COLBERT/FRED MacMUARRAY vehicle, given another angle on "the other woman" down the road, and the troublesome neighbors with their earthy ways have been turned into Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main, given the only true comic episodes that have any merit.
Whatever, the film was pleasant enough for some because it did become a popular success at a time when "city couple trying to live the country life" was not a theme that had worn out its welcome.
Here it's more like a one joke theme, with Claudette falling into the mud when dealing with pesky pigs or confronting a troublesome stove that does everything but work.
A few funny, episodic bits with the Kettles is about all you can reasonably expect to enjoy. In fact, they became so popular that a whole series developed around the Kilbride and Main caricatures.
Mildly entertaining and good for a few laughs but no great shakes as a comedy.