The process server here in the very beginning knows everybody in this small town but must ask if they are so-and-so when he hands them their subpoena for jury duty, and of course, Gildersleeve (Harold Pearcy) is among them. Of the twelve jurors, only Pearcy holds out for a not guilty verdict, which infuriates the other eleven, as well as judge Charles Arndt who nearly ended up being Gildersleeve's father-in-law in the previous entry of this short lived series. Bespectacled spinster Mary Field is gone and forgotten, but the gossip continues, especially when the jury is sequestered in Gildersleeve's home. He becomes the victim of bribery, realizing too late that he was wrong about the accused, a racketeer whose gang targets Gildersleeve to get the bribery money back after they rob the judge's personal safe.
This is more evidence of the theory that those who think they know it all and can do it all are often the biggest idiots. Back amongst the Gildersleeve household are Aunt Jane Darwell, niece Nancy Gates (a rather bland character in all four episodes of the series), nephew Freddie Mercer (delightfully precocious and loveable) and cheery housekeeper Lillian Randolph. The highlights are the overcrowded rooms in Gildersleeve's house when the jury checks in and a final chase sequence, but as a whole, the film is a strange mix of comedy where the hero is delusional about his intelligence (no "Everyman" in movies was that stupid) and domestic/legal issues that leaves me befuddled at the long lasting success of the series on radio, and later on TV.
This is more evidence of the theory that those who think they know it all and can do it all are often the biggest idiots. Back amongst the Gildersleeve household are Aunt Jane Darwell, niece Nancy Gates (a rather bland character in all four episodes of the series), nephew Freddie Mercer (delightfully precocious and loveable) and cheery housekeeper Lillian Randolph. The highlights are the overcrowded rooms in Gildersleeve's house when the jury checks in and a final chase sequence, but as a whole, the film is a strange mix of comedy where the hero is delusional about his intelligence (no "Everyman" in movies was that stupid) and domestic/legal issues that leaves me befuddled at the long lasting success of the series on radio, and later on TV.