On the verge of being evicted from their run-down farmhouse, the large Kettle family is given a new, modern home after Pa wins a contest, but he is accused of plagiarizing his winning slogan... Read allOn the verge of being evicted from their run-down farmhouse, the large Kettle family is given a new, modern home after Pa wins a contest, but he is accused of plagiarizing his winning slogan by a jealous local woman.On the verge of being evicted from their run-down farmhouse, the large Kettle family is given a new, modern home after Pa wins a contest, but he is accused of plagiarizing his winning slogan by a jealous local woman.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs the Kettles are shown the features of their new home, the newsreel footage on TV is that of the first flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules AKA "Spruce Goose". The H-4's first and only flight was on 2 November 1947, just 17 months prior to the release of this movie.
- GoofsWhen Ma puts the kids to bed, the covers are rumpled. Then, when she attempts to turn off the lights, she hits the switch to put away the beds. When the beds come back down, 3 of the 4 beds are neatly made, and it can be seen that there are dolls instead of kids. In the next shot, they are as they were before they went into the wall.
- Quotes
Mrs. Birdie Hicks: [after getting the Kettles evicted] Good day.
Ma Kettle: [grabs Birdie] Listen here Birdie, it may be a good day for you, but it ain't for Pa. All the poor man wanted was a new tobacco pouch and instead he won a house he didn't want and he got a bad sunburn.
- ConnectionsFeatured in On Cinema: Founders Day & I.S.S. (2024)
There are two plots intertwined in this movie. One is the comedy of the simple mountain family moving into a state of the art modern house. The other is a light morality play on how environment affects children as they grow up.
Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride) wanted a free tobacco pouch for entering a contest, and ended up winning a house. His disappointment at not getting the free tobacco pouch is played for laughs quite a bit. When Pa plays with dynamite he is totally oblivious to the explosion. Kilbride never flinched in the scene as the debris from the explosion fell around him. He played the part to perfection. In his autobiography, Jack Benny mentioned how impressed he was with Percy Kilbride's deadpan delivery. Kilbride took that comedic device to a high level of perfection.
Ma (Marjorie Main) and Pa move into the new house with modern conveniences that confuse Ma and Pa almost as much as they help them. Ma adapts far more quickly than Pa. Included with the modern conveniences is a television, a very new household item in 1949. Moving walls, hidden beds, and plumbing fixtures are used as comic props, but the attention is on Ma and Pa, never the props themselves.
Tom Kettle (Richard Long) meets Kim Parker (Meg Randall), a magazine writer who feels that hygiene and environment are essential for children to realize success as adults. Tom is a bright, self-made man who contradicts the theory that success can only come from a pristine environment. This subject is briefly discussed in a couple of scenes, but left to subside. It was also the only serious discussion in this otherwise whimsical movie.
Seeing the Kettles moving out of their run-down old house to move to a new house would almost be a disaster if it were not for the characters staying true to themselves. Ma was the practical one, just as she had been in the The Egg and I. Pa was the fish out of water that provided the best comedy. He never felt at home in the new house, but the actual location of a comfortable bed would never be of concern to him.
- stevehaynie
- Mar 20, 2006
- How long is Ma and Pa Kettle?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Ма и Па Кеттл
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1