User Reviews

When hanger on brother-in-law Jack Rice wants to get married, slow burning Edgar Kennedy sees an opportunity to get rid of him (and that obnoxious mother-in-law) for good so he agrees to lend him money for the engagement ring. However, that creates all sorts of other issues when the cheap ring he buys is accidentally switched with a more expensive ring, including Kennedy wrestling with 75 chickens, one of whom allegedly swallowed the ring. Typical exaggeration of wretched family situations reminds viewers that their family isn't so bad, or does it? Maxine Semon as the fiancee proves herself to be just as horrid as the rest of the family, so it becomes very apparent where this is going. Kennedy shines as usual as the type of man Rodney Dangerfield would emulate years later with the no respect routines, and that includes his own wife (Florence Lake) who would drive any man to insanity.

This is a domestic comedy starring Edgar Kennedy and Florence Lake. Lake was often cast as his wife in these films by RKO, but they also had the likes of Vivian Oakland, Sally Payne and Irene Ryan in these same parts. Of the four, Lake was the most common AND most annoying due to her very high-pitched voice and laugh. Fortunately, in their later films this seemed to have been toned down a lot--so that watching was no longer like chewing glass! Here, the laugh is still there but it's easier on the ears.

"Feather Your Nest" starts with something REALLY weird--Edgar's brother-in-law is being nice to him! Edgar naturally suspects something is amiss--and it turns out the guy wants Edgar to give him $200. Well, not surprisingly, Edgar is not going to give it to him--until he realizes that if the brother-in-law is going to use it to buy an engagement ring--and that means he'll FINALLY be moving out of his home! Unfortunately, the salesman gives him the wrong ring (one costing $2000 not $200) and Edgar must return it ASAP. However, the ring is stuck on Sirena's finger and getting the ring back to the shop isn't as easy as it sounds. And how a chicken relates to all this is something you'll just need to see for yourself!! The humor is a bit forced here, but it still is funny and Lake is apparently medicated enough that she's not a detriment to the film! Worth seeing though not what I'd call subtle!! Still, the ending was nice.

Seems love is in the air for Brother, as he's finally found himself a sweetheart. Not sure what any woman would see in a spineless worm like him, but it appears he found one desperate enough. Her name is Sirena and she's quite a pip, let me tell you. Brother wants to buy her an engagement ring, but of course he won't go that extra mile and get a job to pay for it. That's when he turns to his gullible brother in-law, Edgar Kennedy. In a case such of this, Edgar would rightfully deny him, but if only he had the power of seeing into the future, he would've known to make an exception, lend Brother the money and stay out of the picture. He would have saved himself a whole lot of... clucking hysterics. Ha ha. Sorry. So when Edgar came home that day, the whole family treated him like royalty, but he wasn't buying it. Of course there was a catch: Brother wanted a loan so he could buy his fiancee an engagement ring. Since he knows his brother in-law is a lazy, shiftless freeloader, Edgar said no dice to the loan. I guess in an effort to annoy the money out of Edgar, Brother parks himself at the piano and both plays and sings horrifically off-key. His reasoning was that he was warming up his voice to get a job on the radio, though after so many minutes of his belting "ah-ah-ah-ah" like a moose with a bellyache, Edgar forcibly ejects him from the ivories. It was then that Florence tried to be of some help and encouraged Edgar to loan Brother the money anyway, as it would mean him moving out of the house and the amount he owed Edgar would be accumulated back anyway with one less mouth to feed. Man, let me tell you, in the rare moments that Florence gets an idea, she always seems to strike gold. Too bad she didn't make a habit of it. So Edgar accepts that logic and says that instead of lending Brother the money, he'll buy the ring himself. I don't see this ending well at all. I mean, Brother said he knew a guy who could get a ring at cost, but since Edgar doesn't trust the lout as far as he could throw him, it's understandable he'd doubt his word.

He goes to the jeweler's and settles on a $175 ring, then when he brings it home, he gets to meet Sirena... and her singing is worse than Brother's. She loves the ring and declares they shall be married the next day. it seems as though everything's going to work just fine... until the phone rang. Apparently the absent-minded jeweler accidentally gave Edgar the $2,000 ring and tells him he'll have to either bring it back or pay the difference, but when Edgar refuses, a cop gets on the line and tells him to bring the ring back in an hour or he'll come get it. Geez, it seems Edgar has had more run-ins with the law than Al Capone. Now comes the problem of getting that ring off Sirena's finger, but unfortunately it won't come off. They get her to try shaking her hand, including shaking Edgar's too, then they dip her hand in some soap and water... I dunno, Sirena, do you really want to be a part of THIS family? After this little escapade and the lumps she'll soon receive, I'm sure she ran for the hills. I mean, I know it's a pain in the ass to remove a ring you've worn for years, but after only a few minutes? It would make sense if Sirena had fat hands, but she's an average build. Finally, Edgar manages to remove the ring, and almost removes Sirena's finger in the process. It flies into the piano, and as Edgar goes to find it, Sirena starts to faint. I don't blame her one bit. When going to get the smelling salts, Florence has another brilliant idea. Two in the same short, that's impressive. She drugs the poor girl with sleeping pills, buying Edgar some time. He hurries out the door, but like the clumsy ox he is, he trips up and drops the ring. Somehow, a stray chicken finds it and gobbles it up. He tries to grab it, but it flaps over the fence back to its yard. Apparently, Edgar lives next door to a chicken farm. He chases them around like he's in Rocky II, which incurs the wrath of his neighbor. Edgar offers to buy all 75 of his chickens, which he charges $150 for the lot, but on condition that Eddie catch them himself. So, one by one, he catches a chicken, feels for the ring and then dumps the flapper next door, only his shady neighbor pulls a fast one and opens a gap in the fence, allowing those chickens to come back. By the time he searches all 75, it seems that many more were in the yard than before. That's when he discovers his neighbor's trick and tells him to rub out the tally marks and start over, but the neighbor doesn't budge knowing a valuable ring is at stake, and even ups the price to $10 a piece for the flock. Bet that just ruffles Eddie's feathers. Good thing Florence is buying him plenty of time by constantly knocking poor Sirena unconscious every time she comes to. Yeah, I hope she ran FAR away from these people. So after catching and choking his chickens, Edgar finds the ring. Next stop, jeweler's... only the careless nimrod literally runs into him on the porch, saying he made a mistake and Edgar had the right ring all along. Ah, ha ha ha, the deus ex machina strikes again. Edgar should have slapped him silly. Well, now what? How will he 're-coop' his losses? Become Colonel Kennedy and sell his fresh-killed chickens, of course.

This is a very enjoyable entry in Edgar Kennedy's film career, albeit a little silly and quite predictable. Although the family may have been annoying, they weren't such a hindrance this time. In other words, they didn't cause Edgar's mishaps. He did it all himself, insisting on buying the ring, then losing it and having to chase chickens all day. The jeweler was certainly to blame too, doing a terrible job of keeping the books. It's interesting to note that if Edgar had stayed out of the way, Brother would have bought the ring, given to Sirena, then they would move out and Ed would finally be rid of his annoying Brother in-law. Of course, then the short would only have been 5 minutes. So, I definitely recommend Feather Your Nest, as it's a good cautionary tale on what can happen when you act on impulse... and if you plan on raising chickens, it would be a good idea to have a much more secure yard.