The Egg and I

source: The Egg and I

This 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!

When I was a child(I am now 38) I read the Mrs Piggle wiggle books which were for children...but I always did see that the author was best known for the Egg and I. A few years ago I chanced on a copy of the book in my hometown of Astoria, Oregon. I was really taken by the book, especially since I could relate to the region. I found that while the books had moments of comedy, it also had lots of dead seriousness...as this was the author's actual life experiences. While cinematography was not what it is now or would be later than 1947, I missed shots of the imposing and indifferent Olympic mountains looming over the fragile farm. I quite disagree that the actress who portrays Betty is well cast...the real Betty was more stoic and less stereotypically helpless as was common in the portrayal of women in the 40s.

"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.

How 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.

If 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.

One 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.

I 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.

I 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?

Newlyweds 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.