Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR

Hugh Herbert and Eddie Quillan
THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR (1939). Director: Joseph Santley.  

George Pierce (Hugh Herbert of We're In the Money) runs a small-town household consisting of wife Rose (Ruth Donnelly), daughters Susan (Juanita Quigley) and Laura (Joy Hodges), and sons Sammy (Eddie Quillan) and Rufus (Benny Bartlett). While aspiring singer Laura has some romantic problems, son Sammy conspires with his mother to cash in some bonds in order to buy property that he is sure will become valuable once a railroad stop is erected. Alas ... In 1937 MGM started their long-running Hardy Family series with A Family Affair while 20th Century Fox beat them out with the first Jones Family entry, Every Saturday Night the year before. The Family Next Door was released by Universal, and perhaps there was some hope that it would be as successful as the other studios' entries, but this picture was not developed into a series. On its own terms, The Family Next Door is a very funny movie bolstered by fine comic performances. Ruth Donnelly especially stands out as the mother who goes to some extreme lengths for her pretty daughter, who has fallen for newcomer Bill Trevis (Thomas Beck), and there's an amusing party scene that reminds one a bit of Alice Adams (in other ways as well). Cecil Cunningham makes an impression as Bill's disapproving Aunt Cora. There is also an adorable family pet named Baby, who in one charming scene commiserates with the (temporarily) heartbroken Laura, and Lillian Yarbo, as usual, is very amusing as the maid Blossom. The dramatic developments are fairly predictable, but The Family Next Door is quite entertaining.

Verdict: Fun, old-fashioned family comedy with expert players. ***.

2 comments:

angelman66 said...

Wow, it really does have the same familiar homespun elements as the Hardy family of Carvel! I will check this out next time I run across it.
-C

William said...

Youtube to the rescue, LOL!