MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI

Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main

MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (1953). Director: Lee Sholem.

Pa Kettle's (Percy Kilbride) cousin, Rodney (Loring Smith of Shadow of the Thin Man), who once hoped to marry Ma (Marjorie Main) but instead stayed in Hawaii to run a pineapple business, has been told to take it easy by his doctor. Rodney and his associates decide to importune Pa -- whom they wrongly think is rich and successful -- to temporarily run the pineapple business in Honolulu until Rodney's health improves. They also think Pa's brilliance will put the company on the fast track again. Against all odds, the ever-lazy Pa seems to come up with schemes that enrich the firm's coffers. But then he's kidnapped and taken to an island where he thinks there's buried treasure.

Percy Kilbride as the lazy Pa Kettle

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki starts out well with several amusing sequences revolving both around Pa's efforts at the pineapple plant and Ma's encounters with the snobby bank president's wife, Teresa Andrews (Mabel Albertson of The House That Would Not Die) and her condescending lady friends. Unfortunately, the flick falls apart in the second half with the introduction of the thoroughly uninteresting kidnappers (including Russell Johnson and Myron Healey) and the whole dull business with the treasure hunt. Even the insertion of a Hawaiian version of Ma and Pa and their huge brood doesn't help, but leads to even more tedious sequences when these characters attempt to rescue Pa with Ma's super-butch assistance and a lot of coconuts. Okay, there's a cute business with a crab but that's about it.

Lori Nelson returns as the Kettle's grown daughter, Rosie, and goes to Hawaii with them, and her new love interest is Bob Baxter (Byron Palmer), who works for Rodney Kettle. Birdie Hicks (Esther Dale) returns briefly and is back to hating Ma again, leading into a funny sequence involving an air-conditioner that doesn't work the way Pa intended. This script has Ma seeming much more stupid than usual.

Verdict: Some fun, but otherwise a disappointment. **1/4. 

MA AND PA KETTLE AT THE FAIR

Esther Dale and Marjorie Main

MA AND PA KETTLE AT THE FAIR (1952). Director: Charles Barton.

This fourth Ma and Pa Kettle film presents these two interesting characters -- and I do mean characters -- interacting with various townspeople, some friendly and some not, and finding themselves with financial problems. How, for instance, can they afford to send second oldest daughter Rosie (Lori Nelson of Untamed Youth) to college? Ma hopes to win some prize money with her jam and bread, but accidentally enters in the harness race. Fortunately, Pa just bought an  old nag that used to race -- twelve years ago! After some accidents and blunders, Pa still thinks he has a chance of winning the race, but then he and Ma get arrested for supposedly poisoning the rival horses.

Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair is another amusing and lively entry in the series. Richard Long and Meg Randall, who were married off, do not appear in this installment, but are replaced by Lori Nelson and James Best of Killer Shrews as her handsome beau. Esther Dale, who was also in The Egg and I and Ma and Pa Kettle, returns as Ma's rival Birdie Hicks, and the interchanges between her and Main are a lot of fun, especially a scene involving a pitchfork and Birdie's rear end. Emory Parnell is also back as the amiable general store owner, Billy Reed. The climactic horse race is a highlight, and Ma and Pa Kettle show their own brand of solid integrity in this.

Verdict: More fun with the Kettles. ***. 

UNTAMED YOUTH

Mamie Van Doren, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson

UNTAMED YOUTH (1957). Director: Howard W. Koch.

Two sisters heading for Hollywood -- Penny (Mamie Van Doren of The Girl in Black Stockings) and Jane (Lori Nelson) -- are arrested for vagrancy and sent to a work farm for thirty days by Judge Steele (Lurene Tuttle). The farm is owned by Russ Tropp (John Russell), whose housekeepers are girls who offer certain services in exchange for "special privileges." Tropp orders his latest "housekeeper," Lillibet (Jeanne Carmen) back to the barracks with the other girls, resulting in a catfight. The judge sends her son, Bob (Don Burnett), to work at the farm as a regular employee -- he doesn't know that his mother and Tropp are secretly married. And the judge doesn't know about the deplorable conditions at the farm ...

Cougar? The judge (Tuttle, right) hankers for Russell

Untamed Youth is a hoot. Wayward girls, handsome guys, Mamie Van Doren, John Russell, catfights, a female judge who's a cougar -- all this and the movie is a musical, too! Yes, there are several snappy if unmemorable rock 'n' roll numbers supposedly warbled by Van Doren, who zestily shows off her impressive figure when dancing all over the place. The matronly Tuttle and hunky Russell certainly make a comically mismatched pair, Carmen is vivid as Lillibet, and Burnett [Damon and Pythias] is appealing as the sensitive Bob, who falls for Jane.

Mother and son: Don Burnett and Lurene Tuttle

And then there's Mamie, in a role best suited for her talents. In this she's a good girl, not a slut, and she resists advances by Russell. Her performance is more than adequate and she has an out-sized personality that helped her get a minor foothold in Hollywood B movies. Lurene Tuttle gives the best performance as the middle-aged woman who falls in love not at all wisely but well. Wally Brown makes his mark as the deceptively sympathetic cook, Pinky (even if he feeds the kids dog food!) and Michael Emmet [Attack of the Giant Leeches] shows up as a kindly doctor who treats one ill-fated pregnant girl, Baby (Yvonne Lime of Dragstrip Riot).

With a better script Untamed Youth might have emerged a credible melodrama instead of the somewhat campy exploitation picture it is. But on that level, the movie is fun.

Verdict: Catch Mamie doing "Slimy as a Salamander!" **1/2. 

DAY THE WORLD ENDED

"You're dimestore, Ruby, you're cheap!" Adele Jergens and "Touch" Connors

DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955). Produced and directed by Roger Corman.

"He's a mutation, Rick, a freak of this new atomic world of ours."

After nuclear holocaust, a taciturn fellow named Maddison (Paul Birch) holes up in his valley home with his daughter, Louise (Lori Nelson), whose fiance is missing and presumed dead. Unwelcome visitors looking for food and shelter include hoodlum Tony (Mike Connors, billed as "Touch"), his moll and former striptease "artist" Ruby (Adele Jergens), old prospector Pete (Raymond Hatton of The Three Musketeers) and his mule; and the radioactive, supposedly dying Radek (Paul Dubov of Girls' Town), who is developing a taste for raw meat. A more welcome addition is geologist Rick (Richard Denning), who is able to handle Tony and has a mutual attraction for Louise. Meanwhile a strange mutated creature (Paul Blaisdell) roams the grounds as the others wonder if the threatening rainfall will wipe them all out with radiation sickness. Day the World Ended may use some of the same settings as Attack of the Crab Monsters, but it doesn't have that film's cleverness, imaginative touches, and creepy atmosphere. Jergens offers the zestiest performance as the ill-fated Ruby. Like many films of the period, it suggests that a person can't be decent unless he or she is religious. There's a vague twist ending involving the "dead" fiance, but nothing much comes of this. Filmed in widescreen "Superscope."

Verdict: Even mutations can only do so much. **.

ALL I DESIRE

Stanwyck, Henderson [above] and Carlson

ALL I DESIRE (1953). Director: Douglas Sirk. Produced by Ross Hunter.

Naomi Murdoch (Barbara Stanwyck) left her husband and family years ago --there was dissatisfaction in her life, and a budding scandal involving another man -- and took to the stage. The ones she left behind, including her youngest daughter, Lily (Lori Nelson), who invites her mother to see her star in the high school play, think Noami is the toast of two continents but she's actually a lower case vaudeville performer. But when Naomi arrives in Riverdale, Wisconsin, she discovers that the household is divided over her presence. Lily and her young son Ted (Billy Gray) are delighted to see Naomi, as is the housekeeper Lena (Lotte Stein), but her oldest daughter Joyce (Marcia Henderson) wants nothing to do with her, and her husband, Henry (Richard Carlson), isn't entirely sure how he feels. This is an interesting drama and period piece [taking place in the early years of the 20th century] with another top-notch Stanwyck performance and an excellent supporting cast. Maureen O'Sullivan is a teacher and romantic interest for Henry; Lyle Bettger is an old fling of Naomi's, and Richard Long is Joyce's boyfriend. Dale Robertson, Brett Halsey, and Stuart Whitman turn up in small roles as members of the high school drama club. Although I've rarely been impressed with Lori Nelson in other films, in this she is quite good and charming as the daughter with theatrical aspirations.[It's almost as if she got worse with each role instead of better!] I guess playing with a talent like Stanwyck never hurts!

Verdict: Another absorbing Stanwyck picture and performance. ***

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955). Director: Jack Arnold.

In this sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Gill Man is captured at his lagoon in the Amazon and brought to an Oceanarium in Florida where he becomes a star attraction. Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar) is a scientist who takes a leave of absence from his school just so he can study the creature, while Joe Hayes, (John Bromfield) is one of the men who captured the monster. Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson) is a pretty student who's along for the ride, and gets more than she bargained for when the creature runs off with her. Frankly, Revenge is not nearly as good as the original, although it holds the attention. Nestor Paiva, Neil the adorable chimp, and a young Clint Eastwood all make brief appearances. Taken out of his native habitat, the creature is truly a fish out of water, although the latter half of the film has him undewater for a couple of sequences. The acting is okay for the most part but Lori Nelson seems devoid of any genuine talent. Bromfield also appeared in Three Bad Sisters.

Verdict: Not quite a revenge on the audience. **.

MOHAWK

MOHAWK (1956). Director: Kurt Neumann.

Unless you have a mania for westerns, there's probably no good reason to see this unless it's to see how Allison Hayes (pictured with Scott Brady), star of the "classic" Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, comports herself in a more "serious" film. Hayes wasn't so hot in Zombies of Mora Tau, but she isn't half-bad in Mohawk (though no Kate Hepburn). Scott Brady plays John Adams, a painter who works out of an Army fort. Hayes is his zesty model, Greta, but he also has a fiancee named Cynthia (Lori Nelson) who shows up unannounced at the fort with her peppery Aunt Agatha (Vera Vague) in tow; Nelson once again proves what a mediocre actress she is. While juggling these two babes, Adams discovers that there's also an Indian wench, Onida (Rita Gam), who has a hankering for him, and vice versa. Meanwhile, some renegade Indians are planning an attack on the fort. Supposedly all the action footage comes from John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk, but none of it is very convincing. John Hoyt is Butler, the white villain of the piece, and Tommy Cook does a nice turn as the doomed Indian lad Keoga. It's a pleasant surprise to see who Adams winds up with at the end. Handsome production is well photographed by Karl Struss and has an effective score by Edward L. Alperson, Jr.

Verdict: See it for saucy Hayes if you must. **.