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. 

SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN

William Powell and Stella Adler

SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN (1941). Director: W. S. Van Dyke.

Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell; Myrna Loy) are enjoying a relatively quiet life with Asta and little Nicky (Richard Hall) when murder comes a'calling again. This time the victim is a virtually anonymous jockey who's dead practically before the film begins, but soon other bodies begin to pile up. Suspects and victims alike include reporter Paul Clarke (Barry Nelson); his girlfriend, Molly (Donna Reed); her boss, "Link" Stephens (Loring Smith); his mistress, Claire Porter (Stella Adler); and assorted underworld or otherwise shady characters such as Fred Macy (Joseph Anthony); "Rainbow" Benny (Lou Lubin); and "Whitey" Barrow (Alan Baxter). Then there's Major Sculley (Henry O'Neill of Scandal Sheet) and the excitable Lt. Abrahms (Sam Levene of Dial 1119). Gathering the suspects at the climax where everyone has a serious hate on, Nora is afraid that Nick is going to name her as the murderer. This is a typically convoluted, but amusing "Thin Man" movie with very good performances from all. Stella Adler, who is very saucy in this picture, did a lot of theater work, but her film and TV credits were limited to five; she later became best-known as an acting coach. Joseph Anthony later became a director for the stage and of such films as Career.

Verdict: Smooth and entertaining. ***.