Reviews

Any time I see Arthur O'Connell in a movie I think of this series. As a kid of 13 when it played, I thought the story line to be interesting. I probably saw all the episodes, but after all these years, I can't recall anything other than the father's reaction to all the "modern" inventions since 1900. Today, I'm surprised it was only on for one season, as it seemed longer. But, I guess to one that's 13 years old, 1 year is a long time! I think today, with good writing, this would make an interesting movie. Hollywood is always taking ideas from old television. Why not this one? It might even seem like a fresh idea since not many know of the series to begin with.

An interesting mix of comedy and drama. I found it interesting that the Three Stooges along with Ted Healy had parts in the movie. This was made the year that the Stooges made their split with Healy. Moe, Larry and Curly were not exactly in character here and while their screen time was limited, it was great to see them. While Healy was in the movie with the Stooges, they did not appear to be together. Healy clearly had a larger part in the movie, interacting with Robert Montgomery. Moe and Curly had more screen time than Larry. There was no "leader" in the group. There was no slapping and poking as they later became famous for. They did however harmonize a tune that later would show up in one of their shorts. I wish they had more screen time! This movie was made the same year that the Three Stooges made their debut in the Columbia short "Women Haters".

I was fortunate to see this early Tracy short on TCM. I haven't seen a Spencer Tracy movie yet that I didn't like. In the first minute of this movie I quickly realized that Spencer Tracy's talent was natural. Here it was in 1930 in his 3rd film looking as seasoned an actor that he was much later. He looked out of place with the other actors only because they seemed awkwardly amateurish next to him. Okay, so there were only 4 other actors, but you could see how he made it big- time. It was fun to see him so young in the film. I rate this 7 minute film a 9 out of 10 only because of the limited talent that surrounded Tracy. I recommend this film. It is a must for all Spencer Tracy fans.