The Fibber McGee and Molly Double feature presents Jim and Marion Jordan reprising their roles as the most lovable citizens of Wistful Vista in two separate films.
The first is, Here We Go Again. As the title implies, it’s a bit of a sequel. In this case, the film’s teaming of Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy with Fibber McGee and Molly is their second joint movie. The first, “Look Who’s Laughing,” was released on a separate DVD collection of early Lucille Ball films. But there’s no sense of deep continuity other than that Fibber McGee has met Bergen before, so seeing that film isn’t a prerequisite.
The teaming works quite well when they interact, though they’re often left to do their own thing. The plot is that Fibber McGee takes Molly on a Second Honeymoon and after staying a night a flea bag hotel, he runs into Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen at a much nicer establishment. Bergen is trying to discover a synthetic alternative gasoline and a capture a rare butterfly because…it’s World War II and that’s what radio ventriloquists did.
As if the film hadn’t given Old Time Radio fans enough to salivate over, this also features Harold Peary appearing as the Throckmorton Gildersleeve. Even though he’d started his own spin-off series from Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, Peary plays Gildersleeve just as he did on Fibber McGee and Molly and only appears in a few scenes. Gale Gordon also appears, though not in his role from Fibber McGee and Molly as Mayor LaTrivia but as what passes for a villain in this film.
The movie holds up very well for its era. For the most part, the jokes work. The big exception to this is an unfunny, ill-conceived bit that had Bergen trying to infiltrate a native american tribe for the flimsiest of reasons. The musical numbers by Ginny Simms are superb. For fans of the golden age of radio, the movie allows us to see not one but three different big radio stars in action.
In addition to Charlie McCarthy, we also get to see Bergen’s other dummy Mortimer Snerd. Though McCarthy receives the most work and it’s interesting to see how they transferred such an active and robust ventriloquist dummy from radio to film. Though, I will say that Charlie McCarthy has a few moments (such as when he’s cheering the potential death of Bergen from various perils) that remind you why we now consider ventriloquist dummies walking around to be a creepy element of horror movies.
The second film is Heavenly Days derives it’s name from Molly’s frequent exclamation, “Oh heavenly days!” In this film, Fibber is visited by the Spirit of 1776 to begin a cross-country journey to the nation’s Capital in order to help out a friend who has become a “dollar a year” man, essentially volunteering his service to the government. Fibber heads to Washington, hoping that the voice of the common man is heard.
The film starts out okay and for the first fifteen minutes is very charming, including the McGees encountering a group of soldiers on a train and singing and we even get to hear Fibber sing. However, after that, the film runs into problems.
It’s a comedy that isn’t all that funny. It’s also a patriotic film. I’m all for patriotic films, but this one muddles its message. McGee’s whole quest is to get the voice of the average man heard in the corridors of power. He gets to Washington and actually disrupts Senate proceedings to give his own nonsensical speech. Then later, he has a trippy dream sequence where senators advise him if the Average Man wants to have a voice in government, he should probably get informed and make sure he knows what he’s talking about.
The plot, the message, and the ending feel incongruous. The film’s core problem may be that it expected too much of the Jordans. During, their radio program, they did many war-related episodes and while they could be preachy, they always remained entertaining. The reason was because they were focused on a single point (such as a scrap metal drive) and they had the entertaining cast of characters in Wistful Vista to help get the laughs. Here, the Jordans are left to get all the laughs and carry this meandering story.
The film does have its redeeming values. The presence of Fibber McGee and Molly on screen is a treat and they have charming moments including both of their musical numbers. The film features war orphans from several lands which is a historical reminder of a great tragedy in that war.
For movie buffs, it features an interesting oddity that relates to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In that film, hefty character actor Eugene Pallette plays Chick McGann, a henchman for political boss James Taylor whose job is to help keep Senator Smith under control. In this film he played a Senator which led me to think McGann got one of the vacant Senate seats that were left open at the end of the movie.
Even though\ Heavenly Days is a well-intentioned mess, I still consider the DVD a good buy because Here We Go Again is just that good. It’s rare to see that many radio stars in that same film and for the film to actually be good. The current price is a fair value for the first film and and any enjoyment you get out of the second film is just gravy.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
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