Scattergood Pulls the Strings

This is the second of five Scattergood Baines movies which star Guy Kibbee in the lead. Unlike most of Kibbee's roles, here he plays a guy who is actually very clever...and he is a decent man to boot. I loved the first film and was thrilled when I found "Scattergood Pulls the Strings".

Scattergood happens upon a young boy who is a runaway. It turns out Jimmy (Bobs Watson) has run away to look for his father, a man who went to jail for murder and who disappeared after his release. Instead of turning the boy over to the authorities, he befriends the boy and lets Jimmy stay with him while trying to determine where the boy's father is. In addition to helping this boy, he also aids a poor inventor who is working on improving a television system.

As in the previous film, Scattergood is a guy who likes to help his fellow man...and he seems to do it just because it's the right thing to do. You can't help but like the man...and decent writing and production values make this a film worth seeing.

Guy Kibbee headlining a movie? That certainly didn't happen very often, so if you like him, you'll want to check out Scattergood Baines or Scattergood Pulls the Strings. In these movies, he plays a likable, helpful fellow in a small town who gives advice and does good deeds. I haven't seen the first one, but I rented the sequel because little Bobs Watson got second billing, and who doesn't want to watch his adorable little face and his signature tears?

Guy helps many people in town, including Susan Peters and James Corner. Bobs Watson gets most of his attention, though, and he starts out as a tough-talking youngster with an attitude problem. Bobs is only acting out because he misses his father, who's gone missing after a murder rap stained his reputation, and when Guy takes Bobs under his wing, he helps straighten the youngster out. It's Bobs Watson! He can't stay tough for very long, and before you know it, he's all smiles and tears like he always is. Do you think he'll eventually find his dad? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

Guy Kibbee's unlikely toupee returns in this entry into the series. Up in his small town, Scattergood deals with the problems of young lovers Susam Peters and James Corner, Miss Peters' father's money troubles, runaway Bobs Watson, and anything else that troubles the happiness of the small town he lives in.

It's like looking at all the subplots in the Doctor Christian series rolled together. Kibbee doesn't appear to do much of anything but a little snooping, but somehow everyone tells him their troubles, and by the end of the movie he pulls the solution out of his hip pocket in a deus ex machina manner that had me annoyed. I also didn't much care for Watson's "aw, gee whillikers!" style of acting, but I guess te Watson clan, once seemingly innumerable, was running out of new entries.

There's a bit of pleasure in seeing old pros like Carl Stockdale, Emma Dunn, and Monte Blue go through their small roles, but that wasn't enough to make me recommend it to you.