It's a Great Life

10 Stars. A treat from start to finish.

Character actor and comedian Hugh Herbert was the PERFECT match for Arthur Lake. These two make an incredible team, and what puts this wacky episode over the top. I agree with the last reviewer, the story was a re-working of BLONDIE IN SOCIETY, at least the idea was there. In that film, Dagwood acquired a Great Dane. This time around, he gets himself a horse, although he was supposed to buy a HOUSE for Mr. Dithers.

Definitely watching Dithers blow his top is the best gag. Jonathan Hale was a natural in this role, and a master of the slow burn, sometimes silently counting to "three" before he exploded. Dithers was also kind of an "adopted' father figure to Dagwood, obviously why he was able to hold onto his job, and/or get his job back.

Hugh Herbert enters the picture as Mr. Brewster, an eccentric millionaire who actually is interested in the old racehorse. Yes, this all leads up to something, right? Mr. Brewster gets himself into a fox hunt where a horse is necessary -- and whatever comes next. Real goofy stuff, directed by Frank Strayer. Frank was the key to making this series a hit. The horse is played by Reggie, who only appeared in this film. There are no notes on the horse, which is unusual, unless it may have belonged to someone who "loaned" the animal out to the studio.

Alan Dinehart plays Mr. Martin. A memorable actor who generally played businessmen, though best in shifty roles. He passed suddenly about a year after this episode in 1944.

Note. Listen for the William Tell Overture. One of the last stories written by Karen De Wolf, who wrote what are considered the series' defining episodes. Whether it was creator Chic Young's idea or De Wolf, or a collaboration of both writers, this story marks the first time Baby Dumpling is referred to as Alexander, largely because actor Larry Simms was growing fast. A few episodes back, it was briefly mentioned his name was Dagwood, Jr, but somehow that was forgotten. A little mystery there. Whatever the case, this is where the name change all began, and you have to admit, Alexander was a name that stood out. Whoever thought it up, it was a good choice.

Following this episode, Hugh Herbert would guest star in KISMET.

Remastered on dvd, either separate episodes or the entire series. Thanks to Movies Net for running this classic series on Saturday mornings. Just like the old days.

It's A Great Life is yet another chapter in the further adventures of the Bumstead family. Arthur Lake does it again, while his carpet is being shampooed and the kids are contributing to the usual din in the Bumstead household, Lake mistakes instructions from his boss Jonathan Hale and buys a horse instead of a house. Not just any horse but English steeplechase horse that's seen better days. What are the chances of going to a man with both a horse and a house for sale. But if it was possible Dagwood would find him.

But there's another guy who might want the horse an eccentric millionaire played by Hugh Herbert and that's more than a redundancy. Of all a sudden that pinto steeplechaser from Great Britain takes on an unexpected value.

The final scene is a fox hunt and the inexperienced Dagwood is quite a sight on the horse. And the usual does happen when a skunk gets into the fox hunt.

Arthur Lake on the horse is reason enough to watch this Blondie series film.

IT'S A GREAT LIFE (Columbia, 1943), directed by Frank R. Strayer, Number 13 of Chic Young's popular comic strip characters brought-to-life "Blondie" series, is the first of two to eliminate "Blondie" in the title. For the opening credits, it was subtitled: "Blondie and the Bumsteads," but in spite of some minor changes along with repetition of comedy gags, this one comes across quite well.

In this entry, the Bumsteads encounter in more trouble when Dagwood (Arthur Lake) acquires a horse named Reggie instead of a house for Mrs. Dithers which he was supposed to purchase as a favor for his employer, Mr. J.C. Dithers (Jonathan Hale). After this merry mix-up, Dithers, of course, blows up steam. Once Dagwood manages to take the horse back home with him, and getting it past his wife, Blondie (Penny Singleton), the animal becomes so attached to his new owner that Reggie even gives him a horseback ride to the office after Dagwood misses his morning bus to work. (One scene finds the postman, Mr. Crumb (Irving Bacon), who usually gets his daily knock downs from Dagwood, this time by Reggie, and acquiring hoof prints on his uniform). Although the Bumsteads manage to sell Reggie to Collender Martin (Alan Dinehart), Dagwood begins to have second thoughts, especially after he goes to sleep and dreams of Reggie being abused by the new owner. After awakening from his nightmare, Dagwood finds Reggie back on his property. When Martin arrives to reclaim his horse, Blondie tears up the check. Later, Dagwood finds himself riding Reggie in a fox hunt hosted by Timothy Brewster (Hugh Herbert), a horse fancier and one of Dithers' important clients whom both Dithers and Martin want to impress in order to get his account, with amusing results.

IT'S A GREAT LIFE obviously borrows in plot from BLONDIE IN SOCIETY (1941), which focused on Dagwood's purchase of a great dane, with he and Dithers encountering an important client who happens to be a dog fancier, thus using the animal to make an impression. With BLONDIE IN SOCIETY being the funniest of the two, highlighted by a dog contest, IT'S A GREAT LIFE succeeds once more with its highlight of the fox hunt along with the use of animals showing off their talents, especially the Bumstead pooch, Daisy. Both dog and horse work well together, compliments from their animal trainer(s). The laughs aren't as plentiful here as in BLONDIE IN SOCIETY," but it still gets by as good family entertainment.

In the supporting cast are the Bumstead children, Larry Simms as Alexander; and Marjorie Ann Mutchie as Cookie; with Danny Mummert as Alvin Fuddow, the next door boy "genius," and Ray Walker as a salesman. Take notice in this entry that Blondie's usual light blonde hair appearing to be a little darker than usual.

IT'S A GREAT LIFE, along with the 27 other "Blondie" comedies (1938-1950), had a very successful run on American Movie Classics cable channel from 1996 to 2001. This particular film,along with several others, included its original theatrical opening instead of the 1960s tag-on sing-along opening with full cast and staff names posted on drawn comic-strip type envelopes, the type of opening used in video distributions through King Features. Next chapter: FOOTLIGHT GLAMOUR (1943) **1/2

Dagwood is sent to buy a house but instead, dopey Dagwood gets mixed up and buys a horse from those folks...not a house. Naturally Mr. Dithers is angry...and as usual he fires him and quickly hires him back. This is because the scatter-brained client they are trying to sign (Hugh Herbert) loves horses and has taken a shine to this horse. But there are complications...Blondie sold the horse to Dithers' competitor AND Dithers wants Dagwood to pretend to be an expert rider. This leads to a goofy horse riding sequence...the low-point of the film because it's obviously NOT Dagwood riding a horse.

This is a fair installment of the series and not much more. More about the horse than really about the Bumsteads. Not terrible...not all that good either.

By the way, IMDb trivia for this one says "Since Larry Simms was quickly approaching his pre-teen years, the producers of the series decided that "Baby" Dumpling couldn't go on being called "Baby" forever and they decided to drop the moniker and call the Bumstead son by his given name, Alexander. This is the first in the Blondie series in which it went into effect." However, two episodes earlier, "Blondie's Blessed Event", Baby Dumpling announces that now that he's about to have a sister he needed to grow up and wanted to be referred to as Alexander from now on.

This is the thirteenth in the Blondie movie series. It's also the first of two in which "Blondie" is not used as part of the title and the initial entry to feature Marjorie Ann Mutchie as Cookie, a role she'll play for the rest of the series. In this one, there are some workers at the house so when Dagwood takes a call from Mr. Dithers, those workers are making some noise so Dag can't hear everything clearly from his boss and thinks that he wants to buy a horse and not a house as a result. I'll stop there and just say the mix-up gets some funny situations going including that of a potential client played by Hugh Herbert being partly confused by some of it. (He even uses the word "dither" to describe his predicament reminding him of his scheduled meeting with the person of that name!) There's more to the plot than that but now I'll just say that It's a Great Life is a worthy entry in the Blondie series. P.S. I'll also say that Herbert's appearance-as well as what a couple of animals do here-was also reminiscent of what I experienced watching Hellzapoppin' several days ago which is utter nuttiness of the highest order!