Look Who's Laughing

This film pairs Fibber McGee and Molly with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Bergen holds up as fun entertainment, using Charlie as a separate entity who has his own contrary personality. Fibber and Molly, unfortunately, do not translate well from radio. No doubt radio "watchers" used to scream with anticipation whenever Fibber even thought about opening that closet, but on film it is as dull as a doorknob.

It's fun to see Lucille Ball, though she doesn't get to spread her comedy wings much in this role.

ALthough I gave this film only a 7 (because of the thin plot and trying to make Charlie into a solo character) it was a hoot to watch. Remember, humor was simpler back then and even spouses had to be shown sleeping in separate beds. To see Bergen and Charlie live along with other radio characters like Gildersleeves and Fibber and Molly (all three translating to the screen and a live performance just fine), spotting new young stars that later would go big time (like Ball and Holloway the soda jerk), and hearing not a swear word not seeing a risque scene was priceless. This was humor before it had to be off color. An added bonus was to hear Molly do the voice of the little neighbor girl from the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. I never knew she was the one that did the voice. It is too bad Gildersleeves comes off as rather a cad on tv because he was much more likeable on his radio show. Want to HEAR more? Seek out Greg Bell on Sirius XM for old time comedy radio shows. We have lost a great deal when it comes to today's humor.

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy are on the air on NBC. Julie Patterson (Lucille Ball) is the third in the act as the standard hot blonde. It's their last show of the season. Julie is going to get married and leaving Edgar. He and Charlie get lost while flying. They land in Wistful Vista which is home to Fibber McGee (Jim Jordan) and Molly McGee (Marian Jordan).

Imagine what could have been. Edgar and Charlie are performing with a pre-TV Lucille Ball. She is great. More than anything, she actually has great chemistry with the duo. She's sassy and fun. It's ten years before her legendary TV show. If only...

Instead, the movie mostly pairs the duo with Fibber and Molly McGee. I've never heard of them but apparently, they were a popular married radio comedy duo back in the day. Those were the days. I don't think they're that funny but they are family friendly fun. It's a good fit with Edgar and Charlie. I like Edgar's hand puppet Ophelia more. She's better than Charlie. I don't really care about the plot. It's all meaningless contrivances. The movie is best with Lucy joining Edgar and Charlie. It's a fun trio but they don't have enough screen time. The highlight of the movie may just be the three of them on a plane. That's the best scene.

No, radio characters often don't lend themselves to a visual medium, and this no exception.

Bergen and McCarthy look ridiculous. Bergen was always an obvious ventriloquist who kept moving his head to distract people from seeing his lips move so obviously. And then the worst, acting as if Charlie McCarthy is able to sit by himself and even answer the phone. Waaaaay better on radio.

Gildersleeve probably comes off better on screen than on radio because he's such a buoyant character to behold.

Lucy at the time was eye candy, and later it became harder to view her as so feminine.

Nevertheless, the audience of the day got to see people they loved for years. It was probably well worth it in the day. They likely suspended all of the shortcomings and came away feeling warm.

As a contributor in the 45+ category, I was amazed and somewhat puzzled to note that the highest scores for this movie came from the 18+ group of viewers, and the LOWEST came from my and older generations who would have remembered fondly Fibber McGee and Molly, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and the Great Gildersleeve as a result of listening to their weekly radio shows. Perhaps the evaluation reflects disappointment at seing their favorites not in their familiar formats (though the writers managed to include most of the familiar tag-lines from both radio shows) Certainly the plot (!) is paper-thin and full of inconsistencies. Still, the performers came across as very likeable and there were more than a few chuckles. Probably because of this, the film was a surprise box-office success in 1941. I watched it on tape last night, and had the same strange feeling as the other IMDB respondent, to see Charlie, not on Bergen's knee, interacting with other actors as though he was human. This was even stranger in the follow-up film Here We Go Again, when a midget dressed as Charlie dances on a ballroom floor. It reminds me of the puppets in Great Gabbo and Dead of Night, where the dummy overrides the personality of the ventriloquist.