Vuelta a casa

It was fun watching Alan Hale Jr. try to make time with no nonsense secretary Marilyn Monroe. But I couldn't get past the ridiculous casting of a man in his mid to late 30 with a 10 year old sister. He looked closer to his mom's age!

"Home Town Story" is a frustrating B-movie from MGM. It has a few excellent story ideas but manages to execute them quite poorly. Despite this, it is watchable.

Jeffrey Lynn plays Blake Washburn--an ex-senator with a serious chip on his shoulder. He's mad he lost the re-election and is bent on punishing the guy responsible. So, as the new editor of a newspaper, he's bent on attacking the MacFarland family business--because the factory owner's son beat Washburn in the election! If Washburn sounds like a petty jerk, then you are correct. In addition to using the paper for his personal vendetta, he seriously ignores his incredibly long-suffering fiancé. Therein lies much of the problem with the film--the main character is unlikable and you really want a piano to fall on his head (or some equally horrid accident). Additionally, the film has a very odd message about economics and capitalism that COULD have been excellent had the message not been hammered home so poorly. Overall, despite the MGM glitz and a few good actors (I like the Washburn kid), it's a film that needed more time to allow the plot to move realistically instead of being so rushed and contrived.

Overall, this feature is really only fair at best, but it does have some points of interest. The most common reason why it is still watched today is the appearance of Marilyn Monroe in one of her earlier movie roles, and in fact the cast as a whole features an unusual mix of performers. The story is also mildly interesting as a window into its era.

The supporting cast almost makes it worth seeing by itself. How often do you see the combination of Marilyn Monroe, Donald Crisp, and Alan Hale, Jr. in the same movie? Monroe appears in several scenes, and although only one gives her any significant screen time, she does get the chance to command some attention. Hale is well-cast as the good-natured sidekick. Crisp's talent and experience keeps the last portion of the movie from coming apart. The lively Marjorie Reynolds is also in the cast, but her character doesn't give her many opportunities to show what she can do.

The story line was overtly designed to accommodate the corporate backers of the movie, and now it is really only of interest as a look at some common perceptions of its day. The last part of the movie did have the potential for some fairly effective melodrama, but parts of it become rather labored, and it is mainly thanks to Crisp's restrained performance that it remains watchable.

Jeffery Lynn is cast as the leading character, and while he has his moments, he does not really have the range to make a routine story like this work effectively. He does not make his character very likable or interesting, and as a result his character's perspective is largely trivialized. That plus the rather routine script make it a largely unmemorable movie, aside from the curiosity factor that it offers.

Yes I bought the DVD because of the Marilyn Monroe connection, but found a 1951 movie that was quite compelling as typical of the era: Yes, McCarthyism was raging, and the film had an "america is great" message. But that's all right. It was a good "morality story". Well written. Enjoyable (and this from a big liberal).

Allen Hale Jr. is great as the reporter and former WWII Sea-Bee. And I love the character actress who plays the Society Reporter at the newspaper. And, of course, Marjery Reynolds had a great career on early television, shortly after this film.

But the best performance - great despite the fact that it is the vehicle to please the "anti Communist" / Black-list fear of 1951, is that of Donald Crisp: an incredible actor!!

This certainly has to be rated as one of the least interesting movies I've ever seen. I don't think I would go as far as to call it bad - simply dull would be a better word for it. It features passable performances from most of the leads (including a limited role for Marilyn Monroe as a sexy secretary with only a handful of lines) but aside from some suspense about the fate of little Katie in the last 20 minutes or so there really wasn't much here to hold my attention.

The movie starred Jeffrey Lynn as Blake Washburn - a one term state senator who's defeated for re-election and can't let it go. In fact he's the poster boy for sore losers, ready to pick fights with anybody who brings his defeat up, and convinced that the people were tricked into voting for his opponent. Frankly, he was a thoroughly unlikable character. Returning to his hometown, he uses his new position as editor of the family-run newspaper to criticize the man who beat him and to take on a variety of crusades, most notably against excess corporate profits. In that sense, the movie perhaps had some potential to provide a degree of social analysis, except that there was always question as to whether Washburn really cared about these issues, or whether he was simply using the paper as a platform to launch another election bid. In the end, the movie actually becomes a celebration of the system, as Washburn learns why profits are necessary, and how a company's profits benefit us all.

I found this most interesting for the very early look at Monroe, as well as for a look at a not bad piece of work from a young Alan Hale, Jr., who I know best as the Skipper from "Gilligan's Island." One thing really made me curious - how could Lynn play the brother of young Katie, played by Melinda Plowman, who got a few years as a bit player out of an acting career? Lynn would have been 42 when this was made, Plowman about 10. The family relationship was not at all believable. 4/10