The Cohens and Kellys

I caught a screening of a good print on April 20, 2016, at Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan. Intertitles for this print originally were in French and Dutch (!) and somewhere along the line English was added at the bottom, although much of the dialogue was unnecessary in this world champion film of acting through mugging. On the stage, not blocking the screen, were about six excellent musicians who must have rehearsed mightily, flavoring their accompaniment when appropriate with Klezmer, and timing sound effects to perfection. A big part of the audience's enjoyment.

Mostly humorous,could have been cut here and there. One of the best business sight gags ever. Too repetitive in spots, but the old Yiddish Theatre of early 20th century New York was well-represented in heaping doses of schmaltz. The lead actors were terrific, but also delicious were two sets of minor players: the two family dogs and the two young sons, on the cusp of what was promising to be horrendous puberty. Cohen's rascal is particularly good, the best representative of a "bad boy" I've seen. Deliciously, both boys delight in mocking their own fathers' misfortune -- don't recall having seen that in any other movie. The Cohen boy, Robert Gordon, had a fulsome career as actor and director.

I know I enjoyed a film when it's the first thought in my head upon awakening the next morning. The Cohens and Kellys are firmly lodged in my melon. Brief bonus: a shot of a train running down the old Second Avenue El, torn down in the early 1940s. There were good reasons for tearing down the New York City Els but nostalgia buffs miss them.

The four leads are nothing short of miraculous, and calling them great simply isn't enough. Remarkable, legendary Charlie Murray plays the lanky, rubber-faced, temper-prone career police officer Kelly, and beaming, robust, beer-lovin' Kate Price, that absolute first choice among Irish ‘Mums during the 1920s, is the Missus. George Sidney is the proud Nathan Cohen, a squat-stocky, blustering, hair-yanking businessman, while pleasantly plump, dark-eyed, forever worrying Vera Gordon plays Mrs. Cohen (she brings hand-wringing to new levels!) THE COHENS AND THE KELLYS is, for the most part, about the perfect casting of these four leading roles, so successful it spawned a series of sequels (and in true Hollywood fashion, George Sidney is the only member of this original quartet to appear in all of the sequels). Kelly and Cohen are funny enough on their own, but add wives, the offspring, and then (not being content) even the family pets, all competing with one another in a great and gusto-laced rivalry, we have a film that generously lives up to its promotional tagline - "An Uproarious Knockout! -- A Thousand Laughs!" Fortune smiles on the Cohens, who move rapidly up in the world and into a fancy, spacious mansion, and the rivalry is jumped a notch. Now, all along there has been a secret relationship between their eldest offspring, police officer Jason Robards, Sr. as the Junior Kelly, and "Nannie" Cohen, played by attractive Universal contract player Olive Hasbrouck, and this BRIDGET LOVES BERNIE/ABIE'S IRISH ROSE sub-plot plays itself out to the expected sentimental yet humorous conclusion. The pace is fast, the jokes are, indeed, very funny, and the cast is marvelous (including skinny, cranky Nat Carr as a business associate). The unavoidable stereo-types you will expect (this picture was screened for a highly appreciative audience at last year's Syracuse festival) prove hilarious and warmly, timelessly entertaining.