Kentucky Kernels

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey get themselves stuck with little Spanky McFarland. They're a couple of itinerant magicians and the last thing they need is a kid. But this might be a pot of gold because Spanky just could be the heir of the Milford estate in Kentucky.

But what the boys don't know is that in passing themselves off as Milfords as well, they're inheriting an old mountain feud with another clan called the Wakefields. Made even worse by the fact that poor Bert has fallen for Mary Carlisle the daughter of Wakefield family patriarch Noah Beery, Sr.

The boys are pretty resourceful though and the last twenty minutes or so with them, Willie Best and Spanky holding off a horde of Wakefields is pretty funny. Sad to say though that Willie Best's portrayal of Buckshot probably keeps Kentucky Kernels from having been shown too much on television for years.

Although Kentucky Kernels is funny, I'd see Abbott&Costello's Comin' Round the Mountain. A similar story without the racism.

Kentucky Kernels is another Wheeler/Woolsey comedy, where they decide to adopt Spanky (the same Spanky McFarland from the "Our Gang" show.) They go down south to visit the Colonel (Noah Beery) and Aunt Hannah ( Lucille LaVerne ) and meet up with the lovely Gloria Wakefield (Mary Carlisle) and the feuding Milfords. The plot is kind of all over the place, but we do get a good dose of Wheeler and Woolsey's standup comedy act along the way. Cast includes Willie Best ( Sleep N Eat ) as Buckshot; Director George Stevens sure did some of the great ones (A Place in the Sun, Diary of Anne Frank, Gunga Din). Some other interesting film connections - Viewers will spot Margaret Dumont (as Mrs. Baxter, head of the Children Welfare League), who made all those movies with the Marx Brothers. Writers Kalmar and Ruby had also written material for the Marx Brothers. Also, Mary Carlisle and Noah Beery's brother Wallace were both in Grand Hotel in 1932. Fun comedy, but pretty wacky and zany. Made at the beginning cusp of the production code in 1934, there are quite a few scenes and jokes that show two men are living together, sleeping in the same bed, keeping house, and adopting a child... pretty far ahead of its time!

Willie Doyle (Bert Wheeler) and Elmer Dugan (Robert Woolsey) are out-of-work magicians. They are The Great Elmer and Company. They help Jerry Bronson adopt Spanky Milford, but Jerry elopes with his girlfriend leaving Spanky behind with the two magicians. Then they are told that Spanky has inherited a large estate. The trio head out to Banesville, Kentucky. At the train station, Willie and fellow passenger Gloria Wakefield (Mary Carlisle) fall for each other. Unbeknownst to the guys, the Milfords and Wakefields are embroiled in a generational blood feud.

Initially, I am amused by Wheeler and Woolsey and the kid. The kid is a bit too bratty and not quite cute enough. The glass breaking is a funny gag at first, but it gets more annoying over time. The guys never really get beyond mildly amusing. I don't hate these guys, but I'm not really laughing either.

If you only know the little bruiser Spanky McFarland from his Litlte Rascals, this movie casts some light on why he was considered one of the best child actors of his generation. As an adorable little tyke with a penchant for breaking glass, he drives the movie's Kentucky feud storyline. He even signs a love song "One Little Kiss," to his best pal -- a cute dog, and one of the male leads sings a few lines to a donkey (It's that kind of movie).

Kentucky Kernels is notable for showing what was considered funny -- and in some cases, socially acceptable -- in 1934. An actor credited as "Sleep n Eat" (actually Willie Best) shuffles his way through the film as a stereotypical wide-eyed, scared-of-his-shadow servant. And a gay subtext between the two male leads is watered down by some forced and unconvincing romance with a typical blonde Southern belle, but lots of the movie's humor is derived from the male/male "romance." In their first scene, for example, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are the picture of domestic bliss -- bickering as one sits at the dinner table while the other does dishes and complains about his dishpan hands. Though they mince their ways through the rest of the movie, even holding hands at times, the characters are presented as heterosexual. At another point, they're shown sleeping in the same bed -- in a plantation mansion that surely had plenty of bedrooms.

The plot, with the boys finding themselves in the middle of a Hatfileds and McCoys-style Kentucy feud, is a bit contrived. Lines like "You dance exactly like a heifer -- I mean a zephyr!" seem lifted from the Marx Brothers, and in fact one of the supporting players is best known for her appearances as the straight woman in some Marx classics. Margaret Dumont plays the manager of an adoption agency that places young Spanky, indirectly, in the care of the vaudeville performers played by Wheeler and Woolsey. It's a shame Dumont wasn't given a more substantial part; she would have been terrific as a befuddled Southern matriarch later in the film.

The paper-thin plot won't really hold your attention, but viewed as a "film history" lesson, it's worth watching. Director George Stevens went on to much bigger and better things (including the enormous classic, Giant, also set in the South), so it's interesting to see how he handled this dull script.

Always enjoy Wheeler & Woolsey, even if their movie output is uneven; some are very funny, some are not so. I thought this one was pretty funny and that it succeeds due to the professional direction of George Stevens.

It is old-fashioned in that much of the humor consists of what must be old corny vaudeville jokes, sight gags and outrageous puns, all of which might not go over with today's audiences. Speaking for myself I can appreciate such antiquated antics, and I can also put into context outdated racial humor, such as found here in Willie Best's character. He plays his usual slow-talking, pop-eyed servant ("feets, do yo' duty!") by which he became famous.

Spanky McFarland was always a cute little kid and doesn't disappoint here. And this maybe the only time Noah Beery,Sr. sings on screen, and takes a turn along with everybody else singing a Kalmar-Ruby song "One Little Kiss", a very tuneful number written for this picture. Some reviewers take issue with the inane plot, about two feuding Kentucky families, but c'mon, folks. It's just a Wheeler & Woolsey comedy; were you expecting Ingmar Bergman?