Un viejo quijote

Charles Coburn took a bit from his Academy Award winning performance in The More The Merrier and a bit from his imperious father in Vivacious Lady to create the unfazed Colonel Effingham in Colonel Effingham's Raid. It's one of the few films where this distinguished character actor is given the lead role and he makes the most of it.

Through sheer stubbornness and will power Coburn is given a column on the local newspaper where his nephew William Eythe and Joan Bennett are also employed. It's supposed to be a column about the impending war news for this film set in 1940, but Coburn sees it as a great opportunity to rouse public opinion in that sleepy Georgia town against the ruling clique which has been in power so long they just treat the city money and assets like their own.

The city fathers are a group taken right out of a Preston Sturges classic and I wouldn't be surprised if this film might have been something offered to him. Thurston Hall makes a genially corrupt mayor, this is one of his best efforts.

Catch this film the next time TCM runs it, it's a real unknown gem.

That is the basic theme of this Capra-esquire comedy starring Charles Coburn as the titled character, a colonel forced to retire who returns to his small Georgia home town he hasn't been in for years. He takes up a voluntary reporting job supposedly on the war. But he takes up a stand on local corruption, and becomes a public hero. Coburn is a force of nature as he takes on the politicians and money men, who as usual, are presented as old fuddy-duddies who don't appreciate his intrusion. But Coburn proves he is much more than a feisty senior citizen as he goes out of his way to show that a supposed civil war hero was nothing of the sort and not worth being honored by having a park renamed in his honor. The powers-that-be are not only angered by Coburn, but by the showing of support towards him by the majority of the public.

In the background of this story, fellow reporters William Eythe and Joan Bennett stand with Coburn, but their romance is secondary to Coburn's feisty performance. He does a brief mean samba with Bennett to a Carmen Miranda tune, makes the town think about what is going on behind the scenes of their supposedly honest government, and turns the paper around. A nice moment comes when pages of the newspaper are displayed with quiet sound effects until an explosion is heard over the sight of Coburn's column.

After winning the Oscar for "The More the Merrier", Coburn went from being a beloved character actor to one whose appearance in films were equal, if not greater, than the younger stars in the film. In this cast, he is surrounded by a virtual who's who of Hollywood's greatest character actors (among them Elizabeth Patterson as his sister and Thurston Hall as the mayor) who bring on the perfect 40's small town atmosphere, and they are excellent.

A short and sometimes seemingly abridged social comedy with a Frank Capra like feel to it, "Col. Effingham's Raid" is enjoyable on many levels, but feels like it's missing a few necessary details.

Charles Coburn stars in this political satire as the title character, a retired Colonel who believes in patriotism above all else. He's too old to serve in the war, so he tries to give himself a different purpose. He returns to his hometown in the South and conducts a "raid" in order to drum up patriotism. No one has pride in the town anymore, flags aren't flying, and the old monuments are about to be repurposed.

This is a rather silly comedy, but if you like "Piggy" Coburn, you might enjoy it. I don't think it will stand the test of time very well given the current political climate, but if you know what side "Piggy" is on and you are also on his side, you stand a far better chance at rooting for a happy ending. Costars Joan Bennett, Allyn Joslyn, Elizabeth Patterson, Frank Craven, and Donald Meek.

Charles Coburn is his usual wonderful self. He is in a hurry, as he says `at 65, you have to be in a hurry'.

A charming and funny `surprise' film - the surprises are all the little points of humor, which keep occurring throughout the film usually as punctuations to the events. A `Greek chorus' comments on Joan Bennett's legs, a character continually passes out `repent' cards to characters, mostly the politicians, and look for the sleeping husband in the background of one scene. A little heavy on the Southern touches for our current politically correct times, but not too bad in this regard. The ending is a little abrupt, but all in all, a very enjoyable film.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this movie could have been much better if it were at least 30 minutes longer. There were so many moments where the dramatic and comedic tension could have shined. However, being only 65 minutes long, they crammed quite a lot of story while shoving aside some potentially great moments.

Good casting, but also not memorable.