Babbitt

George F. Babbitt (Guy Kibbee) is the developer of Zenith, a new developing town. With his wife Myra (Aline MacMahon), they have two grown children. He is trying hard to make his realty business a success and hiding a looming scandal which he can't remember.

I don't necessarily like Babbitt but I do like the prank. I figured that it was a scam but couldn't guess where it was going for a long while. After that reveal, the movie loses its steam. It needs a reason for being. At some point, I realized that I need to see him doing some real work. He's a lot of talk and undeserved arrogance to his family. It's a flawed character getting into trouble of his own making. It's based on a novel and I do wonder if there could be a better adaptation.

This version of BABBIT has long had the reputation of being a soft adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' often savage novel, but, while not perfect, it does manage to hold to its core. It has a fine cast, headed by Guy Kibbee, who plays his usual amiable, corrupt dolt -- look at his turn as the governor in Capra's MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. Here, playing a genially corrupt businessman with a roving eye and a taste for bootleg booze, he is perfect, led by other business types like Alan Hale, Berton Churchill and Minor Watson into a typical piece of graft, blackmail and depression. The novel is much better, but this is a good, if mainstream version.

As a note, Lewis' Zenith was modeled on Minneapolis, which was nicknamed 'The Zenith City' in the beginning of the 20th century. Lewis, who grew up in Minnesota and developed a hatred for the fatuousness of middle class life in the era made this and ELMER GANTRY, his take on the corruption of revivalism -- and which was made into a much tougher and better film in 1960 -- his deservedly best known works.

A remake of the 1924 silent, this film started out as a book originally by Sinclair Lewis. "Babbit" has a cast of Warner Brothers regulars. Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee play the married couple Myra and George Babbit, with supporting cast Alan Hale (What movie WASN'T he in in the 1930s??) and Hattie McDaniels singing a song in her second year of making films. Of course, the very first thing we see as the film starts is the stamp of approval by the Film Production Board, so we know it will be scrubbed clean of any real naughtiness. George Babbitt, local businessman and real estate agent, is called out of town, and is working on a big "business deal", and brags about it to a female cohort... which lands him in trouble later. With the production code in force, apparently underhanded money dealings were just fine subject matter, as long as no beds were shown. There is dark, unhappy side to the first two-thirds of this movie, unlike some of the other films Kibbee and MacMahon had made together, which were fun and upbeat. There are some fun gags here, like the Brotherhood of Zebras, and people getting sent off the the nut-house. I think this one gets five stars for being "okay".

Considerably changed from the novel, Babbitt diverges most from it in the personae of its two leads. George F. Babbitt is a normal semi-educated, average-looking philistine businessman, someone who would have accurately been represented by another of the cast, Alan Hale. Instead, he is portrayed by Guy Kibbee, who has Fat Fool written all over him. Sinclair Lewis wanted his readers to identify Babbitt as a member of their own families, perhaps even themselves, but no one would identify with Kibbee, a blustering, hapless figure of fun.

At the other extreme, George's wife, Myra, is the beautiful and obviously intelligent Aline MacMahon. The wife ought to be a frumpy dimwit who idolises George, who is indeed her superior. But this Myra, as she herself says, regards George as a little boy, protects him, and saves him, most dramatically (in a way that makes no sense at all) from destroying his reputation and losing their money.

However, having said that, the film is full of funny lines and tart observations on the childishness of men and the maturity of women, and there is plenty of social texture to enjoy, as well as the inimitable Hattie McDaniel, as the Babbitts' maid, who sees it as her duty to pep up their dinnertime with colourful bulletins from the other side of the tracks.

First, thanks to TCM for programming this. As big a fan of Lewis's work as I am, I'd never seen it.

It's a pretty decent adaptation. Not great, but solid and well done. Modern audiences will be puzzled about the dominance of white males in the society of 1974 and the political correctness crowd will shudder to see minorities in a subservient role and characters smoking in almost every scene.

For those unfamiliar with BABBITT, it's about a small town businessman who has totally bought into the boosterism of the business world. George Babbitt is a Realtor and a valued member of the Zebra lodge. In sharp contrast his best friend from college, Paul, has not done as well materially and is content with his lot in life and his two main pursuits besides his job are playing his violin and trying to ignore the constant nagging of his shrewish wife.

One night at dinner the subject turns to what the various characters want out of life. Paul comments that George doesn't seem interested in anything he can't touch. The aftermath of a shooting that sets tongues wagging and a shady real estate deal cause George to reexamine his goals and his lot in life.

The novel is a classic, and after 74 years ripe for a remake. Bill Murray would be a tremendous George, and maybe Steve Martin as Paul.

It will take a writer/director with real guts not to update the characters' attitudes and values. Come on, Hollywood. Everything else is getting remade, including ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES. Give BABBITT a shot, too.