Big Hearted Herbert

This movie is a perfect capsule of 1930s family life in middle America. You have the grumpy put-upon (todays type-A) up-by-the-bootstraps businessman perfectly embodied by the actor who had these parts cornered: Guy Kibbee (a rare breed unto himself, they don't make them like him any more). Harried, pompous, blustery & scared to death his world is going to collapse around him & his perfect little family because of an IRS audit.

Then there is his perfect family: Aline McMahon as his wise, witty & imperturbable wife, Junior who's just about ready for college but wants to get into his uncle's engineering business not dad's plumbing fixture manufacturing plant. There's curly blonde-headed sis who wants to marry the Harvard grad & there's the cute kid brother who never saw a banana that he didn't want to eat. Finally there's the highly opinionated but lovable housekeeper.

This could have as easily been a successful radio show or a long-running comic strip. The situations are hilarious, the lines are sharp & the performances are absolutely on target. Plus you get a glimpse of a life (granted it's through the prism of Hollywood, but no less distorted than today's sitcoms of dysfunctional therapy-addicted families) that has long been extinct. Just imagine! - a locally owned family run plumbing fixture manufacturing company. Manufacturing plants used to pepper this country once upon a time, especially in the Northeast & parts of the Midwest; self-sustaining communities abounded. Half of today's population would give anything to return to those days.

If that doesn't shed light on the great divide that is cleaving this country, nothing can.

Alice MacMahon and Guy Kibbee made TEN films together! In this one, they are husband and wife Liz and Herbert Kalness. Daughter Alice is played by Patricia Ellis, and brings home the fiance. Sons Junior and Bob are played by Trent Durkin and Jay Ward. When Dad storms and yells, making a scene, the family decides to teach dad a lesson; when he brings home a client, they act the same way Dad did the night before, to give him a taste of his own medicine. It's a fun one! All done in 59 minutes.. a shortie from Warner Brothers. Directed by Bill Keighley... worked with some Huge stars, but never brought home the oscar. Sadly, Durkin died young at 19 in a terrible car accident; driven by Jackie Coogan's father. Patricia Ellis died at 53 of cancer.

Aline MacMahon is her always wonderful self as the matriarch of a blue-collar family. The kids in this family have plans extending beyond the plumbing supplies business, however.

Guy Kibbee is such a likable actor we admire his performance but don't hate him as her skinflint husband.

It contains a scene that presages what is possibly the funniest in movie history: By that I mean the scene in which Irene Dunne masquerades as Cary Grant's sister in that greatest of all comedies, "The Awful Truth." Here we have the upright MacMahon putting on an act when guests come to dinner. The act lives up to her husband's penurious manner and is truly funny and is charming as well.

Under William Keighley's direction, Aline MacMahon provides a most natural performance as the wife of a big-hearted galoot. Guy Kibbee plays the galoot and is prone to fits of endless blustering, but usually foiled by the members of their immediate clan.

The story is somewhat episodic in nature, showing situational aspects of the lives of a not-so- typical suburban family. The idea is that despite Kibbee's many forms of tyranny, they are just regular folks. The design of the family unit and its place in society seems much more thought- provoking than other run of the mill domestic comedies.

Kibbee and MacMahon appeared in ten different motion pictures together during the 1930s and early 1940s.

Big Hearted Herbert (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Charming adaptation of the Broadway play about Herbert (Guy Kibbee), a self-made rich man who is always going off about how he didn't need college, how he had to teach himself everything and his ego has gotten to the point where his family can't take it anymore. With Herbert always screaming and throwing around demands, his wife (Aline MacMahon) decides to give him a taste of his own medicine. BIG HEARTED HERBERT is a comedy but I must admit that I didn't laugh a lot in it. There were a couple big laughs but for the most part I sat there watching the film and never really laughing throughout. So, how can I not laugh at a comedy and still enjoy it so much? Because the two leads are just so downright perfect that you can't help but get wrapped up in the charm of the situation. If you watch enough Warner movies on Turner Classic Movies then you're bound to be familiar with Kibbee who was one of their stock players and showed up in countless movies. He always plays the lovable older fellow but here the screenplay gives him a chance to shout and scream. He's constantly talking about how great he is and telling everyone what he had to do in his life and he expects those around him to follow what he says. This guy is certainly a jerk but Kibbee plays it so perfectly that you never hate him or get to the point where you hope someone punches him out. This is very important because the actor allows the character to really take shape yet he knows how to play it to make sure our feelings don't turn on him. MacMahon is also perfect in her part as the wife as she starts off putting up with the mess but when it's time for the tables to turn she really nails the comedy. I won't ruin what exactly happens but the final ten-minutes are great. This thing clocks in at just 59-minutes so there's really no character development or silly scenes added just to try and beef up the situation. Instead this thing stays pretty close to what you're imagine the story was like on Broadway and the two stars just make this a winner.