Sis Hopkins

I've listened to a few of the Judy Canova radio shows and have always found her entertaining. The hayseed school of humor has long been out of fashion but even though it's heyday was before my time, I enjoy it – at least the sort Canova portrayed. In this movie Canova (playing Sis) goes to live with her wealthy Uncle Horace Hopkins - Charles Butterworth- who is a down-home kind of fellow who made his fortune in the plumbing business. Uncle Horace has retained his modest country ways (but not his accent) but his wife and daughter Carol (Susan Hayward) are snooty social climbers who, of course, are appalled by Canova's simple country ways and language. Uncle Horace sends Sis to college where she ends up as Carol's roommate much to Carol's chagrin. Jerry Colonna plays the college's music professor and actually has a few very amusing scenes. In spite of Carol's machinations, Sis wins over the students with her sincere trusting manner and her genuine vocal talent. Canova's voice range was a big surprise to me – she could sing more than just hee-haw tunes. Unlike a previous reviewer, I thought the production values were excellent. In fact, during the big musical production number at the end of the movie I remember thinking that this was really amazing – especially for a Republic picture. At 91 minutes the movie was, for me, about 10 minutes too long. Even so, it was an entertaining, fun watch.

In Sis Hopkins Judy Canova plays the proverbial country cousin who comes to live with her rich relations in the big city. Her blood uncle Charles Butterworth is all right, he's the twin brother of her father and Uncle Butterworth became rich by inventing a new kind of faucet valve. He was a plumber when he started and not one to put on airs. The same can't be said for his wife Katharine Alexander and daughter Susan Hayward. They've taken to the manor born and they've even got a snooty butler played by Charles Coleman.

The missus won't have Canova around, so Butterworth sends her off to college with Hayward. Of course Susan isn't crazy about the prospect of rooming in the dormitory with her country cousin, especially when the rich society kid Bob Crosby starts checking her out.

Sis Hopkins is the quintessential Judy Canova film where Judy may come off like a hayseed, but she's got good instincts and a good heart that people eventually warm up to. Even her rich relatives eventually come around.

I can't leave Sis Hopkins without mentioning Jerry Colonna who plays a wacky music professor who house mother Elvira Allman has a bit of a thing going for. Allman plays Margaret Dumont to Colonna's Groucho Marx and the results are pretty funny.

Sis Hopkins has a nice cast of colorful supporting players who nicely frame Judy Canova in her quintessential part. One of those is Susan Hayward as her snooty cousin. Hayward is fifth billed in Sis Hopkins and probably no one but Susan Hayward saw Oscar in her future. It took 17 years to get there, but Susan Hayward knew her worth and had that kind of determination.

Sis Hopkins was produced by Republic and the production values aren't the greatest. Still the cast puts this one over very well.

A hick from the sticks, Sis Hopkins, is thrust into a sophisticated urban setting, where a lot of folks object to her down-home ways, especially when she's slated to join a fancy college sorority.

The name Judy Canova may not be familiar to non-fans of old movies and radio. Perhaps the best way to describe her appeal is as a country cousin of TV's Gomer Pyle. She had an inimitable style doing either novelty songs or knock-about dances. But beneath her rather homely appearance, an appealing persona shone through. Unfortunately, this is not her best showcase, maybe because screen time is shared by a number of performers, including mustachioed comic Jerry Colonna taking a break from radio, and an unexpected Susan Hayward already showing a sharp edge behind that soft beauty. Unfortunately, the musical selections are pretty forgettable, rather surprising given Bob Crosby's popular presence. And what's with that hugely overdone final production number. Its lordly costuming appears jarringly out of place. But at least there's a lot of sexy girls backstage for guys to look at. Then too, I suspect the patriotic curtain closer was anticipating WWII then only months away. All in all, the 100-minutes may not be top-notch Canova, but does remain a decent time- passer.

Once again, Ms. Canova is a hick-from-the-stix thrust into modern living, in this case going to live with her uncle Charles Butterworth, who's a decent sort, but whose wife and daughter, Katharine Alexander and Susan Hayward, no less, are conniving snobs. Judy and Susan wind up as roomies at college, and from there it more or less writes itself, with misunderstandings, a side trip to burlesque, and some less-than-scintillating specialty acts. Jerry Colonna does what he can with subpar material, and Bob Crosby, singing and conducting pleasantly, has the personality of a lox. Judy gets to sing some pretty good songs by an up-and-coming Frank Loesser and Jule Styne, as well as yodel, jitterbug, and even attempt "Sempre Libre," which unfortunately is rather beyond her. She's an amiable presence who deserved better than Republic could give her, and while this showcase for her talents is a slog when she isn't around, it gives her a nice workout.

Very much a mixed bag. The good-Judy Canova could really sing when she wasn't camping it up with yodeling and so forth. Bob Crosby, Bing's brother, also had a nice voice not as smooth as his brothers but pleasant and his band is very good but when he reads his lines the man is a block of wood. Susan Hayward very early in her career gives a good account of herself as a spoiled selfish witch, something of a specialty of hers on her way up. Plus she has the dubious distinction of probably being the only Oscar winner to appear in a Judy Canova movie. The bad-Did I mention the yodeling? Jerry Colonna is very definitely an acquired taste and a great deal of the movie is very corny and a tad ridiculous. Not painful just don't expect high art.