Bonheur en location

Widowed Fay Bainter and her two sons and two daughters move into a house and turn it into a boarding house. When the house is sold from under them, what will they do?

Katherine Hepburn was originally considered for a role in this movie, which looks like a follow-up to Little Women. She turned down the role and bought out her contract. As the movie exists, with direction by Rowland Lee, it was a wise decision. Although filled with good incidents and some fine supporting players -- Walter Brennan, Margaret Hamilton, Alma Kruger, Ralph Morgan -- there is no clear sense of more to it than that. In tone it seems caught between a situation comedy and nostalgia for the simpler days of the Mauve Decade, with a strong taste of the necessity of having enough money to get by on. Daughters Anne Shirley and Ruby Keeler are cute enough, and sons Jackie Moran and Donnie Dunagan charming enough. However, while good enough on its own terms, it's little more than that.

This movie was remade in 1963 called Summer Magic with Hayley Mills. Both are really good family movies. Summer Magic is more on the musical end. Both have a lot of love, kindness and care one for another.

Not bad but strictly B movie shenanigans that lays the syrup on pretty thick.

Originally assigned to Katharine Hepburn at the tail end of the first phase of her screen career when she had been branded box office poison. She realized that if this was the best RKO was going to offer her that her career was doomed and wisely bought out the remainder of her contract and fled back east to regroup returning in triumph a few years later with The Philadelphia Story.

The film does have a few things going for it, mainly the supporting cast. Fay Bainter is gentle and warm as Mother Carey but she is sidelined after the first quarter of the picture to make room for a few sappy love stories and some minor drama and a smidgen of comedy. Old reliables Walter Brennan and Margaret Hamilton both add a bit of flavor to the film but it's strictly a second string affair.

Family epic of the Carey family, as they go through good times and bad. They pack a lot of story into this one. At times, its so soapy sweet we want to hurl... those little kids say things way beyond their years. At other times, it swings back and forth between serious scenes and funny times. Keep an eye out for Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch, who plays a mean old cow here too!) Astute viewers will recognize Virginia Weidler as the goofy little girl next door. Weidler was only about ten when she made this, but she was probably better known for playing the daughter in "The Woman" one year later. Mom and Dad Carey are played by Fay Bainter and Ralph Morgan.... Morgan was Frank Morgan's brother... another Wizard of Oz connection! Thank goodness they let Walter Brennan have a large role as the kind neighbor, or this one would have been too cutesy to take. I was getting pretty sick of the little kids antics, but maybe this was aimed toward a younger audience ? The wallpaper hanger (Lew Kelly) has a couple lines in this one, but oddly, of the parts he played in over 200 films, most were uncredited roles. Story by Kate Wiggin, who had also written "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". Pretty good story, but it does get soapy, sudsy cute now and then.

I agree with most of the other comments that this is an enjoyable but not very noteworthy film. Keeler was surprisingly dull here; she should have stuck to musicals. What I really enjoyed, though, were some scenes with the little boy. The director simply turned him loose with some very well-chosen props and let the camera roll. The results are a child being a child--curious, mischievous, determined--and a very charming and unusual addition to the film they prove to be! The wallpaper scene is priceless.