Bonheur en location

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.

In the 1890s, widow Margaret Carey (Fay Bainter) struggles to keep a roof over the heads of her four children. When they finally have a steady home, a scheming couple (Margaret Hamilton, Harvey Clark) try to take it away from them. Meanwhile the two daughters (Anne Shirley, Ruby Keeler) fall in love with the same man (James Ellison).

I'm always up for an Anne Shirley movie. She's one of the most under-appreciated actresses of her era and one of the prettiest, too. It's nice to see Ruby Keeler outside of a musical but it's easy to see why her career went nowhere when she wasn't tapping. After this she didn't do another movie for three years. Fay Bainter is wonderful as the saintly Mother Carey. It's too bad she isn't in the movie more in the second half. Margaret Hamilton and Walter Brennan make any movie better and that holds true here. This is the film debut of child actor Donnie Dunagan. That name might not mean much to a lot of you but Universal horror fans will recognize him as the heavily-accented boy from Tower of London and Son of Frankenstein, both also directed by this film's director Rowland V. Lee. He has lots of precocious lines and funny moments. He's not the best little actor but he still manages to steal the picture. Charming Americana that provides some laughs and tears. It's not perfect but if you like movies like Meet Me in St. Louis, you should enjoy this.

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.

This was a delightful surprise. I'd heard about the actresses who'd turned down the lead role and -- let's face it -- the title is pretty corny.

But it is a charming movie -- funny and touching by turns. The little boy in it gets fairly low billing but far too much screen time. He's icky and barely understandable in many scenes. Otherwise I'd rats the movie a full 10.

I am kind of a cynic when it comes to Americana but now and then, it really works; and this is one of those times.

The movie reminds me of "Meet Me In St. Louis," which it predates, in that it is about a strong, loving family that stays together and triumphs over odds.

Ruby Keeler is surprisingly good in the role turned down by Katharine Hepburn and others. Fay Bainter is at her most appealing. James Ellison is, as always, appealing, as are Anne Shirley and Walter Brennan. In a juicy role that came a year before the one that made her famous, Margaret Hamilton is the kind of villain moviegoers love to see get her comeuppance, which she and her hapless husband surely do, thanks to the ingenuity of the family and the two sisters' beaux.

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.