Le remarquable Mr. Pennypacker

The most interesting thing about The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker I found is that if Clifton Webb had been a little less outspoken about his unorthodox beliefs he might have kept getting away with those two families he supported. As for those families he certainly didn't do things half way.

This turn of the last century comedy was based on a Broadway play by Liam O'Brien that ran 221 performances in the 1953 season on Broadway and starred Burgess Meredith. It was considerably expanded for the film as the stage play takes place only in the Pennypacker Harrisburg home.

In fact Pennypacker was a real character, a relative became Governor of Pennsylvania. This Pennypacker on a business trip to Philadelphia met and married another woman and fathered another family there.

In fact Webb as our protagonist neatly compartmentalizes his life in Philadelphia and Harrisburg and arranges it so that he has to look after business affairs in both cities on alternating months. He raises his children to be like himself, freethinkers who question orthodoxy.

Two things bring this happy arrangement which went on for almost a score of years to a halt. First eldest daughter Jill St. John of the Harrisburg family announces her engagement to minister Ron Ely and wants her father home for a quick wedding even if it's not the month to be in Harrisburg. Secondly Webb gets a summons for his advocacy of Darwinism, John Scopes could tell you they had such imbecilic laws back in the day. Richard Deacon has a nice bit as an officious sheriff who is a real bloodhound in tracking Webb from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

This story bears some resemblance to Webb's Cheaper By The Dozen, but it doesn't work near as well. Oddly enough Webb's character in that film Frank Gilbreath was also a real person. Still The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker holds up pretty good and could be shown to today's audiences.

"The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" is one of the very strangest Hollywood films I have ever seen and I certainly understand why it's one of Clifton Webb's least famous films. This is because the film is intended to be a comedy AND an endorsement of polygamy! Seriously--the film is very much pro-polygamy!! It really makes you wonder what the writer and executives were thinking when they came up with this one!! Perhaps massive head injuries, alcohol or psychedelics might be at the root of this one!!! Even today, most folks would be surprised at such a film.

Clifton Webb plays the title character. He's a successful businessman and free thinker. And, when I say free thinker, this is an understatement! Not only is he pro-evolution in a time when this was NOT popular but it turns out he's a bigamist--something that is discovered during the course of the film. However, Webb is not the least bit apologetic and thinks he's justified to have multiple families since he takes care of their financial and emotional needs (a position that is quite acceptable with some religions). His views are not based on religion (he seems areligious) but due to his own unusual asocial views.

At first, his family in Harrisburg is shocked. The ones who take it worst are his father as well as a daughter who is just about to marry a minister! As for the Harrisburg wife, she is MUCH more understanding than you'd expect, though she is not happy. She's happier when she learns later that the mother in Philadelphia has since died (though they were BOTH married to the same man at the same time). However, all told, there are 17 kids from both marriages!! And, in the end, they decide to make a giant family--much like Webb had in "Cheaper By the Dozen"--just a bit more...um....bigamistic (is this a word? I think it should be if it isn't).

Overall, the plot is just insane and the film is STILL a bit offensive and very unfunny today--so it makes you wonder how this flew in 1959!! Audiences must have gone ape! And, I assume, the film must have lost a fortune. A major misfire that simply couldn't work as a comedy. Interestingly, Edmond O'Brien made a film about bigamy ("The Bigamist") and it worked exceptionally well...and was NOT done for laughs. Despite good acting and lush sets, "The Incredible Mr. Pennypacker" is annoying, unfunny and a waste of talent.

By the way, this is NOT meant as criticism at all, but I find it odd that Webb starred in this and "Cheaper By the Dozen". These two films were about men with apparently VERY strong heterosexual libidos, though Webb himself was gay and lived most of his life with his mother. You wonder how he might have been as a father--like the men in these films or perhaps like Mr. Belvedere? Who knows. All I know is that his adult life, outside of acting, sounded rather lonely.

Most of the reviewers seem to have taken the premise of this comedy much too seriously and allow themselves to be unnecessarily offended.

I was twelve when my family and I first enjoyed this charming confection in 1959 and I find myself still able to appreciate it for what it is.

To start with the production values are sumptuous and greatly enhanced by wide screen, lush colour and authentic sets and costumes.

The casting is first rate with the polished and ever reliable Clifton Webb firmly at the helm and Dorothy McGuire giving an attractive and intuitive performance that I feel ranks as one of her best. Charles Coburn provides some very funny moments and the fresh and lovely Jill St. John represents the younger generation along with David Nelson and others. I love this film and intend watching it again soon. Come on, give it a go.

Totally not funny 'comedy' which is loud, strident and deeply offensive. Webb does his standard schtick but juiced up to at least a 12 out of 10. Bizarre is one of the kinder things that can be said about this sorry mess. The young lovers are duds, hordes of faceless youngsters scurry about and Coburn looks like he's dead. The way is lips swell and sag is alarming. Too much embalming fluid? Art direction and costume design gone crazy with every set an explosion of faux Victorian rainbow colors. Smug, superior, condescending Hollyweird, just like today's version. Prehistoric woke.

Clifton Webb is a successful Mayve Decade sausage manufacturer, with facilities in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. He is a forward thinking fellow, who wears plus fours, has a lady secretary,believes in Darwin's theory of evolution and seventeen children: eight in Harrisburg with wife Dorothy Malone, and nine in Philadelphia with his deceased wife there; he is a bigamist, whose carefully separate lives are revealed to his families.

This sounds just like prime meat for the star of CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, but there's a major problem: Webb, despite his speeches in this movie, is a self-serving jerk. There's no supercilious wit in his role, just an almost unbreakable self regard. Despite a prime cast that includes Charles Coburn and a fresh-faced Jill St. John, there's a tiredness to the role, as if the studio bought the Broadway stage show with an eye towards keeping Webb's string of titillating family fare going. Because of the way the role is written, it is no such thing. Acting honors to Miss Malone, but this looks like Disney fare of the 1970s.... once you subtract the immorality.