In this Blondie film, a great effort has been made to expand the repertoire of Daisy the Dog. She performs the most amazing feats, the most spectacular of which is to climb a ladder all the way from ground level to the roof of a house. She also coyly lays her front leg across her eyes to simulate shame. So she has moved far beyond the raised ears and knowing looks of the four previous films. The producers must have realized by now that Daisy was deeply popular with the Blondie audience. The film begins with Daisy stealing a bone and a pack of dogs yapping and running in circles round the inside of the Bumstead household. Blondie scolds Daisy about this afterwards by saying: 'Now, Daisy Bumstead, don't you ever bring people like that into this house again!' At one point, Alvin from next door even sticks his head through the dog flap to speak to Blondie, who has previously removed a Saint Bernard dog from the same flap, in which it had become stuck. This film features Glenn Ford in a supporting role; he had only entered films three years previously, and this was his eighth appearance on screen. It is he and his wife-to-be to whom Blondie 'plays cupid' by facilitating their elopement, and their escape from the girl's father with his shotgun. There are lots of sight gags about fire crackers in this film, because it is the Fourth of July. Poor Irving Bacon, the mailman, gets blown up by one this time. He takes his revenge by throwing a lit firecracker into the Bumsteads' house. Glenn Ford has discovered an oil well but has been prevented from drilling the last portion to achieve a gusher. Baby Dumpling, mistaking a stick of dynamite for a fire cracker, solves that problem. Some of the scenes are a bit long and some of the gags become tedious for this reason, so that the film sags in places. But it always bounces back with the inevitable joie de vivre of the Blondie genre. Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling is now a year older and slightly less cute. He even has a knowing expression from time to time, seemingly having passed into a state of 'old age at the age of five'. Penny Singleton as Blondie has slightly altered her hair style and looks a bit less cute herself. The rather annoying opening song with the word 'Bumsteadable' in the lyrics has been dropped, and the music under the titles is purely orchestral now, but very poorly done, using the song theme. The plot is, as usual, elaborate, and the gags continuous. Arthur Lake as Dagwood continues to shine in glorious 'Bumsteadability'.
