Tudo Azul com o Barba Azul

I am a PA Pennypacker on my grandmothers side. I sincerely thought the movie was insulting to the real Pennypackers. There is a coincidence though. Although it "may not" be true of the bigamy involving my great father Pennypacker. It is true of my grandfather, Thomas Hogan. He had two wives that did not know about each other and then there was my grandmother. After bearing 9 children for my grandfather, he married my grandmother and proceeded to have just one more. My father. My father was the only legitimate Hogan of that group of children. In all I am told there were 27 children. My fathers brothers and sisters took his first name Thomas as their last names. It's a shame. Because in this day and age, it wouldn't have mattered. I loved them all. Sincerely, Nancy Hogan Wilson

CLIFTON WEBB, given the chance to "act" in LAURA, THE RAZOR'S EDGE and other fine films, is the Clifton Webb the public wanted to see. He made his mark as Mr. Belvedere in a number of Belvedere films and audiences loved him.

But Fox did him a disservice by forcing him to play the remarkable man in this film, an 1890s gentleman married to two wives who know nothing about the other's existence. The only remarkable thing is that this time it doesn't work at all, plodding along in an attempt to be fresh and funny while at the same time irritatingly forcing its premise on the viewer by making all the other protesting townspeople look like old fogies.

The only supporting role character worth mentioning is CHARLES COBURN, again adding his own special brand of ornery charm to a role that doesn't deserve his presence. DOROTHY McGUIRE gives another one of her understated performances as one of the wives. Unfortunately, an annoying performance by JILL ST. JOHN (with high-pitched voice playing "young") gets the film off to a bad start. RON ELY is much better as her sweetheart.

Henry Levin's direction is stilted and there's not enough comedy to really enjoy it as a Clifton Webb film. Saddling him with 17 children does not alter the fact that his prissy ways make the basic premise entirely unlikely. This sort of thing (without the bigamy) was done more effectively (and much more pleasantly) in CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN.

Technically, the film is fine. Sets and costumes look good in Technicolor and provide the charm missing in the script.

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.

Mr. Pennypacker of Pennypacker Prime Products had two factories where he has divided his time for 20 years, one in Harrisburg and one in Philadelphia. He spends one month at each and never mixes up his schedule for the main reason that he has a family in each town. Quite prolific, he has a total of 17 children between his two families. His eldest daughter in The Harrisburg household decides to marry the son of a minister unexpectedly...and they have to do it in a week as he has been assigned a rectory to report to out of town.

This throws off Mr. Pennypacker's schedule and when an emergency occurs in Philadelphia, a son there is forced to track him down...and chaos ensues.

I think this was supposed to be a moral lesson...but I felt like it tried to be cute but fell flat.

Clifton Webb was always a difficult person to cast - in the 1940s and 1950s they just did not make movies where he would have fit perfectly: films where his character was openly gay. There are elements in his films (especially in LAURA and THE DARK CORNER and THE RAZOR'S EDGE) that suggest a high strung, waspy, near - homosexual type. So does his Mr. Belvedere. But throughout the 1950s his films concentrated on him as a father (frequently with large families) and a husband - even (in DREAMBOAT) a sexy movie idol of the silent period! This film is of those "family oriented" comedies that Webb made in the 1950s. As pointed out, it was based on a Broadway comedy, and it probably was purchased with Webb in mind. With his ability to personify intellectual types, he fits the free-thinking Horace Pennypacker.

The Pennypacker family was actually quite distinguished in 19th Century Pennsylvania. One of them, General Galusha Pennypacker was a American Civil War hero, and Samuel Pennypacker was Governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907. As to an actual historical figure named Horace Pennypacker I cannot say (although one of the reviews on this thread suggest there may have been some reality about the situation regarding the bigamy.

However, the play turned film was dull. Webb tried to be funny (even skating at one point), but the dialog really was not very good. The best moment in the film is between Richard Deacon (a member of an organization like The Society to Suppress Vice or something like that) and Charles Coburn. Deacon has found that Pennypacker has been passing around (presumably freely) a booklet of a mildly risqué nature concerning biology. It has flip pictures (you flip the pictures and they look like they move). Unfortunately Deacon has never had Horace Pennypacker pointed out to him. So when he sees Charles Coburn leaving his grandson's (Webb's) home, he concludes that Coburn is Horace Pennypacker. He confronts Coburn, and asks, "Are you Mr. Pennypacker?" "Yes", says the mildly annoyed Coburn. "Of Pennypacker & Co.?", asks Deacon. "Yes, yes...what do you want with me?!", shouts Coburn. "THIS!", says a triumphant Deacon - he flips the pages of the book in front of Coburn's face. "BaH!!", shouts Coburn, who knocks the book out of Deacon's hands. "You assaulted me...yes you did!!", says Deacon and he signals a waiting policeman who drags a protesting Coburn away (he later apparently straightens out the mistake, for he shows up to confront Webb before the end of the film).

It was a mildly amusing moment in the film - and the best one, unfortunately. One has to admit that THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER was one of the weaker features that Clifton Webb made in Hollywood.