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Bonheur en location

Original title: Mother Carey's Chickens
  • 1938
  • Approved
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
349
YOUR RATING
Fay Bainter, James Ellison, Ruby Keeler, and Anne Shirley in Bonheur en location (1938)
Period DramaDramaRomance

An 1890s widow has two daughters and two sons. The daughters fall in love with the same gentleman.An 1890s widow has two daughters and two sons. The daughters fall in love with the same gentleman.An 1890s widow has two daughters and two sons. The daughters fall in love with the same gentleman.

  • Director
    • Rowland V. Lee
  • Writers
    • Kate Douglas Wiggin
    • Rachel Crothers
    • S.K. Lauren
  • Stars
    • Anne Shirley
    • Ruby Keeler
    • James Ellison
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    349
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Rowland V. Lee
    • Writers
      • Kate Douglas Wiggin
      • Rachel Crothers
      • S.K. Lauren
    • Stars
      • Anne Shirley
      • Ruby Keeler
      • James Ellison
    • 14User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos32

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    Top cast18

    Edit
    Anne Shirley
    Anne Shirley
    • Nancy Carey
    Ruby Keeler
    Ruby Keeler
    • Katherine 'Kitty' Carey
    James Ellison
    James Ellison
    • Ralph Thurston
    Fay Bainter
    Fay Bainter
    • Mrs. Margaret Carey
    Walter Brennan
    Walter Brennan
    • Mr. Ossian Popham
    Donnie Dunagan
    Donnie Dunagan
    • Peter Carey
    Frank Albertson
    Frank Albertson
    • Tom Hamilton Jr.
    Alma Kruger
    Alma Kruger
    • Aunt Bertha
    Jackie Moran
    Jackie Moran
    • Gilbert Carey
    Margaret Hamilton
    Margaret Hamilton
    • Mrs. Pauline Fuller
    Virginia Weidler
    Virginia Weidler
    • Lally Joy Popham
    Ralph Morgan
    Ralph Morgan
    • Captain John Carey
    Phyllis Kennedy
    Phyllis Kennedy
    • Annabelle, the Careys' maid
    Harvey Clark
    Harvey Clark
    • Mr. Clarence Fuller
    Lucille Ward
    Lucille Ward
    • Mrs. Martha Popham
    George Irving
    George Irving
    • Mr. Thomas Hamilton Sr.
    Marie L. Day
    Marie L. Day
    • Old woman in Popham's store
    • (uncredited)
    Lew Kelly
    Lew Kelly
    • Paperhanger
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Rowland V. Lee
    • Writers
      • Kate Douglas Wiggin
      • Rachel Crothers
      • S.K. Lauren
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.3349
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    Featured reviews

    6utgard14

    Frankenstein's grandson steals the show

    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.
    8bkoganbing

    Chickens Come Home To Roost

    My guess is that the Walt Disney studio did not want this version of Mother Carey's Chickens competing with it's remake entitled Summer Magic so this film is rarely seen. Both versions are nice entertainment.

    Maybe because it's a little closer to the 1898 setting that this version is a bit more realistic. In the Disney version the character of the father played by Ralph Morgan is eliminated, in that one Mother Carey is already a widow. Here with Morgan's death in the Spanish American War we see just what kind of genteel poverty the Careys have been driven into.

    Katherine Hepburn reportedly bought out her contract so that she wouldn't have to do this film. Watching it I kind of understand the thinking at RKO. Probably the studio thought this would be a return to one of Kate's most beloved roles from Little Women. There sure is a lot of similarity. I can also understand Hepburn's thinking that this would be a step back not forward for her career. In any event Ruby Keeler who had just been let go at Warner Brothers did her part.

    Fay Bainter in the year she won the Best Supporting Actress Award for Jezebel plays Mother Carey who holds her brood together through all kinds of financial and romantic strife. It's a nice role for her and she does well by it. Walter Brennan who hailed from the rural New England area in real life that Mother Carey's Chickens is set in has one of his patented folksy rustics as the local storekeeper.

    Though Margaret Hamilton's most famous role was a year away as the Wicked Witch of the West aka Miss Gulch in The Wizard of Oz, here she has a part that makes the witch look like Mother Teresa. She and her milquetoast husband want the old house the Careys have been forced to move in and are willing to do just about anything to get them out. Of course they don't reckon with Carey resourcefulness.

    James Ellison and Frank Albertson play a nice pair of suitors for the Carey girls Anne Shirley and Ruby Keeler. Younger Carey brother Jackie Moran has some young romantic problems of his own with Virginia Weidler. But coming close to stealing the film is little Donnie Dunnigan playing Peter Carey. His scene where he tries to 'help' with the hanging of the wallpaper is priceless. In fact watching this I think I know where Leo McCarey got the idea in The Bells of St. Mary's to just turn the camera loose on a gang of little children doing a nativity play as a kind of improvisation. I don't think you could have scripted little Donnie's scenes for this.

    Hopefully I'll get to see Summer Magic soon and compare. Hopefully you will all get to see both versions.
    6ksf-2

    pretty good Family epic

    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.
    6jjnxn-1

    No wonder Kate put money on the table to get out of this

    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.
    9Handlinghandel

    Americana At Its Very Best. Don't Be Fooled By The Homespun Title

    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.

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    Related interests

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    Period Drama
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
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    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Originally, RKO slated Katharine Hepburn to star in this picture. She had just been declared a "box office deterrent" by the Independent Theater Owners Association. She refused the role and consequently bought out her contract from RKO.
    • Goofs
      As Mr. Popham is hanging a picture, a studio light is reflected in the glass over the painting.
    • Crazy credits
      The opening credits are shown as like framed embroidered samplers.
    • Connections
      Referenced in The John Garfield Story (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Sailing, Sailing (Over the Bounding Main)
      (1880) (uncredited)

      Written by Godfrey Marks

      Sung a cappella by the Carey family on the way to their picnic

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 18, 1938 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mother Carey's Chickens
    • Filming locations
      • RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • RKO Radio Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $358,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 22m(82 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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