Our Old Car

Nesbitt tells of his father's courtship of his mother in his first car (she was terrified, but didn't show it, so he proposed on the spot). He tells of all the cars, from the Stanley Steamer through the Model T and his own jalopies from his high school days.

Our Old Car (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Nostalgia trip is the key to this John Nesbitt entry in his Passing Parade series. This time out Nesbitt talks about all the automobiles that have been in his family from his father's first, to his first and up to current times. This series has always been great at taking a look at previous times and making one fond those times. This time out the subject is automobiles and this leads to some wonderfully funny moments including the scene where his mother is too afraid to get into a car for the first time. Another funny sequence is John's first car, which was junk, but he made it up to look like a circus car. The narration is spot on from start to finish and really adds a great touch to the story. Well worth checking out when it comes up on Turner Classic Movies.

An MGM JOHN NESBITT'S PASSING PARADE Short Subject

Many of our most cherished recollections center around OUR OLD CAR.

This backward glance at the various automobiles owned by a typical American family and their neighborhood friends during the first forty-six years of the 20th Century is pure nostalgic delight. The gentle humor and traditional values which underlay the narrative reflect a time now gone forever.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

This John Nesbitt documentary for the PASSING PARADE series is a warm-hearted look at America's love for the family automobile.

It begins with the dad of the family purchasing the first car in 1900, a horseless carriage his wife was afraid to step into--a Columbus Roadmaster he bought for $850.

The years pass quickly--a 1905 Holzman, a family car called the Mitchell for a next-door neighbor, in 1910 the Stanley Steamer attracts the neighborhood kids, and then the 1913 Model T Ford.

By the 1930s dad's kid has a jalopy he bought for $45, the ice wagon is now the ice truck and the neighborhood has become the typical busy modern looking residential street lined with autos.

Nice performances from ARTHUR SPACE and JACQUELINE WHITE as ma and pa with BILLY GRAY as a little boy, with graceful narration by John Nesbitt. Well done short is a slice of Americana.

The narrator (John Nesbitt) spots an old car in the driveway of a busy neighborhood of today. He looks back in time on the same street. It starts in the horse and buggy era. The car is a new fandangle invention. Over the years, the family grows, and they get newer models.

It's fun to see these old cars in a 'real' life progression. The nuclear family story isn't anything interesting. It's John Nesbitt's Passing Parade series from MGM. I was expecting one car. The title needs to change. It's Our Old Cars. It's a harmless short which gave its audience a bit of nostalgia. Today, this short itself is old.