''Ma and Pa Kettle at Home'' is a 1954 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Charles Lamont Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 11, 1993) was a prolific filmmaker, directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed several Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films. Biography A Calif ...

. It is the sixth, and also most successful, installment of

Universal-International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

's ''

Ma and Pa Kettle Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late 1940s and 1950s. The hillbilly duo had their hands full with a ramshackle farm and a brood of rambunctious child ...

'' series starring

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and ...

and

Percy Kilbride Percy William Kilbride (July 16, 1888 – December 11, 1964) was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country hicks, most memorably as Pa Kettle in the ''Ma and Pa Kettle'' series of feature films. Early life Kilbride was ...

Plot

The Kettles' son Elwin enters a scholarship contest by submitting a report on farming techniques to a national magazine. The essay claims that his family's own farm is a model of modern efficiency. The magazine's editor, intrigued, insists on visiting the farm himself. Ma and Pa Kettle try to camouflage their ramshackle farm to reflect Elwin's visualization, while trying to keep the fastidious editor from inspecting the premises too closely.

Cast

Production

The role of the magazine's fussy editor was written for character comedian

Edward Everett Horton Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Early life Horton was born in Kings County ...

, who agreed to make the film. A last-minute scheduling conflict forced Horton to withdraw, and the role was taken instead by

Alan Mowbray Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in W ...

Release

Critical response

Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

considers ''Ma and Pa Kettle at Home'' as "the best entry in the Ma and Pa Kettle series."

References

External links

* * * * 1954 films 1954 comedy films Films directed by Charles Lamont American black-and-white films Universal Pictures films Ma and Pa Kettle American comedy films Films set in Washington (state) Films set in New York City American Christmas films Films set in 1953 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{Christmas-film-stub