''The Kettles in the Ozarks'' is a 1956 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 ninth 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 introducing
Arthur Hunnicutt
Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...
as Sedge, Pa's brother who lives in the
Ozarks
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
, replacing
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 ...
as Pa.
Plot
With Pa out of the way, Ma and the kids head out to help Pa's brother Sedgewick with his farm in Mournful Hollow, Arkansas. Ma and 13 of her 16 kids waste no time in turning both the train station waiting room and the train's day coach into a complete shambles.
Upon arrival, Ma discovers Sedgwick is at least as lazy as Pa, if not worse. And he's been keeping his fiancé Bedelia waiting for 20 years to marry him. Ma is determined to nudge Sedgwick towards the altar.
Sedgwick is renting out his barn to three men who have "Gangster" written all over them; and they are working an illegal moonshine liquor still in the barn. Disposing of the waste product from the still proves problematic. Every time the crooks go into the woods, they have problems with Mother Nature (bears, a hornet's nest, etc.).
When they dispose of the waste at the farm itself, it seeps into the groundwater. The result is a barnyard full of very tipsy animals.
Ma tricks the gangsters into taking part in a taffy pull contest. The taffy dough has been liberally spiked with glue, and the criminals' hands are trapped tight until the authorities come to arrest them.
Sedgwick and Bedelia are married, despite the minister's lips being accidentally glued shut when he tries the tainted taffy.
Cast
*
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 ...
as Ma Kettle
*
Arthur Hunnicutt
Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...
as Sedgewick Kettle
*
Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film ...
as Miss Bedelia Baines
*
Ted de Corsia as Professor
*
Olive Sturgess
Olive Sturgess (born October 8, 1933) is a Canadian former actress who worked in films, television shows, and theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Sturgess. Leonard hosted his own radio show. She came to Hollywood ...
as Nancy Kettle
*
Richard Eyer
Richard Ross Eyer (born May 6, 1945) is an American former child actor who worked during the 1950s and 1960s. He then became a teacher and taught at elementary schools in Bishop, California until he retired in 2006. He is the older brother of Rob ...
as Billy Kettle
*Cheryl Callaway as Suzie Kettle
*
Paul Wexler as Reverend Martin
*
Richard Deacon as "Big Trout", The Indian
*Pat Goldin as "Small Fry", The Indian
*
Sid Tomack as Benny
*
Joe Sawyer
Joe Sawyer (born Joseph Sauers, August 29, 1906 – April 21, 1982) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1927 and 1962, and was sometimes billed under his birth name.
Early life
Sawyer was born August 29, 1 ...
as Bancroft Baines, Bedelia's Brother
*
Bonnie Franklin
Bonnie Gail Franklin (January 6, 1944 – March 1, 2013) was an American actress, known for her leading role as Ann Romano in the television series '' One Day at a Time'' (1975–1984). She was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards. ...
as Betty Kettle
See also
*
List of American films of 1956
A list of American films released in 1956
''Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-B
C-D
E-I
J-M
N-R
S-Z
See also
* 1956 in the United States
Sources Footnotes
References
*
*
External links
19 ...
References
External links
*
1956 films
1956 comedy films
Films directed by Charles Lamont
American black-and-white films
Films set in Arkansas
Universal Pictures films
Ma and Pa Kettle
Films set in Washington (state)
1950s English-language films
American comedy films
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