THE KETTLES IN THE OZARKS

Ma Kettle reads Pa's letter to one of their children

THE KETTLES IN THE OZARKS (1956). Director: Charles Lamont. 

Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) packs up all of her brood and takes off to the Ozarks, where she plans to help her brother-in-law, Sedgwick (Arthur Hunnicutt) with his farm. Sedge has been affianced to gal pal Bedelia (Una Merkel) for twenty years, and Ma hopes to do something about that situation as well. Some shady men rent the barn from Sedge, but they turn out to be bootleggers trying to avoid "revenuers." 

Una Merkel, Richard Eyer and Arthur Hunnicutt

By this time Percy Kilbride had had enough of playing Pa Kettle and neither he nor the character appear in this film. Most of the humor has to do with the interplay between the bootleggers and the very mischievous children, with a little reserved for the not-very-romantic romance between Sedge and Bedelia. There's also a goose named Gertie who walks around wearing galoshes on her feet. Otherwise, this entry in the Kettle series is pretty weak.

Gertie the Goose goes out for a walk

The supporting cast includes child actor Richard Eyer [The 7th Voyage of Sinbad] as one of the Kettle children; Richard Deacon ("Mel Cooley" on The Dick Van Dyke Show) as an Indian; Joe Sawyer as a neighbor; and Sid Tomack and Ted de Corsia as two of the bootleggers. Bonnie Franklin, who plays one of town children, later became a sitcom star with her show One Day at a Time. Main, Hunnicutt, and Merkel give very good performances. 

Verdict: Some amusing moments but not enough. **.