Blondie Brings Up Baby

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Movie
Original title Blondie Brings Up Baby
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1939
length 68 minutes
Rod
Director Frank R. Strayer
script Gladys Lehman ,
Richard Flournoy
production Robert Sparks
music Leigh Harline
camera Henry Freulich
cut Otto Meyer
occupation

as well as without mention in the film: Bruce Bennett , Richard Fiske , Robert Homans , Selmer Jackson , Joe Palma , Victor Potel , Jack Rice , Walter Sande , Robert Sterling , Ian Wolfe

chronology

←  Predecessor
Blondie Takes a Vacation

Successor  →
Blondie on a Budget

Blondie Brings Up Baby is an American comedy film in black and white from 1939. Directed by Frank R. Strayer , the screenplay was written by Gladys Lehman and Richard Flournoy based on the comics of the same name by Chic Young and based on a story Flournoy with Karen DeWolf and Robert Chapin had written. The main roles were played by Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake . Blondie Brings Up Baby is the fourth Blondie film.

action

JC Dithers, the owner and manager of a construction company, goes to great lengths to stop being angry with his employee Dagwood Bumstead, but to no avail: This time Dagwood has changed plans for a major project on his own initiative. He assures that he did so with the approval of the buyer, Mr. Cartwright, and that the changes would bring the company 5% more profit. But Cartwright has long wanted to withdraw from the purchase and takes the changes as a reason to do so. With a loss of $ 90,000, Dithers has no choice but to fire Dagwood one more time. Meanwhile, an encyclopedia seller has "tested" the intelligence of Dagwood's five-year-old son Baby Dumpling. He came up with an IQ of 168. He makes Blondie, Baby Dumpling's mother, aware of her responsibility for her son's career. An essential basis for this is the purchase of the twelve-volume encyclopedia. Blondie buys them and decides that her son needs to go to school right away. She and Dagwood bring him there that same day.

Baby Dumpling comes back from school with a black eye . He cites the name Baby "Dumpling" as the reason, but above all that he was brought to school by his mother. So the next morning he insists on going alone. Only Daisy, the family dog, is allowed to accompany him. He leaves Daisy in front of the school entrance, where she is supposed to wait for him. However, she is caught by urban dog catchers and taken to an animal shelter. So the next morning, Baby Dumpling just pretends to go to school and looks for Daisy instead. Dagwood also leaves the house so that he can continue to hide the fact that he has lost his job from Blondie. But he walks around aimlessly until he happens to meet Mr. Cartwright, whom he knocks down after a short conversation. When Blondie gets a call from the headmistress who asks about Baby Dumpling, she wants to call Dagwood at the company, but only reaches Mr. Dithers, who wants to help her. Together they want to file a missing person report, but first meet Cartwright, who tells them that Dagwood has been arrested. He has to pay $ 10 for his attack and is now in jail. Mr. Dithers pays the fine, but thinks it's good that Cartwright can be knocked down for so little money, and follows Dagwood's example.

In the meantime, the nurse has brought Mrs. White Daisy out of the shelter. She looks after Melinda Mason, who is also around five years old and sits in a wheelchair, and believes that a dog would help her patient. Baby Dumpling finds Daisy playing with Melinda in the Masons' garden. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Mason, Melinda's wealthy father, Mrs. White, and all the other servants call together. When Mrs. White returns to the garden, Baby Dumpling, Melinda and Daisy are gone. So Dagwood and Blondie meet Mr. Mason at the missing persons report. A short time later, Baby Dumpling and Melinda are found in the Bumsteads' garden. Melinda is sitting on a swing. When her father asked how she got there, she shows that she can now take a few steps. Her father, who feared that she would never be able to do this again, is so excited that he decides to build a facility for sick children. Dagwood can convince him to buy the building he has modified. In return, Dagwood gets his job back with a bonus.

Running gag with the postman

The frightened postman is already thinking of tearing up the letters for the Bumsteads, but then watches Daisy bring the newspaper into the house. But she does not accept the letters. So he tries the back door, where he is knocked down by Dagwood - Blondie hadn't been able to open the front door.

background

As in many other blondie films, Blondie Brings Up Baby tests young actors. Here it's Robert Sterling and Bruce Bennett . The young Peggy Ann Garner also had one of her first appearances here. For the former silent film star Helen Jerome Eddy , on the other hand, it was one of her last roles.

Blondie Brings Up Baby was produced by Columbia from August 31 to October 10, 1939 .

For Production Design in Blondie Brings Up Baby was Lionel Banks responsible for the costumes came from Kalloch .

Blondie Brings Up Baby premiered on November 9, 1939. Columbia also took on the distribution of the film. Nothing is known about a performance in German-speaking countries.

reception

Reviews

Blondie Brings Up Baby is predicted to be successful in family cinemas, but it is also suitable for any double show. Although the first half of the film is pretty slow, the action and deep human interest in the second half more than makes up for that. Overall, the film was certified to be excellent entertainment, it followed the schemes that the series had set up until then. The cast is also good, with Larry Simms singling out, who acts according to his age. Penny Singleton is also praised. Daisy is also perceived as funny. There is also praise for the director and the camera.

Later reviews saw a good mix of comedy, drama and pathos as well as good performances by the actors, both of which are attributed to Frank R. Strayer. The normal screwball antics end like a fairy tale. The story is one of the more complicated in the series, and a lot is happening.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hal Erickson : Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939). In: AllMovie . Retrieved July 25, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved July 25, 2020 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939). In: AFI Catalog. American Film Institute , accessed July 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Blondie Brings Up Baby . In: Variety . November 8, 1939, p.  14 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed July 26, 2020]).
  5. ↑ a b “Blondie Brings Up Baby” with Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake and Larry Simms (Baby Dumpling) . In: Harrison's Reports . November 25, 1939, p.  186 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed July 26, 2020]).
  6. ↑ a b c Blondie Brings Up Baby . In: The Women's University Club in the American Association of University Women (Ed.): Motion Picture Reviews . November 1939, p.  5 (English, online at Archive.org [accessed July 26, 2020]).
  7. ^ Gene Blottner: Columbia Pictures Movie Series, 1926-1955: The Harry Cohn Years . McFarland, Jefferson 2012, ISBN 978-0-7864-3353-7 , Blondie, pp. 22–23 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed July 26, 2020]).
  8. ^ Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp.  69 (English).
  9. ↑ Sanderson Beck: Blondie Brings Up Baby. In: San.Beck.org. Retrieved June 26, 2020 (English).