The Egg and I

Wife enjoyed it since we just started raising chickens

Family-friendly. Good comedy.

Ma and Pa Kettle were first seen as supporting characters in the classic comedy "The Egg and I." They almost stole that show, proving to be so popular with audiences that they were spun-off into an early franchise of their own feature films. Here is a collection of the original and the first three follow-up films starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride."The Egg and I" is the quintessential Ma and Pa Kettle vehicle. Pa's lackadaisical approach to life and Ma's fond ruling of the roost make them an irresistible couple. Their casual style of housekeeping liberated me from tidiness forever. Pa's procrastination has further served me as a model of leisureliness.The movies aren't in chronological order on this disc. After watching the introductory "Egg and I," you have to flip the disc over to see the beginning of the Kettles' "Further Adventures." Here Pa wins a slogan contest. The couple's prize is a spanking-new "House of the Future" and a trip to New York. The futuristic house is remarkably predictive of what we have today, over sixty years after the movie was made. It features a wide-screen TV set in an entertainment center, and extensive remote control. However this is the weakest film of the foursome. Most of it consists of the couple's slap-shtick run-ins with the new technology.Flip back to the first side of the disc for the better-written "Ma and Pa Go to Town." Here they claim the second half of their prize, an all-expense-paid trip to New York. Their native west coast town of Cape Flattery has a few Native American citizens who have recurring roles in the series. Their treatment would hardly be considered politically correct today, but for the late 1940's, it does a better than average job of trying to stir the general public to awareness of the mistreatment such minority groups suffered. As Ma and Pa are leaving for their trip, the Native Americans hand them a bag of old beads. When Pa asks what those are for, the Native Americans respond, "Tell them we're buying Manhattan back."This second sequel includes some other creative writing flourishes. Ma and Pa do pause a moment wondering if they might have been a bit rash leaving their fifteen children with a virtual stranger as babysitter, and a somewhat shady stranger at that. They wonder if their children will be safe. But remembering their children's over-the-top tendency to rambunction, they realize that the real question is whether or not the stranger "will be safe." That's a twist on the menacing babysitter theme.Then Pa tries to capture some bad guys in a novel way. While he's serving as caller for a square dance, he makes headway corraling them with all the "do-se-do" and "allemande left" formations he engineers.The fourth movie has the Kettles returning to their original homestead. This sequel is midway between "Further Adventures" and "Go to Town" in quality. It involves some commentary on the modern tendency to take expert advice about child-rearing too seriously and to keep newborns in sterile surroundings. It has the Kettles tangling with their new daughter-in-law and her parents over these issues. There's also a subplot centering on the public's interest in hunting for uranium then in the wake of the recent discovery of atomic power.Overall, this is an affable series with two of the most memorable, enduring characters in cinematic history. "Ma and Pa Kettle" has become a shorthand way of describing a casual lifestyle that invites everyone to the table - goats, chickens, and people, all alike members of one big happy family.

I used to sit in front of the TV as a kid on a Saturday afternoon & watch the Ma & Pa Kettle movies. I'm happy to say they haven't lost their charm at all. The one I had always managed to miss was the one that launched the Kettles, "The Egg & I"; I'm pleased to see it made the DVD collection. The Kettles are supporting characters in this one (it starred Claudette Colbert & Fred MacMurray as newlyweds roughing it with farm life). But it's obvious that Universal had plans to spin the Kettles off into their own film series...lucky for us! "The Further Adventures of Ma & Pa Kettle" puts the Kettles in the driver's seat when Pa wins a tobacco slogan contest, transporting the brood into an automated "home of the future". All adjust to this new environment but Pa, who's more used to the laid-back farm life (the bits with an electronic-eye door, the arm-rest vacuum, and the heat lamps in the bathroom are a hoot). "...Go to New York" once again uses the fish-out-of-water formula when Pa wins yet another slogan contest (for a lazy man, he's done well for himself!) through Bubble Cola, an all-expenses paid trip to you-know-where. A bank robber crosses paths with Pa at the farm & asks him to deliver a black travel bag to his "brother" once in New York. From there begins a dizzying series of plot twists as strange men steal Pa's bag, Pa gets arrested for feeding zoo animals, and even Ma puts herself through charm school to be more of a lady for Pa (Marjorie Main gloriously hams it up here). Meanwhile, the bank robber agrees to babysit the kids while they're gone--the poor guy didn't know what he was getting himself into! Look for Jim Backus (of "Gilligan's Island" Mr. Howell fame) as one of the thugs. "...Back on the Farm" delivers a blessed event: A grandchild for the Kettles (hilariously, Pa gets confused & thinks it's HIS wife that just had kid #16!). The bliss is soon over when the in-laws arrive, and the mother-in-laws' snooty, upper-class Bostonian methods on how to raise the baby ruffle Ma's feathers to no end. Eventually driven from their home & settling back down at the old place, the story takes some wacky detours with the discovery of uranium on the property, a baby kidnapping gone awry, and a wild car chase that closes the film.It was obvious that Universal had a tried-and-true formula on how to make the Kettle series, with comedy writers & directors supplied (Charles Lamont had also directed the studio's big comedy team Abbott & Costello, and there's a variation of the team's "pack/unpack" routine in "...Back on the Farm"). But when it comes down to it, the greatest assets of the series were the actors themselves. No one lent more credibility & broad appeal to the characters of Ma & Pa Kettle than Marjorie Main & Percy Kilbride. They put their distinctive stamps on the roles, and even great catchphrases & familiar bits left their impressions (Ma's roar of "Come 'n get it!!"; Pa's lazy lament "Going to have to fix that one of these days"; or Ma & Pa getting confused over their fifteen childrens' names).So looking forward to Volume 2!

This is a delightful movie...what I call a 'feel good' movie. I read the book many years ago and had seen the film a couple of times and then decided to purchase a copy for my film library. I highly recommend this film.

The idea of packing up and moving to the country to raise kids, farm animals, and your own crops is not a new one and this Fred MacMurray - Claudette Colbert classic is one of the best. Not sure if it’s the first to tackle this topic, but it’s my favorite. It’s simple, clean, and such good fun you can’t help but smile throughout. With a young Richard Long and at the time, audience favorites, Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main, this (for their day) all star cast creates a standout story that stands the test of time.Join this young couple as he - just home from WWII - tells his new bride they are moving to the country. He spent those long hours in the trenches dreaming about... chickens... and what they would so as farmers raising them.In the days before it was a fad or escape, The Egg and I let one dream of a ... simpler life... only to discover the truths of living on a farm... coupled with love and friendship and hard work and joy of being in it together. Come along as both the good and bad of this adventure bring one couple to the country and into the community they have joined.

This is a cute film with two of the most likable stars of the golden age of Hollywood: Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. Marjorie Main who made her first appearance as Ma Kettle ran away with the picture. She and Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle were a hoot. They proved so popular with movie audiences that a whole series of Ma and Pa Kettle followed.

I recall reading Betty Macdonald's book of this in the 1960's also in particular The Plague And I. Enjoyable as The Egg And I is with Betty and her husband and the surrounding eccentric neighbours I feel The Plague And I might have a better choice. However this a great film of it's time with Marjorie Main's performance outstanding as Ma Kettle and the family. Perhaps the success of this wasn't too great hence none of Betty's other books were adapted for the screen. However it did introduce the world to the Kettle Family and a series of films by them in the early 1950's.

Not my style but brother was impressed.

a small family run shop, it was good to watch this film again.

Purchased this dvd as it was the first film I ever saw, aged 4yrs. However it didn't work

Saw it as a child and it brought back those vague memories. Pleasant with excellent cast.