Blondie Hits the Jackpot (1949)

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writers:

Chic Young (comic strip characters)
Jack Henley (original screenplay)

Release Date:

8 September 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Dagwood has been fired again and winds up in a hard-working labor crew while trying to get his old job back.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Based On Comic | Spanking | Sequel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Penny Singleton	...	Blondie Bumstead
Arthur Lake	...	Dagwood Bumstead
Larry Simms	...	Alexander Bumstead
Marjorie Ann Mutchie	...	Cookie Bumstead (as Marjorie Kent)
Daisy	...	Daisy Bumstead
Jerome Cowan	...	George Radcliffe
Lloyd Corrigan	...	J.B. Hutchins
Ann Carter	...	Louise Hutchins
Danny Mummert	...	Alvin Fuddle
James Flavin	...	Brophy, Construction Foreman

Also Known As:

Hitting the Jackpot (UK)

Runtime:

66 min | USA:72 min (original US 16 mm television syndication prints)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The twenty-sixth of twenty-eight Blondie movies starring Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead and Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead.

Movie Connections:

Follows Blondie Knows Best (1946)

TOO FATUOUS TO COMMAND ONE'S CONCENTRATION.

The 26th in a series of 28 Blondie films, based upon the ever-popular Chic Young comic strip and produced by Columbia, any freshness is long spent as this piece displays that familiar puerile scripting, and low level performing by Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead, that characterizes all of the episodes. For this chapter, Alexander Bumstead (Larry Simms) prepares for his first date, arranged by Dagwood's boss, Mr. Radcliffe (Jerome Cowan) in order to gain a lucrative construction contract for his company because a prospective client, new in town, is seeking an escort for his daughter at her birthday party. Dagwood is persuaded by Blondie to walk his son home from the party so that he may explain the "facts of life" to Alexander, but instead he knocks the girl's father into a swim pool, is fired by Radcliffe and, following a tiresome montage of failed employment efforts, is hired as a construction worker. Ineptly toiling at a construction site, Dagwood finds that faulty girders are intentionally being utilized, and a witless scene occurs when he is chased as a result of his discovery, during which he nonetheless manages to send a plea for aid, as usual, to Blondie. The building location is property of the man whose pool dunking led to his termination, and perplexities ensue, the title's reference to Blondie's attempt at winning a radio contest having but a weak connection to the other plotted activity. As it is directed by Edward Bernds, who wrote and helmed an abundance of Three Stooges inanities, it can be no surprise that this movie falls shy of the comic strip's comedic tone, additionally resultant from Lake's consistently banal interpretation of Dagwood as an utter nincompoop who functions only through Blondie's accordance. Such weak material limits the players to slapstick or hamminess, although reliable Lloyd Corrigan is effective as the wealthy customer wooed by Radcliffe, and the camerawork is top-flight for this effort shot on location in the eastern San Fernando Valley sector of Los Angeles.