I am thankful this holiday season that TCM dug this rarely seen film out of the vaults and aired it. I had seen some of the iconic 1950's series, but had never seen this theater "B" feature film. I have to admit it is okay.
William Bendix is already in form as the down on his luck family man who is always stressing, trying to succeed in life but never quite making it where he wants to be, comfortable. Rosemary DeCamp is great in the role as his wife, who no matter how bad things get she is always loving and forgiving of him. James Gleason is Riley's Co- Worker -Willis- in this film. This character role is not as developed or dominate in this film as it would be later on the TV series. Rileys daughter is an actress, Meg Randall, who only did limited work in films and is more known for being a Kettle than this series, though she is still alive at age 90 as of this writing. Why she left acting by 1961 is a mystery, but in this film she is being courted by Richard Long and Riley's Boss son.
That is the center of the plot, as she loves Long but needs to help dad by marrying the boss son so dad can get a promotion and not be destroyed. The family value this film has is that the family of 4 always rallies around dad, regardless, and the comedy is in the odd circumstances Riley gets involved in.
Chester A. Riley (Bendix), gets to do the trademark line here, and while this movie is on a bit of a forgotten track today, it is very correct when he utters it here, "What a revolting development this is." There is a charm to this that played well in the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's.
William Bendix is already in form as the down on his luck family man who is always stressing, trying to succeed in life but never quite making it where he wants to be, comfortable. Rosemary DeCamp is great in the role as his wife, who no matter how bad things get she is always loving and forgiving of him. James Gleason is Riley's Co- Worker -Willis- in this film. This character role is not as developed or dominate in this film as it would be later on the TV series. Rileys daughter is an actress, Meg Randall, who only did limited work in films and is more known for being a Kettle than this series, though she is still alive at age 90 as of this writing. Why she left acting by 1961 is a mystery, but in this film she is being courted by Richard Long and Riley's Boss son.
That is the center of the plot, as she loves Long but needs to help dad by marrying the boss son so dad can get a promotion and not be destroyed. The family value this film has is that the family of 4 always rallies around dad, regardless, and the comedy is in the odd circumstances Riley gets involved in.
Chester A. Riley (Bendix), gets to do the trademark line here, and while this movie is on a bit of a forgotten track today, it is very correct when he utters it here, "What a revolting development this is." There is a charm to this that played well in the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's.