Handle with Care (1958) User Reviews

Mid-50s Time Capsule Drama

[harry-76 · 7/10 · 19 August 2002]

It plays like a Playhouse 90 tv drama: relatively short on 82 minutes, black and white, with economy script and production values.

Nothing to attract much attention here, except when one notices the name of Thomas Mitchell in the cast. Seldom did this legendary character actor appear in something that wasn't worth watching.

In this case, he's Williston, Mayor of a small town, being "investigated" by a collegiate mock court, undergoing their final exams. He willingly cooperates, until the court's "D.A." begins to uncover something unbalanced in tax books back in '32 and '33.

How far to go in pursuing this investigation of a now-beloved, long-term Mayor? It's Dean Jones, cast in the "D.A." role of Zach Davis, who must decide.

The whole town to a fault loves the Mayor and turns against Zach, when word about the investigation leaks out. It's Zach who must choose to go "all the way" or not.

A constantly interesting story, with some nice character and plot turns transpire. Also the philosophical question of whether unyielding factual truth must be pursued and exposed, no matter what the circumstances. Is there only one right and one wrong, or are there some shades of gray?

Jones is fine as the idealistic student lawyer, Walter Abel is strong as Jones' law teacher, Prof. Bowdin, and Mitchell is wonderful, as always, as Mayor Williston.

How nice to have this little mid-50s drama (made by MGM, probably on its B-budget backlot) preserved and shown on the AMC channel. I'd say it accurately represents the quality of many such small-budget productions of that period, which is to say, it's nicely scripted, well acted, and thought provoking.

pretty good

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 November 2012]

"Handle with Care" from 1958 is a low-budget second feature that starts Dean Jones and Thomas Mitchell. Jones plays a Zachary Mitchell, a law student who is to be the DA in a mock trial. He argues for trying a real case and finding one in the town. After going through town records and rejecting several ideas, he finds one that is very interesting: it seems the mayor, who in those days the tax collector, embezzled tax money in the early '30s. What he took in and what he deposited are two different things, as he deposited less than he wrote out receipts for.

The other students, who are from the area unlike Zachary and admire the mayor, are against this being tried as a case, and the townspeople basically turn against him. He loses his drugstore job. Nevertheless, stubborn, intelligent, and somewhat angry, he perseveres. The "trial" doesn't go as planned.

Thomas Mitchell does a beautiful job as the mayor, and there are other excellent character actors in the film: Anne Seymour, Walter Abel, and Burt Douglas. John Smith, who starred in TV western Laramie, plays Zachary's good friend.

This is a good movie, with an earnest performance by Jones, who went on to do films for Disney, starred in the TV series Hennessy, later starred as the original Bobby in the musical Company on Broadway, and then became born-again and dedicated his life to mostly performances in Christian-based productions, including a one-man show, St. John in Exile.

Well worth seeing, and the footage of '30s farms and people affected by drought is sobering, to say the least.

A mostly forgotten film in which Thomas Mitchell is a shining star

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 1 November 2012]

!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

There are many fine character actors, particularly from the glory days of the Hollywood studio dynasties. But beyond the many fine character actors are a few who are deservedly legendary. Thomas Mitchell is in that league. Whether he was the father of Scarlett O'Hara, or the failed banker Uncle Billy of "It's A Wonderful Life", or the just-a-bit crooked chap in "Lost Horizon", Mitchell stood out in just about any film he appeared in...and that was quite a few. And, Mitchell was the first actor to win the holy trinity of acting -- an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony. Mitchell had turned mostly to television in the early 1950s, so this was one of his last film roles, and although he continued working for 3 more years in both television and a few films, his performance here would have been a fitting conclusion to his career. His performance is simply brilliant, and far more nuanced than many of the roles he typically played.

Here, Mitchell is the mayor of a small town who agrees to take part in a mock grand jury for the local law school, unaware that there is one student -- Dean Jones -- who is out to prove himself. Jones digs up a potential scandal and malfeasance. Things began to spiral out of control as the beloved mayor looks like he is guilty of something very serious.

Of course, you kinda know that Dean Jones (who is very good here, although occasionally borders on a youthful intensity that almost spills over into over-acting) is going to learn a hard lesson before the film is over...although just what the lesson is going to be remains a mystery for most of the film. However, unlike some films where something convenient is just pulled out of a hat at just the right time, this mystery is totally logical -- the mayor wrote fake tax receipts for farmers who would have otherwise lost their homes during the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Ultimately, all of the money was paid back to the town coffers, but still, a law had been broken.

There are also some good, solid (though not outstanding) performances by other character actors here, most of whom you'll recognize as soon as you see them: John Smith, Walter Abel, Anne Seymour, Royal Dano, and Ted de Corsia.

Is this a great film? No. But it's far better than a lot of big-name pics, and well worth your time.

Surprisingly Good Film

[bbrebozo · 9/10 · 18 June 2003]

I saw this old film while I was lying in bed recovering from a leg injury, and it was a surprising treat. Dean Jones, in one of his earliest movie roles before he became a Disney stock player, is an earnest young student pursuing the popular mayor of a small town for his apparent embezzlement of tax funds. He earns the open hostility of the townspeople, his fellow students, and his girlfriend as he continues his quest for truth and justice. So the ending I was expecting was that he'd uncover the popular old mayor's crime, and the entire town would be apologetic and grateful, and his girlfriend would return to him, right? Well, NO! Not at all! Nice plot twist at the end, and the short dialogue between the mayor and Dean Jones when they inadvertently meet at very end of the movie, involving the morality of the mayor's actions, provides a very nice little additional mini-twist at the end. If this movie is shown on your local station, and you've got some time, check this one out.

Highly recommended viewing.

[CindyKern9 · 10/10 · 14 November 2012]

Excellent 82 minute story which plots justice, morality and law against a small community's mayor whose "accounting methods" (during a very distressed economically period) become questioned by a mock Grand Jury proceeding held by studying local Law Students.

Particular note was a very enjoyable ending which ultimately leaves the viewers to decide where their boundaries of law, justice and morality would reside if tasked with leading a community through a period of economically induced suffrage.

For this viewer "Handle with Care" was an elegant (Thomas Mitchell) depiction of a conundrum.

Cold War allegory about Communism in the Thirties

[NORDIC-2 · 19 August 2002]

'Handle With Care' is not a great film but certainly an interesting one, at least in terms of its subliminal politics. A young, brash law student (Dean Jones, later a Disney regular) investigates city hall and uncovers a skeleton in the mayor's past. It seems that, back in '32 and '33, when the mayor (Thomas Mitchell) was county tax collector, he signed receipts for a lot more money in tax payments than was actually deposited, which suggests embezzlement. Come to find out, the good mayor signed phony receipts so that destitute farmers could keep their land during the worst years of the Great Depression. The crusading young lawyer, who happens to be an outsider to this close-knit community, is a stand-in for all leftist muckrakers and outside agitators who wish to discover the worst about "The American Way." The mayor, a kind of proto-FDR figure, bends the rules but still works within the system to assure the common welfare. Naysayers get their comeuppance and the system, though flawed, is vindicated in this classic repudiation of Thirties radicalism that came out at the tail end of the Fifties "Red Scare."

begging for a remake

[deschreiber · 5/10 · 1 November 2012]

This is a very interesting idea for a movie, but here's it's been done in a pretty hokey way, with amateurish writing and some weak acting. A decent scriptwriter, backed up by serious talent in the acting and directing departments, could make an excellent movie of it. There's the sense of unravelling a mystery, the young generation against the older, the whiff of corruption in a picture-perfect town, and a climactic scene that the audience has been waiting for all along. I wasn't particularly surprised at the ending here, since it could have gone in only one of two ways, but a more creative approach could cap everything off in a more interesting way.

When young people strike a nerve.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 22 February 2024]

This is my parent's generation going up against the older generation during their college years, and as law students with ideals, they feel their justified in crossing the line of respecting one's elders. My generation would question the previous generation, and future generations have done the same, so this is simple evidence that nothing changes but the date.

With their professor's encouragement, the students, led by a young and understated Dean Jones (without any of those Disney mannerisms), stage a mock grand jury with the veteran mayor (an excellent Thomas Mitchell, worthy of another Oscar here) on the stand. Everything's fine until Jones questions Mitchell about money that appears to be missing from when Mitchell was tax collector. Professor Walter Abel stands by the mayor and Jones is fired from his job, and he begins to suspect that something's truly wrong when others begin to snub him as well.

This B MGM programmer is definitely a hot topic for any era, and it's still timely especially as it reminds older folk about how they fought against what they believed injustice and how that ideal passes down no matter the issue. It's about disregarding the passions of right dominating ideals and fear of what could be unleashed so it's a very thought provoking film. Joan O'Brien as a fellow student seems to be Jones' only supporter. Not at all heavy handed and very direct, and a commentary on the weaknesses of humanity in facing truths, from both points of view. Definitely life as seen through the eyes of a rebel with a cause, and absolutely top notch.