The Ma & Pa Kettle Collection: The Egg and I | 
 enlarge | Director: Chester Erskine
Actors: Claudette Colbert, Fred Macmurray, Marjorie Main, Louise Allbritton, Percy Kilbride
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: Video
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $5.00
You Save: $9.98 (67%)
New (1) Used (17) Collectible (7) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 2035
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 108
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 3.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 630310374X
UPC: 096898031738
EAN: 9786303103747
ASIN: 630310374X
Theatrical Release Date: May 1947
Release Date: February 13, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Loads of Family Fun! July 25, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This warm and funny account of a newly married couple trying to make a go of it on a backwoods chicken farm, based on Betty MacDonald's popular best seller, was a big hit with audiences during the 1940's and has lost none of its appeal today. This is a great film the entire family can watch together. Chester Erskine produced, directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Fred F. Finklehoffe in this hilarious and heartwarming film all will enjoy.
Claudettle Colbert is wonderful as the shocked but game Betty when on her honeymoon her husband Bob (Fred MacMurray) informs her he has quit his brokerage house job and bought a chicken farm in the country. She figures things could be worse, and they are, as their farm is a ramshackle old place that fights back! After all, there's not another place in the county like it; none of that streamlined stuff--no running water, no frigadare!
There are some laugh-out-loud moments as Betty and Bob fix one thing that leads to another, from a door that comes off its hinges to an old wood burning stove that seems to have it in for Betty! Bob's enthusiasm never wanes and Betty's moxy helps her trudge forward, making the farm their own.
As Betty gets attached to the chicks and a hunting dog who hides under the stove for safety she gets acquainted with her neighbors, Ma and Pa Kettle. Marlorie Main and Percy Kilbride are a hoot as the backwoods country folk with a bundle of young `uns whose names Ma is always mixing up. Pa is constantly "borrowing" tools and supplies from Bob yet can't build anything right! This was the first appearance of Ma and Pa Kettle, who would become a small franchise for Universal.
Betty has other things to contend with besides the farm, as the pretty Harriet Putnam (Louise Allbritton) has a fancy mechanized chicken farm just down the road and seems to have her sights set on Bob. There is a big dance and a country fair for distraction, and a side story involving the Kettle's son Tom (Richard Long---Jarrod from The Big Valley) who is different than the rest of the family and would like to go to college. If only that quilt Ma gave Betty could win first prize....
But the real fun and warmth here comes from Betty and Bob and their efforts to make a go of it. Colbert is particularly endearing and even the farm can't hide how great she looks in a flannel shirt and slacks. When Pa's still blows up and starts a fire which destroys part of Bob and Betty's place, all the neighbors come to chip in and help them rebuild. But some confusion caused by the backyard glamour girl, Bella Farms owner Harriet, sends Betty and her "little surprise" back to the city for a time.
There is a nice ending, warm and funny like the rest of this very enjoyable family film. Having not read the book prior to seeing the film, I certainly intend to do so now. This film is a hoot, with a warm feeling that will bring a smile to your face. A great film for everyone. Grab a big bowl of popcorn and have fun.
 A Funny Movie Based on a Hilarious Book June 19, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"The Egg & I", a movie based on the book of the same title, is entertaining, clean( you can let the kids watch this one), and funny. It's not quite as funny as the book, though.
Claudette Colbert is perfectly cast as Betty, the convenience-loving city girl who gets much more than she bargains for when she marries Bob, who is bent on pursuing his dream of owning a chicken ranch.
The ranch turns out to be isolated and primitive even by chicken ranch standards.
Poor Betty is forced to adjust quickly, and does so reluctantly and clumsily.
Those who read the book before seeing the movie may be a little puzzled by the appearance of "the other woman", who is absent from the book.
My suggestion: Read the book, then buy the movie, but don't expect the latter to be exactly like the former.
Both are VERY worthwhile buys, though.
If you have to choose between the movie and the book, I'd suggest going for the book.
The movie is very worthwhile, especially if you want a film that the whole family can enjoy.
Good clean fun... recommended! May 21, 2004
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
A genuinely funny, old-school comedy, featuring Fred MacMurray as a city slicker gone country boy, a white collar executive who decides to chuck it all in and become a chicken farmer, somewhere deep in the boonies, and Claudette Colbert as his long-suffering, stand-by-her-man, newlywed wife. Both actors have superb comic timing, and their chemistry together-- he blithely missing her every disatisfaction, she gulping back her exasperation -- is quite good. This was also the first movie to feature the iconic "hick" couple, Ma & Pa Kettle, a Lil Abner-ish pair who went on to make several films together after this debut. I suspect this film, however, is the best of the lot. Recommended!
This is very funny! March 16, 2004
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Hi. I'm Aaron ... . Not only video game expert, but movie expert. Thank you, thank you. I couldn't laugh hard enough. Betty dances with all kinds of men, meets interresting people, falls in mud, gets ditched by her husband (or so she thinks), allows people to chatter her ears off, makes mistakes all the time, watches people act like pigs, lives around lunatics (and bears it), faints in the middle of crowds, bases her life around chickens, and bears all of it. Ma and Pa Kettle are part of this movie. You should watch it!
Its a classic February 26, 2004
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I saw this movie when I was a little girl.I remember I laugh so
hard and now that I am much much older the movie is even funnier. They dont make good clean, fun movies like that anymore.
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