Saturday, November 12, 2011

I'm From Arkansas (1944), Lew Landers.


Hi, friends!  Let's see what's cookin' as far as hillbilly B's go!  This is a PRC release showcasing country tunes and all other kinds of minor achievements in southern rural entertainment. In the thinnest of storylines, an all-female theatre troupe heads down south to see Esmeralda, the Jenkins' family's pig that "threw out" a record-breaking litter of 18 piglets.  Their manager thinks he can somehow develop a box-office smash out of the pig-inspired Pitchfork, Arkansas visit.  Coincidentally, staying at the Jenkins' house is an all male troupe of musicians that tease the girls, exaggerating their country roots wearing fake beards and carrying moonshine jugs.  

1, 3, 3...  that's a lot of piglets.  Well, at least I thinks it might be... I ain't never learned to count!

Yes, lodging at the Jenkins' is just an excuse to yodel, play some fiddle, get handsome Bruce Bennett and Iris Adrian together... and watch a godawful ventriloquist act!  

El Brendel, the "Swedish" boarder, likes to  force feed his dummy peanuts.

The idea of a fake Swedish accent being instantly hilarious is beyond me, and this dummy act is the worst.  But the musical numbers are not bad.  Apparently for all involved, white hicks were just simple doofuses that liked to sing.  I guess I'm looking for malice  - where's the illegal stills, the distrust of outsiders and evading the law?  Must keep searching old B's.  

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