Silver Screen Standards: The Egg and I (1947)

Silverscreen standards: The egg and I (1947)

Based on Betty MacDonald’s 1945 bestseller, The egg and I (1947) chronicles the misadventures of newlyweds Betty and Bob (Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray) as they struggle to turn a run-down farm into a successful chicken business. It’s a hilarious, if problematic, comedy about city folk who move to the country with little knowledge of country life, let alone the isolation and hardship of farming, and it inspired the same storyline for the classic television series green acres. Like green acres, The egg and I isn’t always fair in his portrayals of the locals, but there’s still plenty of humor for rural folk to watch the clueless newcomers make all the obvious mistakes while assuming they know better than their neighbors. The egg and I certainly has its flaws, but it also has more than enough to capture the attention of modern viewers, even if they’ve never heard of MacDonald or her book.

The marital imbalance of the 1940s is a problem that quickly becomes apparent. My family and I were barely five minutes after our last tour when we yelled, “Get a divorce from him!” at Colbert’s character Betty, whose husband tells her on their wedding night that he has 1) quit his job, 2) her dumped all the money on a remote farm, 3) decided to start raising chickens, and 4) planned to start right away. Betty bravely agrees to this nonsense because she thinks it’s a woman’s duty to follow her husband, even if he could have brought up that plan at any time In front She went through with the wedding. Annulment would be perfectly reasonable, but then we wouldn’t have a story. Alarm bells are ringing throughout the film, however, and despite the film’s ending, no one who sees it will be surprised that the real Betty MacDonald left her first husband, the Bob the character is based on, after five years and moved back to the city with her two little daughters. The film obscures this element of the story by using the first name of Betty’s first husband and the last name of her second husband, whom she married in 1942, partly because Universal didn’t want to draw attention to the divorce. For those interested in learning the messy, unvarnished truth about MacDonald’s life, there is In Search of Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Mea 2017 biography by Paula Becker chronicling the events leading up to the book and film versions of The egg and I and MacDonald’s life and work thereafter.

Stars Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray manage to have plenty of romantic chemistry despite those ringing alarms, mostly because their on-screen relationship lasted much longer than Betty MacDonald’s first marriage. The couple’s first film together was The Gilded Lily (1935), and they acted in six other films, including The bride comes home (1935), no time for love (1943) and family honeymoon (1949). The egg and I was their sixth film together and by far the best remembered today. As Betty and Bob, they have an easy-going relationship that keeps their scenes light and lively, especially in the funniest parts, most of which involve their inexperienced efforts on the farm. Their romantic dinner date, where they dress up in their wedding dresses and envision a night out on the town, is one of the cutest scenes in the film, interrupted by sour-faced Donald MacBride as Mr. Henty. The third act rushes over a major disruption in their marital bliss and its dissolution, but when they’re on screen together they work really well.

As good as Colbert and MacMurray are together, the real stars of The egg and I are Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as Ma and Pa Kettle. Main even earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as the rough but kind matriarch of the sprawling Kettle clan, and the Kettles later starred in her own film series. The film’s portrayal of family draws on many negative stereotypes about poor rural farmers, including laziness, filthiness, uncontrolled child reproduction, sloppy upbringing and a lack of ambition to do better, but Marjorie Main in particular breaks down these stereotypes brilliantly in the warm , lovable, loyal character by Ma Kettle. Raised on a farm in rural Indiana, Main had a wealth of experience to draw on for Ma Kettle, although she never had children and eventually left the farm to graduate from Hamilton College when she was 19. I adore Marjorie Main in almost every role she plays, but her Ma Kettle is the fulcrum that makes this film work. Overwhelmed by her messy family, she manages to support them all even if she can’t exactly keep their names, and Main invests them with determination, generosity, and clear-eyed practicality that breaks through the mess. No wonder audiences fell in love with Ma Kettle and wanted more stories about her and her wild family. If you fall for Ma’s eccentric charm, you can see more of her in subsequent Ma and Pa Kettle films, including Ma and Pa kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle go to town (1950), Ma and Pa Kettle in Waikiki (1953) and The Kettles at Old MacDonald’s Farm (1957), but don’t miss Main’s other great performances in The women (1939), Heaven Can Wait (1943), Meet me in St Louis (1944) and The Harvey Girls (1946).

The egg and I is also notable for unforgettable supporting casts from Richard Long, Louise Allbritton and Billy House, as well as a delightful performance from Ida Moore as the little old lady who wanders into Betty’s kitchen. While it’s mostly acceptable for families, be aware that it contains offensive Native American caricatures. Chester Erskine directed only seven films in his career and was more prolific as a writer; in addition to directing The egg and I, he also produced and wrote the screenplay. If you want to see more comedy with Claudette Colbert these are some of my favorites It happened one night (1934), midnight (1939) and The Palm Beach Story (1942). Fred MacMurray is best remembered today for his performance in the noir classic. double compensation (1944) as well as his starring roles in live-action Disney films such as The shaggy dog (1959), The absent-minded professor (1961) and The luckiest millionaire (1967), but his long-running role in the television series my three sons (1960-1972) made him a television icon.

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen writes our monthly silver screen standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic films on her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifelong learning groups and senior communities. She is the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its continuation Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watchingand she is also co-editor of two books on the works of Jim Henson.