Review of Blondie

Blondie (1938)
7/10
Blondie was a pretty good start for the movie series based on Chic Young's comic strip
5 June 2015
With this, the first in a movie series based on Chic Young's comic strip, Blondie has many elements and characters one associates with it like Dagwood often getting himself in hot water which his wife Blondie usually gets him out of though she isn't above some flaws herself when she jumps to conclusions like thinking he's having an affair. There's Dag's boss, J.C. Dithers, who also jumps to conclusions often resulting in him firing him before changing his mind when Dag does something good for the company. And then there's the Bumstead offspring of Baby Dumpling and the family dog, Daisy. Oh, also the mailman, Mr. Beasley who Dag always bumps into when he comes! All characters from the strip. One not from the strip is Alvin Fuddle who's Baby Dumpling's friend. Anyway, Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton are funny enough in their roles, Larry Simms is cute enough as the toddler, Daisy brings the funny with her takes, Jonathan Hale a good straight man for Lake as his boss, and Danny Mummert amusing enough with his exchanges with Simms. Oh, and Irving Bacon suitably flabbergasted as Mr. Beasley! There was one character I didn't like in this entry: Willie Best doing his stereotypical slow-witted Negro at the hotel. Good thing his part was brief. All in all, a fine initial entry for the long-running series. P.S. Since I like to cite when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-are in something else, here it's not only Simms (who played the Bailey offspring Pete) and Mummert (who played Little Marty Hatch) but also Charles Lane (who was Potter's associate who told of Bailey Park and said he may work for George someday) who plays the furniture salesman here.
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