Li'l Abner (1940)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Albert S. Rogell

Writers:

Al Capp (comic strip)
Tyler Johnson (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 November 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Oh, Happy Day! It's Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae and Mammy and Pappy Yokum right out of your favorite cartoon strip!

Plot:

The goings-on in the rural Southern community of Dogpatch, USA.

Plot Keywords:

Li'l Abner | Based On Comic | Based On Comic Strip | Punctuation In Title | Apostrophe In Title

Cast

Jeff York	...	Li'l Abner Yokum (as Granville Owen)
Martha O'Driscoll	...	Daisy Mae Scraggs
Mona Ray	...	Pansy 'Mammy' Yokum
Johnnie Morris	...	Lucifer 'Pappy' Yokum
Buster Keaton	...	Lonesome Polecat
Billie Seward	...	Cousin Delightful
Kay Sutton	...	Wendy Wilecat
Maude Eburne	...	Granny Scraggs
Edgar Kennedy	...	Cornelius Cornpone
Charles A. Post	...	Earthquake McGoon
Bud Jamison	...	Hairless Joe
Dick Elliott	...	Marryin' Sam
Johnny Arthur	...	Montague
Walter Catlett	...	Barber
Lucien Littlefield	...	The Sheriff / Mr. Oldtimer

Also Known As:

Trouble Chaser (UK)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6692) | Canada:G (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Lancaster's Lake, Sunland, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Vogue Productions

Quotes:

[first lines]
Granny Scraggs: Daisy Mae! Come on, Daisy Mae. It's gettin' up time.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Notebook (2004)

Soundtrack:

Li'l Abner

A one-joke film....and the joke wears awfully thin.

I am sure that nowadays the Li'l Abner comic strip loses a lot in translation. Its popularity over the years is one of those things that people today can't really understand. So, from the outset this weird little film has a big strike against it--especially because, by comparison, "The Beverly Hillbillies" is downright sophisticated.

The film is set in the rustic village of Dogpatch--home of Li'l Abner and his kin. Oddly, Abner himself and his determined love interest, Daisy Mae, look relatively normal despite their clothes. But, as for most of the other major characters, they are, to put it bluntly, a group of freaks. Underneath tons of makeup and prosthetics, his parents and a few of the townsfolk look more like extras from the movie FREAKS than anything else! It's all rather creepy and comical. Sure, they did look a lot like the comic strip characters as well, but they just made me feel a bit repulsed.

As for the film, there's a threadbare plot about Daisy Mae and Wendy Wilecat both wanting to get hitched to Abner. However, this plot doesn't even begin until late in the film. Instead, it's just a series of "comical" vignettes--most of which were never funny and only a few of which the audience might have laughed at in 1940. It's all rather sad seeing actors like Buster Keaton stuck in supporting roles, though for some of the old-time silent comedians (such as Chester Conklin and Al St. John), they are buried under so much makeup, wigs and prosthetics that you can't tell it's them--something I assume they felt grateful for when the film debuted.

Overall, a one-joke film that is creepy and hard to watch from start to finish. The only positive value you might have is to use it to insult Southerners (and in particular, people from Arkansas and Tennessee)--but that would seem awfully cruel...unless you really, really hate them.