That Pa Kettle. Thinking that Ma is having another, Ma tells other perspective fathers that it's just like shelling peas. But it's really Kim, son Tom's wife, and this introduces the family to Kim's snobbish parents, Ray Collins and Barbara Brown. The Fay Bainter look-like Brown (and sound-alike) is one of the most meddlesome mothers in screen history and it is hard to feel any sympathy for her as everybody gangs up on her. In the meantime, Pa discovers radium on his property and becomes radio active to humorous results. Yes, Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride are back for another go-around as the hicks from the sticks who somehow managed to move into the lap of luxury yet never gave up the farm.
This is one of the films where math is exploited for a gag, trying to convince us that 14 times 5 is 25, using addition and division to prove it. The gags may rank high, but it is dwindled by a poorly executed plot. The Native American pals of pa are treated with more contempt although there's a very funny response to the revelation that Brown's family came over on the Mayflower. A very funny car and train race sequence at the end seems like something out of the Keystone Cops. It tries to soften the blow of Brown's earlier behavior, but the sight of Main and Brown on a push cart, or whatever those contraptions are called, is worth all that earlier obnoxiousness.
This is one of the films where math is exploited for a gag, trying to convince us that 14 times 5 is 25, using addition and division to prove it. The gags may rank high, but it is dwindled by a poorly executed plot. The Native American pals of pa are treated with more contempt although there's a very funny response to the revelation that Brown's family came over on the Mayflower. A very funny car and train race sequence at the end seems like something out of the Keystone Cops. It tries to soften the blow of Brown's earlier behavior, but the sight of Main and Brown on a push cart, or whatever those contraptions are called, is worth all that earlier obnoxiousness.