I'm from Missouri (1939)

Director:

Theodore Reed

Writers:

Duke Atteberry (writer)
Homer Croy (stories)

Release Date:

7 April 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family

Tagline:

Your "Arkansas Traveler" is back---in his grand new comedy hit!

Plot:

Sweeney Bliss, champion mule raiser in Missouri, takes his prize mule Samson to London, where the British...

Cast

Bob Burns	...	Sweeney Bliss
Gladys George	...	Julie Bliss
Gene Lockhart	...	Porgie Rowe
Judith Barrett	...	Lola Pike
William Henry	...	Joel Streight
Patricia Morison	...	Mrs. Allison Hamilton aka Rowe
E.E. Clive	...	Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
Melville Cooper	...	Hearne
William Collier Sr.	...	Smith
Lawrence Grossmith	...	Colonel Marchbank
G.P. Huntley	...	Captain Brooks-Bowen
Doris Lloyd	...	Mrs. Arthur, Duchess of Cricklewood
Tom Dugan	...	Gus, General Starbuck
Dennie Moore	...	Kitty Hearne
James Burke	...	Walt Bliss

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Bland film with a few okay moments

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw this film when I was a kid when television stations would use these type of films as fillers rather than the horrible infomercials they have today.

I thought I'd never see this film again until I was lucky (?) enough to purchase a DVD copy of it. The copy I got was in very poor shape, but since the film was so plodding it didn't really matter. I only wanted to see it for Gene Lockhart's role.

Bob Burns (known to radio as "The Arkansas Traveler"-sort of a Will Rogers type) is a mule owner named Sweeney Bliss (the name "Sweeney Todd" kept floating through my head every time someone said his name.) who somehow goes over to England to sell mules. Gene Lockhart plays a tractor company owner named Porgie Rowe who is trying to get the British to buy his tractors instead. Anyway, Sweeny goes over to England to convince them that mules have more power than tractors. With him he brings his annoying, social climbing wife Julie (Gladys George) and Julie's sister who has her hometown boyfriend and an Englishman fighting for her affections.

Based on Sweeney's claim that Great Britain would buy the mules, Sweeney's hometown sends every mule in town to England and it's up to Sweeney to convince them to buy them. After about 40 minutes into the film, I stopped caring why or how. Anyway, in the end, a British Marquis saves the day and the mules are sold and everyone lives happily ever after.

Bob Burns tries his best Will Rogers impersonation but is way too bland in comparison. Not enough Gene Lockhart and too much of Gladys George's annoying character. It's a shame they made a good character actress as Ms. George so unsympathetic. You spend the whole film wishing that Sweeney Bliss was REALLY Sweeney Todd.