On Our Merry Way (1948)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Directors:

Leslie Fenton
King Vidor

Writers:

Arch Oboler (story) and
John O'Hara (story) ...

Release Date:

June 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Plot:

Oliver Pease gets a dose of courage from his wife Martha and tricks the editor of the paper (where he...

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Actress | Child Star | Landlord | Mother Daughter Relationship

Cast

Paulette Goddard	...	Martha Pease
Burgess Meredith	...	Oliver Pease
James Stewart	...	Slim
Henry Fonda	...	Lank Skolsky
Harry James	...	Himself - Cameo appearance
Dorothy Lamour	...	Gloria Manners
Victor Moore	...	Ashton Carrington
Fred MacMurray	...	Al
William Demarest	...	Floyd
Hugh Herbert	...	Eli Hobbs
Charles D. Brown	...	Mr. Sadd
Henry Hull	...	Dying Man (scenes deleted)
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Maxim
Betty Caldwell	...	Cynthia Dugan
John Qualen	...	Mr. Atwood (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

A Miracle Can Happen (USA) (longer version)

Runtime:

107 min | USA:98 min (re-edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Benedict Bogeaus Production

Trivia:

Charles Laughton portrayed a minister in one sequence which, because of its dramatic tone in an otherwise frothy comedy, wound up on the cutting room floor. Mr. Laughton's segment was replaced with a parody of Dorothy Lamour's South Seas movie epics. David O. Selznick', upon hearing about the deletion, offered to buy the film in order to issue the Laughton scene as a short, scrapping the rest of the picture. Mr. Selznick's plan was refused by producer Benedict Bogeaus and producer-star Burgess Meredith.

Soundtrack:

Queen of the Hollywood Islands

A Strange Little Movie

Not the "rediscovered gem from the Golden Age of Cinema" as it is proclaimed on the Kino Video DVD case, but a curiosity nonetheless. It is an anthology movie with four different stories tied together by a young Burgess Meredith asking the question "How has a child influenced your life?" The most successful sequence (directed by the unbilled John Huston & George Stevens) involves James Stewart and Henry Fonda as a couple of down-on-their-luck musicians. Not only is it great to see these two real-life pals work together for the first time, but their chemistry & easy slapstick antics are quite funny. Seeing Henry Fonda playing the trumpet while gradually getting seasick, and taking Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer down with him, is worth the whole movie. I guess the copyright on O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief" had expired as the Fred MacMurray, William Demerest sequence (years before they were teamed again on T.V.'s "My Three Sons") is a blatant and not very inspired rip-off.