Product Details

• Actors: Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Richard Long, Meg Randall, Gregg Martell
• Directors: Charles Lamont
• Writers: Betty MacDonald, Leonard Stern, Martin Ragaway
• Producers: Leonard Goldstein
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: February 13, 1995
• Run Time: 79 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303103626
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,528 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new twist on the city slicker/country cousin paradigm, July 1, 2000

By 

Robert Pratte (charleston, il USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ma & Pa Kettle Go to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ma and Pa Kettle were first introduced in The Egg and I, as incidental characters to the story. A humorous interpretation of "country folk" at a time when our nation was surging ahead technologically, these films provide a poignant glimpse of this transition period. Pa Kettle displays penchant for winning sweepstakes (a true underdog and underacheiver, this is the only financial contribution he seems to provide for his family of 17). Having already won a modern home in The Further Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle, Pa now wins a trip for two to New York City paid for by the Bubble-Ola Soda Company. The usual series of screwball mishaps color this movie with a refreshing (by modern standards) bolt of humor. First Pa finds a babysitter for the children back in Cape Flattery, Washington...who turns out to be a notorious gangster from New York passing himself off as a poet. When Pa goes to deliver a package to the gangsters for his new found friend he finds himself entangled with the police, the gangsters, and a corporate climber mistaking him for Kettle the underwear magnate. The simplicity of the Kettles working within the context of the modern urbanized environment allow us to laugh at both sides. This film in particular is among the Kettle best, and among the essentials within the 10 titles.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town, March 30, 2009

By 

Sunrise to Sunset "Paul" "Paul" (TomsRiver,NJ USofA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ma & Pa Kettle Go to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There is so much you can learn from this family besides how to laugh.
Although it only comes in VHS it doesn't matter to me. Love these shows
and love to learn that family and happiness along with a little right
from wrong on the side puts me in a reality check.

3.0 out of 5 stars The Kettles Take Their Show to New York., October 3, 2005

By 

rsoonsa (Lake Isabella, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ma & Pa Kettle Go to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Although THE EGG AND I, which came before, introduced Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main/Percy Kilbride) to film audiences, this is the second of their series as principals. While residing in the modern home that the pair had won in their first solo adventure, Pa wins a trip for both to New York City, with their apparent only problem the locating of a babysitter for the 15 Kettle children, solved when Shotgun Mike Munger (Charles McGraw), a bank robber in search of a hideout is willing to take on this formidable assignment. The Kettles agree to deliver an empty bag belonging to Munger to his "brother" Louie (Gregg Martell) in Gotham, not realizing it contains $100,000 in stolen cash and the fun begins with gangsters tailing Pa and the police keeping a watch on the thugs, all while Shotgun Mike discovers the tribulations of dealing with a surfeit of wild Kettle offspring on the homestead. Veteran Charles Lamont, who wears the director's hat for most of the Kettle titles, is also at the helm of other series efforts for Universal, including several Abbott and Costello larks, and shows a sure hand at briskly moving this type of material. The reactions of the pair to big city life, widely different from their Pacific Northwest roots, forms the core of the comic scenes which comprise the bulk of this feature. Despite the defined character of the scenario, a string of episodic set pieces is primary, some of which are wonderfully funny, while nearly all work well in vaudeville fashion, especially for Kilbride and Main, with their portrayals and timing often borrowing from Laurel and Hardy. Sight gags are in generous supply, frequently presented apace so that the viewer must be alert for them amid the general hilarity. Richard Long acts as Tom Kettle, eldest of the brood, and he and his fiancee Kim (Meg Randall), both regulars of the series, are of particular assistance to their elders in this affair. The cast is well stocked with excellent character performers, notable among them being Martell as the leader of Munger's henchmen, along with Jim Backus as another bandit, and also present are Ray Collins, Bert Freed, Ellen Corby, Emory Parnell and Olan Soule. Special photography by David Horsley adds impact to a comedy that is completely light-hearted, one of the best of the Kettle series.