Li'l Abner is certainly not a great musical, but it sure is fun. The color on the new DVD is outrageous and just garish enough to bring the comic book quality of the proceedings delightfully to life. (The transfer is sharp as they come as well!) Probably the best part of the film is that from scene one you know that you are watching a filmed stage play. There is no attempt to "open it up" and make the film realistic, and, in that way, we have the closest we can come to what the Broadway edition must have looked like. Yes, some of the topicality is now flat as are some of the jokes, but with Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer and Stella Stevens in the cast, who cares. Singin' In The Rain it ain't, but taken on its own, Li'l Abner is a delightful couple of hours.
Review of Li'l Abner
