During the 1930s and 40s, W.C. Fields, Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert, among others, made quite a few domestic comedies where the husband was a decent sort and the family pushed him to make his fortune. And, by the end of the film, miraculously, they manage to strike it rich despite themselves.
In "The Family Next Door", Hugh Herbert plays a plumber. However, his wife (Ruth Donnelly) has ambitions of mingling with the rich and famous and insists that the family better itself. So, she tries a variety of stunts to try to impress her high brow neighbors...all to no avail. So how is this nice but occasionally annoying family going to manage to move up in status?
This family and film is not nearly as good as the best of these films ("It's A Gift" with W.C. Fields is the ultimate version of these sorts of films). The kids and wife are a bit more annoying than I would have preferred. Still, it's an amiable little time killer and Herbert, fortunately, only does his trademark laugh once!
In "The Family Next Door", Hugh Herbert plays a plumber. However, his wife (Ruth Donnelly) has ambitions of mingling with the rich and famous and insists that the family better itself. So, she tries a variety of stunts to try to impress her high brow neighbors...all to no avail. So how is this nice but occasionally annoying family going to manage to move up in status?
This family and film is not nearly as good as the best of these films ("It's A Gift" with W.C. Fields is the ultimate version of these sorts of films). The kids and wife are a bit more annoying than I would have preferred. Still, it's an amiable little time killer and Herbert, fortunately, only does his trademark laugh once!
