User Reviews

For fans of The Great Gildersleeve, this is the best of the four features the character appeared in in the early 1940s. For everyone else, this is a wildly funny screwball comedy that transcends its radio roots. This time Gildy goes to the big city in an effort to convince wealthy Mrs. Chandler (Billie Burke, marvelous as always) not to close down her late husband's wholesaling business, which Summerfield's pharmacist Peavey relies upon. Mrs. Chandler is an eccentric millionairess with an even more eccentric brother (Hobart Cavanaugh) who has a William Tell complex, and the task will not be an easy one! This is also the most transgressive film in the series, as the fey Peavey (Richard LeGrand) gets to dance with Gildersleeve in a hotel nightclub and also dons womens clothing for the final reel. Watch for Leonid Kinskey in a delightful cameo as a window washing would be Lothario who learns some valuable lessons from Throckmorton.

Were the Gildersleeve films great cinema? No. But they were fun.

Billie Burke is along this time, and while a little bit of her goes a long ways, this time she works well in the story.

In this episode Gildersleeve is in love, but Billie Burke has her eye on Gilkdersleeve. Meanwhile Gildersleeve's actual girl friend decides to check up on him while he is in New York City. And, as usual, the plot revolves around misunderstandings and coincidences.

Richard LeGrand plays the local druggist. He was a regular on radio shows ("Well, I wouldn't say that!")He has a bigger than usual part here.

Although certainly typecast, Harold Peary really was quite entertaining as Gildersleeve. There are some gay overtones here, but all in good fun.

Great for an hour of fun!

On a trip to New York City with local druggist Richard LeGrand to meet with the supplier, Gildersleeve (Harold Pearcy) meets the screwy widow Billie Burke and his daffy brother Hobart Cavanaugh. Gildersleeve finds out after a strange encounter with them on the train that Burke is the contact they need to convince to keep doing business with LeGrand and through some wacky situations, Gildersleeve finds himself supposedly engaged to Burke. Cavanaugh has a fascination with splitting apples with an arrow and just needs to find available heads to place the apples on. For some reason in this episode, Pearcy is engaged to the determined Claire Carleton who follows him to New York after seeing him encountering Burke on the train. To get out of the engagement, Pearcy has LeGrand dress up in drag to pretend to be his wife, and through some of Cavanaugh's arrow games finds his dress unraveling and his hat scalping him, just as Carleton arrives.

Silly, nonsensical fun with Burke in rare form as perhaps the zaniest dame she played, and that includes Mrs. Topper! In fact, the "Topper" series musical theme is heard over the opening credits. It's hysterical to see the dim bulb Gildersleeve take on her character and for once seem like the smartest person in the room. LeGrand, in drag, looks like Margaret Hamilton's uglier sister, and it is hysterical to see his dress literally fly into the air as spectators look on with horror. The angle this shot is done at makes it appear like a rocket shooting into space, adding to the hilarity. Once again, the film defies reality, providing many hysterical moments, but I still quibble about the lack of continuity in the series which makes me wonder if they were tied in with what was happening on the radio series. Jane Darwell is gone for good after the first two films, but Freddie Mercer and Lillian Randolph remain. Margaret Landry has taken over the role of the niece, but as usual, is overshadowed by her younger brother.