LouHomey From my favorite movies..

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

SimonJack When the "Egg and I" came out in 1947, Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray had already made five other movies together, and they would do one more after this one. As with each of the first ones, they have wonderful chemistry in this film. Paramount made the first five that included one drama and four comedy romances. Universal signed the couple for this and the last pairing, "Family Honeymoon" the next year. This film is not the hilarious comedy and laugh-out-loud fun of other films. It rather has a warmth of humor in the travails of a city couple setting up in country living. Faith in partners and trust in love play a nice story within the story here, with a good lesson at the end. Colbert is one of the great actresses of all time. She was versatile and could act well in many genres. She had a distinct persona for comedy that made her unusual among actresses. She always played an intelligent woman, if not always a wise one. MacMurray likewise played well across genres. From his last years, people may remember him mostly as an absent-minded or funny professor. But MacMurray did much better comedy roles – mostly straight; and he made some fine Westerns and dramas. He was very good in the few action and mystery films he made. This is a wonderful movie that the whole family should enjoy.

DKosty123 Fred MacMurray & Claudett Colbert star in a romantic comedy which is pretty well done. More important in the long term was the supporting cast which they had - especially Percy Kilbride & Marjorie Main. This film is actually a movie pilot.The Kettle family was created here and became a series of films after starting in 1949. This family became dear to a lot of the film publics heart because it is the depression type big old farm family. Granted not every family featured Richard Long as a child as this one would, but the mom & pa that Main & Kilbride created resonated with the public strongly.This movie was a little better than the series of films because it does concentrate more on Fred & Claudette's plot, but overall the film is just a good one. If you are a fan of the Kettles, this film is essential in showing you where the idea of the folks started. It is interesting that Main's character also got a start with Abbott & Costello in The Wisful Widow Of Wagon Gap, but in spite of that, it took the balance with Kilbride to really round out her Ma Kettle character.

silverscreen888 This charming, lively and atmospheric sojourn into the country is one of the most famous and influential of all "rustic" films. Like "Mr. Blandings Builds His dream House" and "George Washington Slept Here", Betty MacDonald's "The Egg and I" tells the cautionary tale of a city dweller and his wife trying to establish a new life form themselves far from the city's amenities. Usually one partner is more enthusiastic about the relocation than is the other--in this case, a young wife played by Claudette Colbert--while the mate is hell-bent on leaving the city's inconveniences behind--in this case Fred MacMurray. The film has a deceptively simple plot-line. In pursuit of the goal of running an egg-producing farm, MacMurray drags his new wife into the country; the remainder of the film comprises three plot lines: 1. The way they are rooked, helped, charmed and appalled by their bucolic neighbors, especially Ma and pa kettle played for the first time on the screen my Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride; 2. Involvements with a gorgeous neighbor (Louise Allbritton) whom Colbert thinks is a rival for her husband's affections; and 3. Difficulties with a very old and run-down physical property owing to long-term prior neglect, bad weather, etc. This bare summary of events I suggest captures the essence of the storyline rather succinctly; but it also omits the hysteria of Colbert's reactions, her distaste at first for the entire project, and the genial atmosphere of "what next" that permeates all the couple's dealings with nature, their neighbors and their own negotiations about their new marriage and the terms on which it is to be lived. Unlike many incompetent later so-called comedies, this is a true comedy--something that cannot end badly for the participants if they physically persevere; and it is quite realistic, if broadly mounted. How many other films can you the viewer recall which introduces Ma and Pa Kettle, a slinky blond egg-ranch owner, a 300 pound ladies man, a run-down chicken ranch, a college-trained hillbilly engineer and a succession of incompetent workmen? Frank Skinner provided suitable comedic music; the film was directed by veteran Chester Erskine, from a story and screenplay he adopted from the Macdonald novel along with Fred F. Finkelhoffe. The two produced also along with Leonard Goldstein, and they produced an instant classic and a box-office smash. Milton Krasner supplied a consistent cinematography, helped along by a very fine production design by Bernard Herzbrun and inventive set decorations by Oliver Emert and Russell A. Gausman. The fine cast is headed by Fred MacMurray as a believable Bob Macdonald, and Claudette Colbert, very powerful as always and only a bit too old for the part. As the rival egg rancher, Louise Allbritton is cultured, and brilliant as usual. Billy House as the amorous Mr. Reed, Elisabeth Risdon as Betty's mother, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride and Richard Long as the Kettles are all very much up to their parts, which in lesser hands might have turned into caricatures. others in the well-chosen cast include Samuel S. Hinds as the Sheriff, Ida Moore, Fuzzy Knight, Isabel O'Madigan, Esther Dale, Donald MacBride and John Berkes. It is hard to say enough nice things about the consistent style of this B/W treasure. What makes it work apart from the straightforward direction and the sincere professional actors I suggest is the categorical theme--Betty (Colbert) finally wanting her marriage to work, rather than her husband's equally legitimate desire to make a go of the egg ranch project he has always wanted to head, even if it means making his wife uncomfortable for a while. This is a film many admire, myself among them, and many more like even better that they admire it. It is a fine autumn film any night you want some genuinely-earned laughter.

Chuck Straub I stumbled upon 'The Egg and I' while trying to find some of the old 'Ma & Pa Kettle' movies. It was great to find out that 'The Egg and I' was the first movie that used Ma and Pa Kettle as characters. Of coarse the Kettles were excellent in this movie. They were such a hit with audiences viewing 'The Egg and I' that it hatched the Ma and Pa Kettle film series. Although the Kettles are an integral part of the movie, don't be misled and watch this with the intentions of watching a Ma and Pa Kettle movie. This is a romantic comedy with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray playing a young couple from the city that buy a run down farm. The entire movie revolves around this couple and their experiences. Most likely the 'Green Acres' TV series predecessor. Around this couple come a very interesting cast of characters of which the Kettles are a part. This movie is a simple, good old fashioned, clean cut, comedy. Sit back and enjoy the great acting and cast of characters. You'll be glad you did.