Blondie Plays Cupid

A retro channel shows "Blondie" films (1940s; there was also a couple of television series based on the comic strip, plus a radio show) each Saturday morning. I talked about this over the years. 

The 28 films are of mixed quality. For whatever reason, one film is not shown in the rotation (about a "haunted" house). Blondie Plays Cupid is a good one.

The film is effectively a series of vignettes. It starts with the Fourth of July coming up. Blondie is not a fan of Dagwood and Baby Dumpling's fireworks. 

She wants to go somewhere quiet. How about her relatives in the country? Some home and office scenes (where a plan to trick Dagwood backfires; the coworker involved is played by someone else in later films) take place. 

Then, an amusing scene on the train, with a familiar face (the grumpy railroad executive on Petticoat Junction; the actor was in lots of character roles). Fans of old shows and films will see other familiar faces throughout the series. 

The busy film then shifts to the country, where a young Glenn Ford offers them a ride. That's where the title drop comes in -- he has fallen in love with the neighbor's daughter, but the father opposes the match. The justice of the peace gives an amusing performance. 

More hijinks and things end (as they always do) happily. The film is well-paced and well-written, with the interrelated scenes fitting together nicely. 

One amusing bit of the "I see what they did there" variety involves Baby Dumpling winding up in a haystack after a joyride. Something is poking him. Turns out to be a needle. In a haystack.

There is also a cute final joke. The last bit involves something that would be rather serious (painful burns) if we took it seriously. The Wikipedia page at the moment somewhat misleadingly notes how things wound up. They don't simply enjoy the end of their vacation peacefully in the country.  

The films have various expected components, including the postman getting hit by Dagwood (the film has a twist, including him having a chance to get Dagwood back) during an early scene involving the family having breakfast. The smart aleck neighborhood kid usually gets involved somehow.  

Dagwood bumbles a lot, which at some point is a bit tedious. There is also some stereotypical Blondie stuff, including a bit too many scenes of her being jealous or upset (often arising from some misunderstanding) for some reason. She is not as sexy looking as in the comic strip.

Blondie started as a flapper-type character, while Dagwood was a rich man's son who gave up his money out of love. The films skip that backstory.

The strips, at least when I read them much later, also had them being close friends with their neighbors. This film has Blondie talking to the wife on the phone. Most of the films, however, skip them, and one late film has the neighbors annoyed at Dagwood.

The family grows over the decade or so of the films. "Baby Dumpling" becomes Alexander. And, they have a daughter named Cookie. The boss is "J.C" Dithers, though he is replaced later in the series except for the last film. That is, Julius Caesar Dithers.

Today is the Ides of March. It's all connected.