... was no more togetherness and roses than it is today, especially when one part of the family was prosperous (Polly Moran as Polly Rochay) and the other part was struggling (Marie Dressler as Marie Truffle). This great old precode comedy has a warmth to it too, which is most evident in the final few scenes on Thanksgiving.
Marie Truffle has three children and an unemployed husband, so she accepts her sister Polly's invitation to take the train to where she lives and stay with her awhile until they get back on their feet. Polly even offers Marie a job in her beauty salon. Through a series of well-intended mistakes, Marie makes a wreck of the parlor. Through a series of snide remarks, Polly makes sure Marie and her family take note of every bite of food they have at her expense. On top of that, the two grown female cousins, Joyce Roche (Sally Eilers) and Vivian Truffle (Anita Page), aren't getting along either. Vivian decides to take Joyce down a peg or two by dating Joyce's boyfriend, just to make her jealous. The two sisters take up for their respective daughters, and pretty soon it's a full blown comical family feud.
MGM was never that proficient at comedy, and where they try to force the laughs here the movie falters, but whenever it's Polly Moran and Marie Dressler together, the comedy is something so pure that not even MGM could mess it up. These two always did a great job of playing women who obviously love each other no matter how fierce the disagreement that's taking place on the surface. Highly recommended.
