This movie was based on a book of the same title. The woman who wrote the book, Betty MacDonald, wrote it with her experiences as a young wife living on a chicken farm in the Pacific Northwest. It is worth noting that in the film, Claudette Colbert's character's name is Betty and Fred MacMurray's character's name is Bob (her husband's name). As for the film, we are not told exactly where the characters are supposed to be living although it is safe to say they are far away in the country. What we do know is that Fred MacMurray plays a recent war veteran who tells Claudette Colbert, his wife, that he has just purchased a chicken farm and that he intends for them to live out there so they can raise chickens. This is the beginning of what is a riot because they are both city people trying to get used to life on the farm. Bob (Fred MacMurray's character) is overly enthusiastic about the whole move but one can tell right away that much as Betty (Claudette Colbert's character) tries to be supportive, she is not as taken by it. First of all, the farm house is decrepit, they have to deal with the Kettle clan (especially Pa Kettle who is always asking for things but never returning favors) as well as a seductive woman who has a mechanical farm next door and has eyes for Bob.
The movie is a riot as we see the couple dealing with everything I have mentioned. I have watched the movie a number of times and even have the video tape of it. I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like if someone said to me one day, "You're moving on a farm tomorrow. Now go to work!" Well, I guess it would probably not be much different from this film!
