Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

That is the basic theme of this Capra-esquire comedy starring Charles Coburn as the titled character, a colonel forced to retire who returns to his small Georgia home town he hasn't been in for years. He takes up a voluntary reporting job supposedly on the war. But he takes up a stand on local corruption, and becomes a public hero. Coburn is a force of nature as he takes on the politicians and money men, who as usual, are presented as old fuddy-duddies who don't appreciate his intrusion. But Coburn proves he is much more than a feisty senior citizen as he goes out of his way to show that a supposed civil war hero was nothing of the sort and not worth being honored by having a park renamed in his honor. The powers-that-be are not only angered by Coburn, but by the showing of support towards him by the majority of the public.In the background of this story, fellow reporters William Eythe and Joan Bennett stand with Coburn, but their romance is secondary to Coburn's feisty performance. He does a brief mean samba with Bennett to a Carmen Miranda tune, makes the town think about what is going on behind the scenes of their supposedly honest government, and turns the paper around. A nice moment comes when pages of the newspaper are displayed with quiet sound effects until an explosion is heard over the sight of Coburn's column.After winning the Oscar for "The More the Merrier", Coburn went from being a beloved character actor to one whose appearance in films were equal, if not greater, than the younger stars in the film. In this cast, he is surrounded by a virtual who's who of Hollywood's greatest character actors (among them Elizabeth Patterson as his sister and Thurston Hall as the mayor) who bring on the perfect 40's small town atmosphere, and they are excellent.A short and sometimes seemingly abridged social comedy with a Frank Capra like feel to it, "Col. Effingham's Raid" is enjoyable on many levels, but feels like it's missing a few necessary details.

"Colonel Effingham's Raid" is one of the most unlikeable movies I've ever watched. Hard to find any redeemable qualities.A brief synopses, Colonel Effingham is a retired colonel who doesn't like the direction in which his small, Georgian city is heading. The politicians are crooked and don't understand the values that made the city great. So the Colonel takes action by starting a column in his nephew's newspaper.The column is extremely controversial, especially when the Colonel starts a campaign to preserve the 150 year old court house, which the politicians want to tear down and replace with a new, more modern court house.The movie's pacing was very slow, never caught my interest and no characters were even in the slightest bit sympathetic. The Colonel was a grouchy, arrogant, blow-hard who, while he may have been trying to fight against crooked politicians, went about it in the most obnoxious ways. Perhaps the most disturbing scene was at the end when the angry, but victorious, townspeople/mob try to topple the platform on which the mayor and counsel men are giving a speech.Perhaps the most ridiculous part of the movie was the romance between Colonel Effingham's nephew, Albert, and a female reporter, Ella.Throughout the movie, Albert makes snide comments about female reporters and the two, when they are not completely ignoring each other constantly bicker. They pretty much can't stand each other until one day, Albert and Ella are walking somewhere and the wind blows up her skirt and Albert catches sight of her legs and from then on he's smitten. They'll be arguing about something and then Ella will cross her legs and from the look on Albert's face, we are reminded that he is madly in love with her. Problem is, Ella has a boyfriend, Professor Bland. So Albert sets out to woo Ella by taking her out bowling and enlisting in the National Guard- neither grand gesture seems to impress Ella much, until Albert is called upon for active duty and on the eve of his departure he reveals to Ella his deep regards for her legs and instead of being repulsed and slapping him she giggles and says she didn't think he noticed! And of course they kiss, both of them forgetting about Professor Bland.A few questions for discussion: Why, when the newspaper editor is titling the picture of Colonel Effingham and his dog for the Colonel's newspaper column, does the editor insist that they say that the dog's name is "Rover" instead of it's real name, "Buck"? How is Rover a superior name to Buck?? Why does Professor Bland's name sound like a character out of a board game? And are we supposed to assume from his name that he has a really boring personality? And speaking of names, who else thinks that the Colonel's name sounds like a euphemistic swear word? At one point the city counsel presents two independent reports on the structure of the courthouse from two building inspectors, trying to prove that the building is unsound and must be torn down. Colonel Effingham insists that they use a completely objective inspector from a different city. Don't you think it's a little ridiculous of the Colonel to hire, as an objective party, a good friend of his?

The main reason I saw this film is that it starred the wonderful character actor, Charles Coburn. Well, in this sense, I wasn't disappointed as once again Coburn played the sort of crotchety but lovable guy he so often played in films. However, sadly the film seemed like it was very strongly inspired by MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (so it loses points for originality) and it unfortunately ended way too abruptly--like they knew it was supposed to be a B-picture so they ended it because this format wouldn't allow for a longer film! The film begins with the Colonel (Coburn) retiring to his childhood home in Georgia. Instead of just sitting back in a rocking chair, however, he wants to do a newspaper column to keep himself busy. At first, the column is very well received. However, when Coburn begins attacking the local corrupt administration, things start to get kind of crazy and soon it's this character and his new friends versus the establishment. This is all sort of a history lesson on politics and grassroots politics and when the mayor and his cronies dig in their heels for a fight the film gets interesting. Oddly, however, after setting up this great confrontation, it just seems to end! In the matter of just a couple minutes, everyone agrees to Coburn's demands and they all live happily ever after!! What a letdown at the end.Overall, a pleasant and entertaining film that is worth watching but could have been even better. Excellent characters but a limp finale make this more of a nice time-passer than anything else.

Charles Coburn took a bit from his Academy Award winning performance in The More The Merrier and a bit from his imperious father in Vivacious Lady to create the unfazed Colonel Effingham in Colonel Effingham's Raid. It's one of the few films where this distinguished character actor is given the lead role and he makes the most of it.Through sheer stubbornness and will power Coburn is given a column on the local newspaper where his nephew William Eythe and Joan Bennett are also employed. It's supposed to be a column about the impending war news for this film set in 1940, but Coburn sees it as a great opportunity to rouse public opinion in that sleepy Georgia town against the ruling clique which has been in power so long they just treat the city money and assets like their own.The city fathers are a group taken right out of a Preston Sturges classic and I wouldn't be surprised if this film might have been something offered to him. Thurston Hall makes a genially corrupt mayor, this is one of his best efforts.Catch this film the next time TCM runs it, it's a real unknown gem.