Very best movie i ever watch

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

By the time LI'L ABNER went into production, Al Capp's comic strip of the same name had been running for about six years and was well on its way of becoming a household name. Even so, the idea of putting Dogpatch to life on the silver screen was not as inevitable as one might think. While other popular comic strips of the day had made it to Hollywood already (Blondie, Bringing Up Father and The Katzenjammer Kids being some examples), the task of transforming real-life actors into representatives of the slightly grotesque Dogpatch-universe obviously was of another level. However, from a visual point of view the result is reasonably successful; it truly looks as if we've been granted a visit into the authentic li'l town. On other points, however, the film is hit-and-miss; mostly the latter.Capp himself is given credit as story writer, although his actual contributions to the script may have been sparse. However, on the surface the premise resembles a typical Li'l Abner daily-strip adventure of the time. Abner thinks he's poisoned after eating some old, no-good mustard, and is determined to do a last good deed by "making love" to Daisy Mae, who adores him as much as ever ("making love" in Dogpatch is, of course, another term for kissing). As it turns out, Abner awakens "not daid" after all, very much to his dismay, as he's promised to marry no less than two girls the following noon (one being Daisy). It is decided that Abner is henceforth "resarved" for Daisy and the other girl in the upcoming Sadie Hawkins Day Race...may the best girl win.It's apparent that the film's director, Albert Rogell, understood the importance of transforming Capp's character designs onto the silver screen through the actors, in order to make this project reasonably credible; it also seems likely that actors Jeff York (Abner, billed as Granville Owen), Martha O'Driscoll (Daisy Mae), Mona Ray (Pansy Yokum), Johnnie Morris (Lucifer Yokum) and the rest of the principal performers did their share of research on beforehand. The make-up alone does not make the resemblance; facial expressions, timing and over-the-top voices are all of a very "Dogpatchesque" kind, in lack of a better word. A special mention also goes to former giant of silent comedy Buster Keaton as Lonesome Polecat, a performance which seems to be directly responsible for this film being so easily accessible on the video market today.However, despite the visually successful incarnations, LI'L ABNER does essentially remain a curiosity piece, certainly of most amusement to people well acquainted with the many references from Capp's strip. And it's not a guarantee that even viewers familiar with the strip will find all that much merriment here. The first time I watched it, now several years ago, I had only read a little of the strip, making this film a rather confusing (not amoozin') experience. However, since then I've become a Li'l Abner die-hard, so when I gave Columbia's adaptation another try recently, it turned out more comprehensible, and maybe slightly more enjoyable. People giving the film a try just for the sake of Keaton's performance, like I did at first, will hardly see more in it than a bizarre B-film comedy without much sense. It doesn't help matters that the direction appears like a rush-job on some instances, and furthermore that the prints currently in circulation are in less than neat condition; the last shot in the film is confusing, and in fact I suspect that a scene is missing. The script is equally indifferent; none of Capp's satirical talent has been incorporated, and the humor generally relies on rather obvious gags and punch-lines, though on some occasions it may be fun to recognize the odd traits and phrases of the main characters.Capp is said to have been quite disappointed with the film, and understandably so. Apart from a few equally forgettable animated shorts, nearly twenty years would pass before Li'l Abner was brought onto the silver screen again (this time somewhat more satisfyingly). As for this 1940-version, as a curiosity-piece it's worth checking out to die-hard fans of the strip, but newcomers should spend their time hunting for re-printings of the strip instead.

I am sure that nowadays the Li'l Abner comic strip loses a lot in translation. Its popularity over the years is one of those things that people today can't really understand. So, from the outset this weird little film has a big strike against it--especially because, by comparison, "The Beverly Hillbillies" is downright sophisticated.The film is set in the rustic village of Dogpatch--home of Li'l Abner and his kin. Oddly, Abner himself and his determined love interest, Daisy Mae, look relatively normal despite their clothes. But, as for most of the other major characters, they are, to put it bluntly, a group of freaks. Underneath tons of makeup and prosthetics, his parents and a few of the townsfolk look more like extras from the movie FREAKS than anything else! It's all rather creepy and comical. Sure, they did look a lot like the comic strip characters as well, but they just made me feel a bit repulsed.As for the film, there's a threadbare plot about Daisy Mae and Wendy Wilecat both wanting to get hitched to Abner. However, this plot doesn't even begin until late in the film. Instead, it's just a series of "comical" vignettes--most of which were never funny and only a few of which the audience might have laughed at in 1940. It's all rather sad seeing actors like Buster Keaton stuck in supporting roles, though for some of the old-time silent comedians (such as Chester Conklin and Al St. John), they are buried under so much makeup, wigs and prosthetics that you can't tell it's them--something I assume they felt grateful for when the film debuted.Overall, a one-joke film that is creepy and hard to watch from start to finish. The only positive value you might have is to use it to insult Southerners (and in particular, people from Arkansas and Tennessee)--but that would seem awfully cruel...unless you really, really hate them.

Al Capp's cartoon strip was so satirically acidic that he was constantly being threatened with suit by the public figures he parodied--and at least one, Joan Baez, actually took him to court. But viewers needn't expect much of Capp's celebrated wit in this 1940 cinematic take on the much-celebrated residents of Dogpatch, USA; more silly than clever and more embarrassing than entertaining, L'IL ABNER has been justly neglected for more than a half a century.Still, it does have a few charms, and most of these are among the cast. Director Albert S. Rogell was a workhorse of the silent era, and the film is crammed to overflowing with a host of silent actors taking one more shot at fame--with the great Buster Keaton the most celebrated name on the roster. Sad to say, they are largely wasted, but we're at least given a chance to see them once more, a decade after their stars faded.The most successful members of the cast are actually the younger players, with Jeff York (billed as Granville Owen) unexpectedly effective in actually looking the part of L'il Abner himself. Martha O'Driscoll is merely acceptable as Daisy Mae, but Billie Seward strikes all the right notes as the man-hungry Cousin Delightful. And now and then a moment "pops" enough for you to see a little of what made Capp's concepts so wickedly funny.The plot is standard Capp, but it lacks Capp's bite: Daisy Mae loves Abner, Cousin Delightful wants him for herself, and Abner prefers pork chops. In terms of production values, the film was very obviously done on the cheap, and Rogell's direction is hardly inspired: not only is the camera static, the pace is positively leaden. Fans of the original strip will probably find it a guilty pleasure, but even they will likely admit that this is Al Capp with both fangs pulled.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I grew up on this one, and it's one of the few that my family still agrees on as being hilarious and worthwhile.It's about a bunch of wonderfully stereotypical mountain people. The hero is Li'l Abner, a strapping big young man who eats "pork chops for' breakfast, pork chops for' dinner, and for' supper, mo' pork chops." To quote the opening song, "He's the biggest catch in Dog Patch." The entire plot revolves around the impending Sadie Hawkins race where eligible gals chase eligible guys to win husbands.The characters are what make it worth watching - Mammy Yokum, who stands about 4'7" and has a potato shaped nose and rules all with her inexorable will; Pappy Yokum, whose memory is balder than his bald head and who lives his life in happily forgetful delirium, punctuated by moments of terror brought on by his wife; Hairless Joe, who's basically just big and loud and stupid; Lonesome Polecat (brilliantly played by Buster Keaton), who's basically just weird and small and stupid; and several more. Not quite as quotable as some of the cult classics, but my dad and I regularly allude to some of the lines - "Look - it's Granny!" "I'se a-comin, Pansy, I'se awake!" Give this one a chance. It's somewhat slow, but worth it.