Five Little Peppers And How They Grew (1939)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A very minor comedy for the kiddies' market, distinguished only by the unbilled appearance of Bruce Bennett as Kolb's chauffeur. Henry Freulich's pleasing photography shows far more skill than Charles Barton's totally routine direction. No less than five people contribute to the writing credits and one would think that with all this talent paving the way, the end result would be a script that would have been way, way more interesting. Instead, as other reviewers have commented, the plot is obviously stacked and lacks all spontaneity. All told, I'd give this movie an extremely generous four marks out of ten and I have written about it here solely because the sequels are so much more entertaining.

This family has no father. It is the mother raising the 5 children. You must be thinking of another movie. The father of these children died before the movie even starts. This is a beautiful movie that even my 11 year old son loved. He sat and laughed and laughed as he watched it. While some might see it as simplistic and unrealistic in this day and age, I was glad to see a movie that showed basic family values and was enjoyable for my children to watch. It also showed basic moral values and how they impact others. It became a series of movies and was followed up with Five Little Peppers in Trouble and Five Little peppers Out West.

The craft of fiction is a matter of physically stacking the cards. The art of fiction is doing so in a manner that no one notices that the cards have been stacked. The problem with this movie is that it is easy to see just how the writers went about working the deck. It lacks all spontaneity.There is a nice gauzy late-depression (1939) feel to it. "Grapes of Wrath" it isn't. There's a poor family of five children and a mother (no father even though one reviewer remembered one) who works hard to keep it all together. The stove smokes in their humble but clean kitchen. There's little food in the pantry. Not far away lives a hideously wealthy old man with his grandson. By contrivance, they are put together, and after a series of near disasters (I never believed there was real jeopardy), things are put aright in a warm and fuzzy way. You sort of knew that this wasn't going to be a tragedy when you saw all those cute kids.The acting is of the present day sitcom variety, i.e. not very good, litotes for bad. But there is one exception. The little girl, youngest of the children, is marvelous. Too often very young actors sing-song their recited lines. Not so here. What ever became of her? This is a rather nice movie to watch when you're not feeling well. It passes the time while not requiring a thing from you.

Very mild family comedy about the Pepper family, run by mother DOROTHY PETERSON, the father having died in the collapse of a copper mine in which he was part owner.EDITH FELLOWS is the oldest member of the family including two girls and three boys. They befriend a wealthy rich boy, Jasper King (RONALD SINCLAIR) and the story is a series of misadventures with the poor family getting much needed help from their wealthier acquaintance.What strikes me is how youthful RONALD SINCLAIR is in this film, as compared to one made just a few years later--DESPERATE JOURNEY with Errol Flynn. Sinclair had a grown-up role as a sergeant in that wartime film. He was an excellent child actor who reminds me somewhat of Freddie Bartholomew in appearance and acting.Pretty bland stuff, with children actually having good manners and respectful of authority--1939 was a completely different era. The plot line contains nothing more serious than a case of the measles that quarantines everyone in the household, including the wealthy guests.An easily forgotten programmer of a bygone era.