Handle with Care (1958)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Excellent 82 minute story which plots justice, morality and law against a small community's mayor whose "accounting methods" (during a very distressed economically period) become questioned by a mock Grand Jury proceeding held by studying local Law Students.Particular note was a very enjoyable ending which ultimately leaves the viewers to decide where their boundaries of law, justice and morality would reside if tasked with leading a community through a period of economically induced suffrage.For this viewer "Handle with Care" was an elegant (Thomas Mitchell) depiction of a conundrum.

"Handle with Care" from 1958 is a low-budget second feature that starts Dean Jones and Thomas Mitchell. Jones plays a Zachary Mitchell, a law student who is to be the DA in a mock trial. He argues for trying a real case and finding one in the town. After going through town records and rejecting several ideas, he finds one that is very interesting: it seems the mayor, who in those days the tax collector, embezzled tax money in the early '30s. What he took in and what he deposited are two different things, as he deposited less than he wrote out receipts for.The other students, who are from the area unlike Zachary and admire the mayor, are against this being tried as a case, and the townspeople basically turn against him. He loses his drugstore job. Nevertheless, stubborn, intelligent, and somewhat angry, he perseveres. The "trial" doesn't go as planned.Thomas Mitchell does a beautiful job as the mayor, and there are other excellent character actors in the film: Anne Seymour, Walter Abel, and Burt Douglas. John Smith, who starred in TV western Laramie, plays Zachary's good friend.This is a good movie, with an earnest performance by Jones, who went on to do films for Disney, starred in the TV series Hennessy, later starred as the original Bobby in the musical Company on Broadway, and then became born-again and dedicated his life to mostly performances in Christian-based productions, including a one-man show, St. John in Exile.Well worth seeing, and the footage of '30s farms and people affected by drought is sobering, to say the least.

This is a very interesting idea for a movie, but here's it's been done in a pretty hokey way, with amateurish writing and some weak acting. A decent scriptwriter, backed up by serious talent in the acting and directing departments, could make an excellent movie of it. There's the sense of unravelling a mystery, the young generation against the older, the whiff of corruption in a picture-perfect town, and a climactic scene that the audience has been waiting for all along. I wasn't particularly surprised at the ending here, since it could have gone in only one of two ways, but a more creative approach could cap everything off in a more interesting way.

!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!! There are many fine character actors, particularly from the glory days of the Hollywood studio dynasties. But beyond the many fine character actors are a few who are deservedly legendary. Thomas Mitchell is in that league. Whether he was the father of Scarlett O'Hara, or the failed banker Uncle Billy of "It's A Wonderful Life", or the just-a-bit crooked chap in "Lost Horizon", Mitchell stood out in just about any film he appeared in...and that was quite a few. And, Mitchell was the first actor to win the holy trinity of acting -- an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony. Mitchell had turned mostly to television in the early 1950s, so this was one of his last film roles, and although he continued working for 3 more years in both television and a few films, his performance here would have been a fitting conclusion to his career. His performance is simply brilliant, and far more nuanced than many of the roles he typically played.Here, Mitchell is the mayor of a small town who agrees to take part in a mock grand jury for the local law school, unaware that there is one student -- Dean Jones -- who is out to prove himself. Jones digs up a potential scandal and malfeasance. Things began to spiral out of control as the beloved mayor looks like he is guilty of something very serious.Of course, you kinda know that Dean Jones (who is very good here, although occasionally borders on a youthful intensity that almost spills over into over-acting) is going to learn a hard lesson before the film is over...although just what the lesson is going to be remains a mystery for most of the film. However, unlike some films where something convenient is just pulled out of a hat at just the right time, this mystery is totally logical -- the mayor wrote fake tax receipts for farmers who would have otherwise lost their homes during the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Ultimately, all of the money was paid back to the town coffers, but still, a law had been broken.There are also some good, solid (though not outstanding) performances by other character actors here, most of whom you'll recognize as soon as you see them: John Smith, Walter Abel, Anne Seymour, Royal Dano, and Ted de Corsia.Is this a great film? No. But it's far better than a lot of big-name pics, and well worth your time.