Rhubarb

• Rating:
• Genre: Comedy
• Movie Type: Sports Drama
• Director: Arthur Lubin
• Main Cast: Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, Gene Lockhart, William Frawley, Elsie Holmes
• Release Year: 1951
• Country: US
• Run Time: 95 minutes

Plot

Rhubarb is an amusing, if not entirely faithful, adaptation of the H. Allen Smith novel of the same name. When Thaddeus J. Banner (Gene Lockhart), multimillionaire owner of the Brooklyn baseball team, passes away, he wills the team -- and his $30 million estate -- to his pugnacious pet cat Rhubarb. Banner's press agent Eric Yeagar (Ray Milland) finds this hilarious, until he discovers that he's been appointed Rhubarb's guardian and business manager. One of the crosses Yeagar has to bear is the fact that his sweetheart Polly Sickles (Jan Sterling), the daughter of Brooklyn team manager Len Sickles (William Frawley), is deathly allergic to cats. Still, Yeagar must keep Rhubarb with him at all times, especially when the cat turns out to be a good-luck charm for the perennially basement-dwelling Brooklyn ballplayers. Thanks to Rhubarb's inspiration, the team makes it to the Pennant Race, whereupon the plot really thickens. The first two-thirds of Rhubarb adheres to the original Smith novel, culminating with a zany sanity hearing brought about by Banner's disgruntled relatives to prove that the cat is mentally unfit to control the old man's money. But the final reels abandon the novel in favor of a Guys and Dolls-inspired plot strand, wherein crooked gamblers kidnap the cat to prevent a Brooklyn pennant win. As a result, H. Allen Smith's satiric barbs are somewhat blunted in the final scenes -- which, however, is not to suggest that the film is any less funny than before. One of the better baseball comedies of the era, Rhubarb maintains its merriment right to the end, which is capped by a cameo appearance by a well-known actor who happened to be married to leading lady Jan Sterling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Ray Milland - Eric Yeager
• Jan Sterling - Polly Sickles
• Gene Lockhart - Thaddeus J. Banner
• William Frawley - Len Sickles
• Elsie Holmes - Myra Banner

Taylor Holmes - P. Duncan Munk; Willard Waterman - Orlando Dill; Henry Slate - Dud Logan; James Griffith - Oggie Meadows; Jim Hayward - Doom; Donald MacBride - Phenny; Hal K. Dawson - Mr. Fisher; Oliver Blake - Cadaver Jones; Harry V. Cheshire - Mr. Seegle; Tristram Coffin - Dr. Stillman; Paul Douglas - Guest; Adda Gleason - Maid; Roy Gordon; Mack Gray - Detective; Stuart Holmes; Richard Karlan - Pencil Louie; Donald Kerr - Taxi Driver; Wilbur Mack - Golfer; Strother Martin - Ballplayer; Edwin Max - Fish Eye; Hilda Plowright - Katie; Eric Wilton; Leonard Nimoy - Young ballplayer; Stanley Orr - Newspaper Reporter; Anthony Radecki

Credit

Henry Bumstead - Art Director; Van Cleave - Composer (Music Score); Francis Cockrell - Screenwriter; Edith Head - Costume Designer; Gordon Jennings - Special Effects; Lionel Lindon - Cinematographer; Arthur Lubin - Director; Alma Macrorie - Editor; Hal Pereira - Art Director; William Perlberg - Producer; Dorothy Reid - Screenwriter; George Seaton - Producer; Les Weldon - Screenwriter; Nathan VanCleave - Composer (Music Score); Dorothy Davenport - Screenwriter; H. Allen Smith - Book Author

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Rhubarb