L'il Abner (Digitally Remastered & Region Free)

The first movie I saw in a drive-in theater. When I saw that it was available on DVD I just had to get it. It silliness at its best.

Shared with young son, laughed all the way

I haven't seen this musical in over 40 years. I took a chance and ordered a used copy. It's in excellent condition! I was thrilled at hearing all the songs and seeing many celebrities who were unknown then! Honest seller whom I would do business with again. Thank you!

I bought the DVD because I have an old lp record of the show's music, and decided to by a DVD before IT became outmoded. It pleased me to discover that the show holds up very well. Al Capp's crazy world of Dogpatch is brought to life with absolutely no effort at realism. The back drops are literally those of the stage, the choreography has real people moving and singing like comic strip characters. I played it for my two-year old granddaughter and she in front of the TV entranced by it all for minutes at a time. Normally she pays no attention at all to live-action films. For people who remember Capp's strip, of course, the satire comes through loud and clear, and enough of it is sufficiently timeless for everyone to get most of the jokes. Stubby Kaye is the real star of the film, and he is perfect as Marrying Sam, a minor figure in the strip, and his vigor holds the film together. But all the cast is pleasant and more than capable. Although I wish that Edie Adams had been cast as Daisie Mae, Lesie Parrish does a fine job in the role, and Peter Palmer sings well and is appropriately good-looking and naive as L'l Abner. The color is a bit runny , but who cares.

I have a vague recollection as a child in the seventies of the comic strip "Li'l Abner" is based on. The hilbilly vernacular that writer Al Capp used was a slight chore getting through and the political satire was a little over my head. This 1959 film is quite enjoyable, however. Director Melvin Frank and co-scripter Norman Panama have retained the pointed satire of Capp's strip. Peter Palmer has a hunky affability as Abner. Leslie Parrish does a sweet turn as Daisy Mae. Good supporting turns by the cast in particular Stubby Kaye as Marryin' Sam and Billy Hayes as Mammy Yokum. The choreography is quite imaginative which is most prevalent in the Sadie Hawkins Day sequence. If I can find a fault with the film it would be in the score. Though energetically performed by a game cast the songs were not particularly memorable to me. Though alot of the film's humor is derived from the Cold War politics of it's day the film does not seem dated. I wholeheartedly suggest that you'll have a good time with "Li'l Abner". I has spoken!!!!

I really was looking for multimedia version but alas, all that was available was DVD. I snapped it up!The cast of this 1959 film is fantastic. This is the original. I don't care about any remakes.

I have fond memories reading Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" in the funny papers as a kid. A lot of Capp's right wing politics went over my head but I enjoyed the strip regardless. I get a chuckle recalling L'il Abner's ideal, Fearless Fosdick. This film lovingly recalls the Dogpatch as I remember it. You have to chuckle at Mammy Yokem's grotesque protruding chin or Pappy's bulbous nose. Granville Owen makes for an affable Abner and Martha O'Driscoll makes for a fetching Daisy Mae. You're on the edge of your seat rooting for Daisy Mae to catch Abner on Sadie Hawkins Day. The tuneful title song was co-written by Milton Berle. On this disc the feature is accompanied by "Private Snuffy Smith" based on Fred Laswell's comic strip. An adequate programmer nothing more or nothing less. Noteworthy is that Edgar Kennedy, better known as a foil for the Marx Brothers, appears in both films.

Musically it's no Rodgers & Hammerstein; but it is an exceptional adaptation from comic strip to cinema, the more so considering its meager budget. Leslie Parrish, Peter Palmer (reprising his Broadway role as Abner), Billie Hayes and Al Nesor are dead ringers for their Dogpatch counterparts, and so is everyone else ...except for Earthquake McGoon (though no one notices). Cult legend Julie Newmar has a minor role as Stupefyin' Jones, and Jerry Lewis makes a stupified cameo. Only Salomey is missing!Script and sets have a trace of Al Capp's sharp pen and wit ("'Afternoon, I'm Moonbeam McSwine; sleepin' out with pigs is mah line"), and even the choreography resembles the strip's manic tempo and outlandish draftsmanship -something the much more lavished "Dick Tracy" tried hard to achieve years later, but didn't.Given today's infatuation with putting comics and graphic novels on film, it would be interesting to see a LI'L ABNER remake done with state of the art technology, but only if they repeat what makes this forgotten movie a gem: good script and good casting. One can put all the eye-popping visuals money can buy on screen, they won't amount to much if those two basic ingredients are missing. Remember PEARL HARBOR, and that SUPERMAN RETURNS bomb!

Nothing much more to add.

ok

wonderful old time movie captures the spirit of Li'l Abner

all ok

This was supposed to be a musical, as stated on the Amazon site. The site also gave names of some actors in the show. However, the DVD I received is definitely a non-musical. It's an old black and white movie with Buster Keaton.