The Wizard of Oz married to Glinda the Good? No, it's not a sequel to the classic family fantasy. This B-movie simply gave MGM a chance to showcase character actor Frank Morgan in a leading role with Billie Burke as his nagging wife. Morgan is a small-town pet shop owner, perpetually put upon by his wife and her family. On the way to a business meeting in Australia, he's thrown in jail for two months. Meanwhile, the boat sinks killing all on board. Once he's out of jail, Morgan returns home to discover that not only is he believed dead but his family has spent all the insurance money. He goes into hiding to save them from charges of insurance fraud, all the while trying to keep tabs on other domestic problems. Burke shows off her trademarked confusion, but it's Morgan who steals the show basically playing to type as a well-meaning but ineffectual old man. MGM based the film on German playwright Georg Kaiser's The Courageous Seaman. The supporting cast includes Ann Rutherford as Morgan's daughter, Donald Meek as the banker her parents want her to marry, Nat Pendleton as Morgan's bullying brother-in-law and Renie Riano as the tough farmwoman they push Pendleton to wed.

By Frank Miller