Babbitt (1934) User Reviews

A Pair Of Jackpots

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 3 June 2010]

You know when a novel really hits the consciousness of the public when its very name becomes a noun. To be a Babbitt is to be your outstanding middle class citizen with avarice is your main trait and you must by all means maintain a veneer of respectability.

I'm sure that Guy Kibbee could have played the role had Warner Brothers written the film just as the novel was written by Sinclair Lewis. But seeing when it came out it was at the dawn of the Code. The Babbitt we see here is a typical Guy Kibbee part, a fatuous, but essentially good hearted soul. Kibbee is married to Aline McMahon and has two children (there were three in the Lewis novel)played by Glenn Boles and Maxine Doyle.

Kibbee gets himself in a pair of jackpots. First he gets involved with Claire Dodd who was in a typical Claire Dodd role as the other woman. It's all quite innocent, but she's going to make trouble. At the same time Kibbee who is a real estate salesman gets involved with a pair of schemers looking to benefit from some inside information one of them is a city commissioner (Russell Hicks) and the other a millionaire whose lifestyle Babbitt craves and is played by Walter Walker. The two potential scandals intertwine.

Since is a codified version of Babbitt the ending is a soft landing for Kibbee. How he does it you'll have to watch the film for, but let's say he's mighty glad he's married to Aline McMahon who gives the best performance in the film.

There is a silent version of Babbitt put out by Warner Brothers as well. It might be closer to what Sinclair Lewis was writing about. As entertainment this version isn't bad though.

Better Than Its Reputation

[boblipton · 7/10 · 2 August 2007]

This version of BABBIT has long had the reputation of being a soft adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' often savage novel, but, while not perfect, it does manage to hold to its core. It has a fine cast, headed by Guy Kibbee, who plays his usual amiable, corrupt dolt -- look at his turn as the governor in Capra's MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. Here, playing a genially corrupt businessman with a roving eye and a taste for bootleg booze, he is perfect, led by other business types like Alan Hale, Berton Churchill and Minor Watson into a typical piece of graft, blackmail and depression. The novel is much better, but this is a good, if mainstream version.

As a note, Lewis' Zenith was modeled on Minneapolis, which was nicknamed 'The Zenith City' in the beginning of the 20th century. Lewis, who grew up in Minnesota and developed a hatred for the fatuousness of middle class life in the era made this and ELMER GANTRY, his take on the corruption of revivalism -- and which was made into a much tougher and better film in 1960 -- his deservedly best known works.

The ups and downs of a nice idiot.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 3 May 2014]

Guy Kibbee stars as the title character, George Babbitt. He's what you might call a big fish in a small pond--a business man who is quite successful by small-town standards. But, you might also call a boob! Despite being a success, he is a bit clueless from time to time and this film is about clueless George got himself into trouble and how his patient wife (Alaine MacMahon) tries to extricate him. Exactly how all this happens you can see for yourself.

"Babbitt" is based on a Sinclair Lewis novel and it's a metaphor for the acquisitive middle class--folks whose value of money blinds them to the important values in life. However, much of the story has been changed-- particular the ending and the wise intervention of Mrs. Babbitt to extricate him from a bad business deal that apparently isn't even in the original story.

Despite being a best-selling book, Warner Brothers gives "Babbitt" a B- movie treatment. It has a lot of style and polish like a Warner film but has lower-level actors for the film. Considering the story, having Kibbee and MacMahon in the leads wasn't a bad thing--and both were excellent in this film. Overall, a light and entertaining film with some covert criticisms for modern life. Worth seeing.

Kibbee is Babbit but too many liberties taken with novel

[doug1963-1 · 6/10 · 22 March 2008]

I too, have waited years to see the screen adaptation of my favorite novel. I am grateful TCM aired the film. Overall, though, the film adaptation fails because it veers too far away from the plot in the second half of the film. First, the good: Kibbee captures Babbitt almost perfectly as Lewis describes him. The scene where his fellow lodgers/businessmen play a practical joke on Babbitt may be apocryphal, but it is true to Lewis' novel. For a half hour, the film is more or less faithful to the novel. The bad: Once Zilla is shot by Paul, Lewis' novel is thrown away for an ego-trip script devised by a ham screenwriter. I don't know how Lewis standed watching it. It is ridiculous to have lonely widow Tanis Judique blackmail George, and even more ridiculous to have Babbitt's wife and son come to his rescue. That is far away from the novel as can be. Also, the film discarded the real reason for Babbitt's alienation, which was political, and sparked by Babbitt's disillusion after Paul's arrest and jailing. Still, I enjoyed the film. I agree that a remake would be a good idea, but I would prefer a period piece set in the 1920s, rather than making it current. The political and social obstacles Babbitt dealt with don't exist today. Also, it was nice to see Hattie McDaniel in the film. Why was she uncredited. I also notice there is a 1924 silent Babbitt considered lost. That's a shame. Final grade: 6 out of 10

Is one of the most respected men in town also the village idiot?

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 24 January 2018]

Imagine Fred and Ethel Mertz as a staid married couple in a small town where he's a successful real estate owner and she's his oh so devoted wife, caring for their home and two children. But it's obvious who has the brains in the family and who has the wool completely over their eyes. If she's the wit, then he's the nit wit, half wit, nincompoop and completely babbity and provincial. He's the thick headed businessman who thinks he's smarter than anybody else and must be knocked down completely to wake up and smell the Maxwell House. The first half of this film has Guy Kibbee's character being completely revealed, fooled by his lodge buddies into thinking he acted inappropriately while drunk, while his wife (Aline MacMahon) trying to keep the family life calm and cosy. The second half shows Kibbee's fall from grace, both in a personal scandal and a shady business deal. With their differences in age, Kibbee and MacMahon are as close to William Frawley and Vivian Vance as a couple can be, although they were paired together at least half a dozen times.

Stealing every moment she's on screen, Hattie McDaniel is a hoot as the chatty cook who envisions herself an equal and offers Greek chorus on everything and anything while boiling Kibbee's two and a half minute egg. Claire Dodd is the shady lady who leads Kibbee astray, with Berton Churchill as a crooked judge and Alan Hale as another of Kibbee's pals who turn against him. But it's the wise MacMahon and the fluttery Kibbee who get the top honors, their chemistry undeniable even if the age difference is extremely obvious. The film is too short to give the Sinclair Lewis novel real justice, but the actors makes every moment shine. Like Babbitt, you too may come out learning something, which in his case is true humility.

Ripe for a Remake

[bababear · 7/10 · 13 March 2008]

First, thanks to TCM for programming this. As big a fan of Lewis's work as I am, I'd never seen it.

It's a pretty decent adaptation. Not great, but solid and well done. Modern audiences will be puzzled about the dominance of white males in the society of 1974 and the political correctness crowd will shudder to see minorities in a subservient role and characters smoking in almost every scene.

For those unfamiliar with BABBITT, it's about a small town businessman who has totally bought into the boosterism of the business world. George Babbitt is a Realtor and a valued member of the Zebra lodge. In sharp contrast his best friend from college, Paul, has not done as well materially and is content with his lot in life and his two main pursuits besides his job are playing his violin and trying to ignore the constant nagging of his shrewish wife.

One night at dinner the subject turns to what the various characters want out of life. Paul comments that George doesn't seem interested in anything he can't touch. The aftermath of a shooting that sets tongues wagging and a shady real estate deal cause George to reexamine his goals and his lot in life.

The novel is a classic, and after 74 years ripe for a remake. Bill Murray would be a tremendous George, and maybe Steve Martin as Paul.

It will take a writer/director with real guts not to update the characters' attitudes and values. Come on, Hollywood. Everything else is getting remade, including ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES. Give BABBITT a shot, too.

Good in spite of itself

[rhoda-9 · 7/10 · 10 September 2023]

Considerably changed from the novel, Babbitt diverges most from it in the personae of its two leads. George F. Babbitt is a normal semi-educated, average-looking philistine businessman, someone who would have accurately been represented by another of the cast, Alan Hale. Instead, he is portrayed by Guy Kibbee, who has Fat Fool written all over him. Sinclair Lewis wanted his readers to identify Babbitt as a member of their own families, perhaps even themselves, but no one would identify with Kibbee, a blustering, hapless figure of fun.

At the other extreme, George's wife, Myra, is the beautiful and obviously intelligent Aline MacMahon. The wife ought to be a frumpy dimwit who idolises George, who is indeed her superior. But this Myra, as she herself says, regards George as a little boy, protects him, and saves him, most dramatically (in a way that makes no sense at all) from destroying his reputation and losing their money.

However, having said that, the film is full of funny lines and tart observations on the childishness of men and the maturity of women, and there is plenty of social texture to enjoy, as well as the inimitable Hattie McDaniel, as the Babbitts' maid, who sees it as her duty to pep up their dinnertime with colourful bulletins from the other side of the tracks.

Guy takes the lead.

[st-shot · 5/10 · 7 November 2012]

Sinclair Lewis's lengthy best seller get's a trimming in this under 80 minute film adaptation parodying the American Dream post World War 1. While it is a less than justifying translation it does allow two of the more dependable supporting players in 30 's movies Guy Kibee and Aline Mc Mahon to shine as leads.

Zenith realtor and booster George Babbitt is bullish on the land of opportunity he lives in. A bit of a braggart and blow hard he is nevertheless a popular figure in the community and among fellow lodge members. In moments of brief introspection he has his doubts about his pursuit of all things material attempting to get away from it all by going camping with a long time friend and dallying with a young client. His social climbing and chase for the almighty buck however get him involved in a corrupt land deal and he faces ruin.

Kibee's George Babbitt is an abrasively generous and sympathetic character whose ego is exploited by more devious and cynical types. His defense of his pal who shoots his nagging wife is noble but wrongheaded, the unsavory land deal more than just acceptable business practice. Kibee's non-threatening flustered stage demeanor negates any an all villainy though, his greatest guilt being pride and a touch of arrogance.

With it's slim running time Babbitt spends little time on the book's satiric and metaphorical possibilities with great swaths excised, leaving it up to George's flustered optimism and gullibility to carry the film and Kibee does not disappoint even if the choppy storyline does.

Kibbee and MacMahon in another Warnerbros short

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 7 March 2008]

A remake of the 1924 silent, this film started out as a book originally by Sinclair Lewis. "Babbit" has a cast of Warner Brothers regulars. Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee play the married couple Myra and George Babbit, with supporting cast Alan Hale (What movie WASN'T he in in the 1930s??) and Hattie McDaniels singing a song in her second year of making films. Of course, the very first thing we see as the film starts is the stamp of approval by the Film Production Board, so we know it will be scrubbed clean of any real naughtiness. George Babbitt, local businessman and real estate agent, is called out of town, and is working on a big "business deal", and brags about it to a female cohort... which lands him in trouble later. With the production code in force, apparently underhanded money dealings were just fine subject matter, as long as no beds were shown. There is dark, unhappy side to the first two-thirds of this movie, unlike some of the other films Kibbee and MacMahon had made together, which were fun and upbeat. There are some fun gags here, like the Brotherhood of Zebras, and people getting sent off the the nut-house. I think this one gets five stars for being "okay".

not sure about Babbitt

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 7 April 2024]

George F. Babbitt (Guy Kibbee) is the developer of Zenith, a new developing town. With his wife Myra (Aline MacMahon), they have two grown children. He is trying hard to make his realty business a success and hiding a looming scandal which he can't remember.

I don't necessarily like Babbitt but I do like the prank. I figured that it was a scam but couldn't guess where it was going for a long while. After that reveal, the movie loses its steam. It needs a reason for being. At some point, I realized that I need to see him doing some real work. He's a lot of talk and undeserved arrogance to his family. It's a flawed character getting into trouble of his own making. It's based on a novel and I do wonder if there could be a better adaptation.