The Mating Game (1959)

All movies can do just a bit better, however - this movie is fun and heartwarming in many different ways. Too many times people watch movies now only to 'pick them apart' for errors. Unlike so many people, I watch movies for their entertainment value and suggest the viewer just sit back and enjoy the story and humor as it unfolds.Many recognizable performers are in this film. Tony Randall and Debbie Reynolds make a wonderful combination, shame they didn't make any other films together.This movie, in my opinion, never rated as high as it should. A nice, enjoyable film to share with the family.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Americans especially were more concerned about taxes than at any other time. At least, that's what Hollywood might lead one to believe, based on the number of films it turned out in those years with tax-related themes. Of course, we should be concerned about taxes. But, comedies such as "The Mating Game" helped put taxes into perspective. Toss in doses of romance, good-naturedness, neighborliness, friendships, and resentment and greedy wealth, and one has the makings of an entertaining and funny movie. This film is an American version of the Larkin family. It's based on a 1958 short novel, "The Darling Buds of May," by British author H.E. (Herbert) Bates. In the book, the Larkins reside in rural Kent, the southeastern most county in England. Canterbury is located there. Yorkshire Television produced a TV series that ran from 1991 through 1993 in England under the original name of the book. This American adaptation made significant changes, mostly to accommodate for the culture differences. So, the setting here is in rural western Maryland. Apparently it was all shot in the MGM studios in California. All the cast are excellent in this farcical story. Another reviewer thought Tony Randall was miscast as Lorenzo Charlton, but I agree with others who saw him as the perfect reticent and reluctant object of romance for Debbie Reynolds' Mariette Larkin. The two ogres in this film are played by Fred Clark (as Oliver Kelsey) and Philip Ober (as Wendell Burnshaw). They were a couple of the best character actor villains in those days. The chasing scenes involving Mariette are a lot of fun, and the exchanges with Lorenzo over taxes are very funny. But two actors stand out – Paul Douglas and Una Merkel as Pop and Ma Larkin. They steal every scene in which they appear. This was indeed a fine performance by Douglas, who often played tough guy roles or serious parts in films. It was his last film. Douglas died a few months after this film came out. He suffered a heart attack at age 52. People who want all the details of movies to make sense or to be realistic may not enjoy this film. But those who love comedy will get many smiles and laughs from "The Mating Game."

This is an American version of British novels that were later made into a Brit-com called Darling Buds of May (starring David Jason and Catherine Zeta-Jones). The TV series was set in late 1950s Kent. In the original there was no lack of cash. It was the free-floating cash that got up the nose of the Inland Revenue (like the IRS). Pop Larkin (names were mostly unchanged) was always buying and selling, paid cash for everything. It would be possible today - ebay, auction sellers, yard buyers and sellers alike are "under the radar". They weren't living cashless, just creditless. Drinking was actually played down in the American version. The most unbelievable part of the British series was the non-stop imbibing, with contests to come up with the most potent drinks, yet no one got drunk - except Charley, the revenuer.

The Mating Game's plot is based entirely on the premise that in the mid 20th century, a family could live on the barter system and hence not come up on anyone's radar including the IRS. It was forced then, but in today's computer world with the increasing use of credit cards, it would be impossible to make.Yet that is what we are to believe about the Larkin clan led by Paul Douglas and Una Merkel and their five kids, oldest being Debbie Reynolds who dusts off her Tammy character for this film. A neighbor, Philip Ober, who is a little tired of the Larkin's Tobacco Road ways, has finally ratted them out to the IRS and Tony Randall's been sent to investigate the situation.The rest of the film is about the Larkin income tax situation and how everything is ultimately resolved in the end. The best scenes in the movie involve Tony Randall getting smashed on some of the Larkin's concocted schnapps.Unfortunately in order to make this work it would have to have been set maybe at the turn of the 20th century. Had they done so, the situations might have been believable. For instance, the Larkins have a television. I'd love to know just what they would have offered in barter every month for the electric bill. Or how did they manage to pay the phone bill.