Pot o' Gold (1941)

There's loads going on in this musical caper with Jimmy Stewart as "Jimmy", a failed music shop owner who ends up working for his uncle "C.J" (Charles Winninger) who has a hate-hate relationship with the extended - and noisy - "McCorkle" family who live next door, and who are constantly practising their music - to the delight of the local community but to the chagrin of the old man. Stewart befriends the family, particularly the daughter "Molly" (Paulette Goddard) and is soon working to help them get gigs without his uncle knowing. When he has an opportunity to take over their one hour radio show, he gives them a chance to perform and events spiral out of control for all concerned. I'm not sure I'd want to be invited to a "McCorkle" supper, though - the musical preamble to their Irish stew must have rendered the dish stone cold by the time they actually started to eat it - and that summed up the whole effort, really: it's quite an engaging concept but without much pace, too many over-long set-piece musical routines, and at times it borders on the farcical. Stewart and Goddard have little, if any, chemistry between them and maybe it's only the redoubtable Mary Gordon "Ma McCorkle" who brings a bit of sparkle.