View source for Mother Carey's Chickens (film)

{{short description|1938 film by Rowland V. Lee}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Mother Carey's Chickens
| image          = Mother-careys-chickens-movie-poster-md.jpg
| caption        =
| director       = [[Rowland V. Lee]]
| producer       = [[Pandro S. Berman]]
| writer         = S.K. Lauren<br>[[Gertrude Purcell]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[Mother Carey's Chickens (novel)|Mother Carey's Chickens]]''<br>1911 novel|[[Kate Douglas Wiggin]]}}
| starring       = [[Anne Shirley (actress)|Anne Shirley]]<br>[[Ruby Keeler]]<br>[[Walter Brennan]]
| music          = [[Roy Webb]]
| cinematography = [[J. Roy Hunt]]
| editing        = [[George Hively]]
| studio         = RKO Radio Pictures
| distributor    = [[RKO Radio Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1938|07|29}}
| runtime        = 82 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $358,000<ref name="rko">Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p56</ref>
| gross          = $703,000<ref name="rko"/>
}}
'''''Mother Carey's Chickens''''' is a 1938 American [[drama film]] starring [[Anne Shirley (actress)|Anne Shirley]] and [[Ruby Keeler]]. The film was directed by [[Rowland V. Lee]] and based upon a 1917 play by [[Kate Douglas Wiggin]] and [[Rachel Crothers]], which in turn was adapted from Wiggins' ''[[Mother Carey's Chickens (novel)|Mother Carey's Chickens]]''.
Originally [[Katharine Hepburn]] was assigned to the lead role, but she refused and left RKO in order to avoid having to appear in the film.
In 1963, Walt Disney released ''[[Summer Magic (film)|Summer Magic]]'', a loose remake of this film, with [[Hayley Mills]] as Nancy Carey.
==Plot==
Mr. Carey, a captain in the United States Navy, dies during the [[Spanish–American War]]. His wife Margaret, daughters Nancy and Kitty and sons Gilbert and Peter are left behind. They are now on their own with only Capt. Carey's pension for income. The family moves into a series of ever-smaller rented houses while Mrs. Carey works in a [[textile mill]]. When she is injured, they lease a broken down mansion for a year at a nominal fee, and invest the captain's small life insurance payment to fix it up into a boarding house. Both daughters fall in love, Kitty with a local teacher and Nancy with Tom Hamilton, the son of the absentee owner.
When the Hamiltons put the house up for sale, the family is given an eviction order by Tom Hamilton, a doctor who wants the money from the sale to study in Europe. However, fate intervenes and Tom is called to save Peter from a serious illness, then falls in love with Nancy. The new owners, the Fullers, move in to force the family to vacate. The Careys and their beaus then try to scare off the Fullers by telling them the house is haunted, and making assorted spooky noises at night, hoping they will leave.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/reviews/movies|title=Movie Reviews|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 February 2018}}</ref>
==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Anne Shirley (actress)|Anne Shirley]] as Nancy Carey
* [[Ruby Keeler]] as Katherine 'Kitty' Carey
* [[James Ellison (actor)|James Ellison]] as Ralph Thurston
* [[Fay Bainter]] as Mrs. Margaret Carey
* [[Walter Brennan]] as Mr. Ossian Popham
* [[Donnie Dunagan]] as Peter Carey
* [[Frank Albertson]] as Tom Hamilton Jr.
* [[Alma Kruger]] as Aunt Bertha
* [[Jackie Moran]] as Gilbert Carey
* [[Margaret Hamilton (actress)|Margaret Hamilton]] as Mrs. Pauline Fuller
* [[Virginia Weidler]] as Lally Joy Popham
* [[Ralph Morgan]] as Captain John Carey
* [[Phyllis Kennedy]] as Annabelle
* [[Harvey Clark (actor)|Harvey Clark]] as Mr. Clarence Fuller
* [[Lucille Ward]] as  Mrs. Martha Popham
* [[George Irving (American actor)|George Irving]] as Mr. Thomas Hamilton Sr.
* [[Lew Kelly]] as Paperhanger (uncredited)
}}
==Reception==
The film earned a profit of $110,000.<ref name="rko"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0030464}}
* {{amg movie|458732}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=1146}}
* {{AFI film|4954}}
{{Rowland V. Lee}}
[[Category:1938 films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1938 drama films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Rowland V. Lee]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Kate Douglas Wiggin]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:RKO Pictures films]]
{{1930s-drama-film-stub}}