Expected more

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This Red Skelton comedy provides a social commentary of its time that's not as dated as one might think. In fact, it reminded me of a recent "keep up with the Jones" commercial for a financial lending organization at first, with a little bit of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) later. Skelton plays a New York magazine writer named Ben Dobson whose ambitious – one might even say 'social climbing' – wife Martha (Jean Hagen) 'encourages' him to continuously 'evolve' into the husband (for the life) she wants. It was directed by Don Weis and written by Max Shulman. Polly Bergen appears as herself in a restaurant club scene that feels out of place in the story.Ben finds a job working for Mr. Bascomb (Charles Dingle) at Everybody's magazine in New York City; "Everybody loves Everybody's" (a kind of a "Life" magazine). Bascomb is a man of "sound principles", who insists that his employees are as thrifty as he is. During the job interview, Ben more or less goes along with or agrees with whatever Bascomb says and is hired. Ben had been a freelance writer, but this new steady job provides Martha with the opportunity to 'enhance' their domestic situation. First, she manipulates him into having their first child, then (after five years, which pass in less than 10 minutes of screen-time) into moving out of their city apartment to a suburban home with their son Pete (Hugh Corcoran). Willard Waterman plays the friendly and convincing (if conniving) real estate agent Charles McEstway.Once ensconced in Williams Landing, Martha persuades Ben to 'improve' their lives with one purchase after another, and soon the Dobsons are treading on thin ice using credit for furniture, a television set and other home improvements (and plumbing repairs). Ben decided not to tell his boss – Bascomb would surely not approve – about their moving to the suburbs, which leads to an awkward/unusual moment (that may have been funnier at the time of the film's release than it plays today). Ironically, Bascomb wants Ben to write his first article – he'd been a rewriter (e.g. an editor of sorts) all this time – about the folly of suburbia, and going into debt to buy a home and all the associated "things" (pretty current, eh?).While initially reluctant, Ben feels forced into taking the assignment by Martha's never ending desire for more; her "need" for a car convinces him to do it. He decides to accept the role of "Community Chest" collector (this is a dated concept) in order to get to know his neighbors better and learn about how everyone else in Williams Landing is "up to their eyeballs in debt". He figures that after his articles are published, Martha will be so embarrassed – and the Dobsons so ostracized – that she'll have to let them move back to the city.Several comic scenes follow: Ben learns about one neighbor's new addition – an activities room – and another's outdoor grilling/eating patio. His articles are caustic, just the kind of impactful stuff that his boss wants. But when Martha finds and reads them (before they're published), while not happy, she finally understands and agrees to let Ben list the house.However, when McEstway brings a couple (Mary Wickes and Frank Cady) of prospective buyers to see the house, their comments about what the Dobsons have built (and call home) make Ben defensive. His perspective changes, and so does the conclusion of his series of articles; upon reading it, Bascomb is at first perplexed and then angry. But henpecked Ben follows his wife's script (we learn later) to get a promotion and a raise, just in time for the coming of their second child.

MGM designs another 1953 B feature here. They put television director Don Weis behind the camera, and sitcom writer Max Schulman who would punch Dobie Gillis to write a forgettable script. One could only wish MGM got more committed to making a better film here.The cast here, while experienced is really not a lot of support, and that does not help this one. If you tune in for Red Skelton being funny, you get what you want out of this picture. Most of the cast is television actors. It feels like a summer vacation from TV movie.If you tune in looking for a classic film, this one is not even close.Splitting Diamonds is not the same as crop dusting, though both can be killers. The bad guys act like Ben Dobson (Red's) family. In the end the family all falls apart and breaks down while Red is still prepping to cut a large diamond.It is a hopeless tale with some humor.

Those who are expecting some of Red Skelton's more outlandish comedy routines will be somewhat disappointed in Half A Hero. In this film Red essays a role that just post World War II would have been offered to James Stewart. Who's to say this script wasn't seen by Stewart.Still he and Jean Hagen play a decent post war average couple with her doing the June Cleaver home making and Red working as a writer, or should I say rewriter at a magazine owned by Charles Dingle. One of my favorite character actors, Dingle is at his pompous tyrannical best as Skelton's boss who likes the fact that Skelton and Hagen live in a small New York City apartment and within their means. Listening to Dingle prattle on about that subject I could hear Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter talking about the merits of a thrifty working class.Anyway Skelton and Hagen do move to the suburbs and face the same problems a lot of post World War II young marrieds face, like my parents for instance. Dingle however wants an expose of these people who don't save who will turn the nation into a mass of suburban slums. Skelton tries to give him what he wants, but he's got his own ideas as well.The old and young Jimmy Stewart could have phoned in his performance if he had the lead in Half A Hero. Skelton does all right with the part even if it is offbeat casting. Outside of Dingle in the cast, the best performance is by Willard Waterman as a most unctuous real estate salesman.It's not typical Red Skelton, but it's more than all right.

This is one of my favorite of the pre-60s comedies, up with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Red Skelton gives one of his best performances, and the humour is still witty today in a naive sense.I also recommend Red Skelton's Public Pigeon #1!