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"The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" is one of the very strangest Hollywood films I have ever seen and I certainly understand why it's one of Clifton Webb's least famous films. This is because the film is intended to be a comedy AND an endorsement of polygamy! Seriously--the film is very much pro-polygamy!! It really makes you wonder what the writer and executives were thinking when they came up with this one!! Perhaps massive head injuries, alcohol or psychedelics might be at the root of this one!!! Even today, most folks would be surprised at such a film.

Clifton Webb plays the title character. He's a successful businessman and free thinker. And, when I say free thinker, this is an understatement! Not only is he pro-evolution in a time when this was NOT popular but it turns out he's a bigamist--something that is discovered during the course of the film. However, Webb is not the least bit apologetic and thinks he's justified to have multiple families since he takes care of their financial and emotional needs (a position that is quite acceptable with some religions). His views are not based on religion (he seems areligious) but due to his own unusual asocial views.

At first, his family in Harrisburg is shocked. The ones who take it worst are his father as well as a daughter who is just about to marry a minister! As for the Harrisburg wife, she is MUCH more understanding than you'd expect, though she is not happy. She's happier when she learns later that the mother in Philadelphia has since died (though they were BOTH married to the same man at the same time). However, all told, there are 17 kids from both marriages!! And, in the end, they decide to make a giant family--much like Webb had in "Cheaper By the Dozen"--just a bit more...um....bigamistic (is this a word? I think it should be if it isn't).

Overall, the plot is just insane and the film is STILL a bit offensive and very unfunny today--so it makes you wonder how this flew in 1959!! Audiences must have gone ape! And, I assume, the film must have lost a fortune. A major misfire that simply couldn't work as a comedy. Interestingly, Edmond O'Brien made a film about bigamy ("The Bigamist") and it worked exceptionally well...and was NOT done for laughs. Despite good acting and lush sets, "The Incredible Mr. Pennypacker" is annoying, unfunny and a waste of talent.

By the way, this is NOT meant as criticism at all, but I find it odd that Webb starred in this and "Cheaper By the Dozen". These two films were about men with apparently VERY strong heterosexual libidos, though Webb himself was gay and lived most of his life with his mother. You wonder how he might have been as a father--like the men in these films or perhaps like Mr. Belvedere? Who knows. All I know is that his adult life, outside of acting, sounded rather lonely.

Mr. Pennypacker of Pennypacker Prime Products had two factories where he has divided his time for 20 years, one in Harrisburg and one in Philadelphia. He spends one month at each and never mixes up his schedule for the main reason that he has a family in each town. Quite prolific, he has a total of 17 children between his two families. His eldest daughter in The Harrisburg household decides to marry the son of a minister unexpectedly...and they have to do it in a week as he has been assigned a rectory to report to out of town.

This throws off Mr. Pennypacker's schedule and when an emergency occurs in Philadelphia, a son there is forced to track him down...and chaos ensues.

I think this was supposed to be a moral lesson...but I felt like it tried to be cute but fell flat.

Clifton Webb is a successful Mayve Decade sausage manufacturer, with facilities in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. He is a forward thinking fellow, who wears plus fours, has a lady secretary,believes in Darwin's theory of evolution and seventeen children: eight in Harrisburg with wife Dorothy Malone, and nine in Philadelphia with his deceased wife there; he is a bigamist, whose carefully separate lives are revealed to his families.

This sounds just like prime meat for the star of CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, but there's a major problem: Webb, despite his speeches in this movie, is a self-serving jerk. There's no supercilious wit in his role, just an almost unbreakable self regard. Despite a prime cast that includes Charles Coburn and a fresh-faced Jill St. John, there's a tiredness to the role, as if the studio bought the Broadway stage show with an eye towards keeping Webb's string of titillating family fare going. Because of the way the role is written, it is no such thing. Acting honors to Miss Malone, but this looks like Disney fare of the 1970s.... once you subtract the immorality.

Most of the reviewers seem to have taken the premise of this comedy much too seriously and allow themselves to be unnecessarily offended.

I was twelve when my family and I first enjoyed this charming confection in 1959 and I find myself still able to appreciate it for what it is.

To start with the production values are sumptuous and greatly enhanced by wide screen, lush colour and authentic sets and costumes.

The casting is first rate with the polished and ever reliable Clifton Webb firmly at the helm and Dorothy McGuire giving an attractive and intuitive performance that I feel ranks as one of her best. Charles Coburn provides some very funny moments and the fresh and lovely Jill St. John represents the younger generation along with David Nelson and others. I love this film and intend watching it again soon. Come on, give it a go.

CLIFTON WEBB, given the chance to "act" in LAURA, THE RAZOR'S EDGE and other fine films, is the Clifton Webb the public wanted to see. He made his mark as Mr. Belvedere in a number of Belvedere films and audiences loved him.

But Fox did him a disservice by forcing him to play the remarkable man in this film, an 1890s gentleman married to two wives who know nothing about the other's existence. The only remarkable thing is that this time it doesn't work at all, plodding along in an attempt to be fresh and funny while at the same time irritatingly forcing its premise on the viewer by making all the other protesting townspeople look like old fogies.

The only supporting role character worth mentioning is CHARLES COBURN, again adding his own special brand of ornery charm to a role that doesn't deserve his presence. DOROTHY McGUIRE gives another one of her understated performances as one of the wives. Unfortunately, an annoying performance by JILL ST. JOHN (with high-pitched voice playing "young") gets the film off to a bad start. RON ELY is much better as her sweetheart.

Henry Levin's direction is stilted and there's not enough comedy to really enjoy it as a Clifton Webb film. Saddling him with 17 children does not alter the fact that his prissy ways make the basic premise entirely unlikely. This sort of thing (without the bigamy) was done more effectively (and much more pleasantly) in CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN.

Technically, the film is fine. Sets and costumes look good in Technicolor and provide the charm missing in the script.