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Blondie's Big Moment

1947

2/5

This one is slightly more interesting than the last couple, though that isn't saying much. It is quite different from the previous installments as well, for a number of reasons.

First of all, Jonathan Hale has left the series and taken the character of Mr. Dithers with him. He's replaced by Jerome Cowan as Mr. Radcliffe, who, in my opinion, acts more like the Dithers from the comic strip than Hale did as Dithers. In those movies, Dithers was actually somewhat likable, while Mr. Radcliffe isn't at all, though he isn't supposed to be.

The central plot revolves around Dagwood losing his office, and then his job, and then getting it back again due to Blondie's intervention (as it often has in the past). There's also an orphan boy who has been staying over at the Bumstead home, and his parents happen to have left him some valuable land that Radcliffe has been trying to buy the entire movie, though unaware it belonged to the boy until the very end. Radcliffe hates the kid for beaning him with a baseball at one point, and dripping jelly on his hat at another, and is extremely mean and rude to him, as well as his teacher. However, due to the Bumsteads being so nice to the boy, he decides to give them the land, and somehow is okay with them giving it to Mr. Radcliffe as long as Dagwood gets his job and his office back. Also, due to reasons, somehow the teacher and Mr. Radcliffe are together at the end... I guess...?

This movie is also a departure from the rest in that no one gets punched, and Blondie and Dagwood's relationship is entirely intact throughout. Even Ollie seems to be back with his fiancee despite what happened in the last movie, given that he puts her picture on Dagwood's desk after he takes over his office.

Also notable: Alvin telling Blondie that she "does the most interesting things with food," which might be a compliment, possibly.