Judith Anderson is known for her dramatic roles on stage and screen. In 1940, she had two motion pictures in release at the same time. The first one was REBECCA, in which she played her most well-known role, Mrs. Danvers, an icy cold character who didn't have a sympathetic bone in her body. The other film was FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS, a high concept studio comedy produced by MGM which costarred Eddie Cantor, a baby and a bevy of young starlets.
FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS was based on a French farce called LE MIOCHE, that had been made in France a few years earlier. (Le Mioche means 'the tyke' in English.) The story was also filmed in Italy in the 1950s, and that time it was known as ONE HUNDRED LITTLE MOTHERS.
It's interesting to see Miss Anderson playing a more maternal type, the complete antithesis of her assignment in the Hitchcock drama. In this story, Anderson shepherds more than three dozen young girls, all with designs on motherhood. Mr. Cantor is mixed up in the proceedings, when a little child is placed into his care. This would be Cantor's only picture at MGM.
Somehow the wacky premise and the unusual casting work. It works so well, in fact, that one wishes a sequel had been produced. Cantor was usually seen in big budget spectacles turned out by Samuel Goldwyn. Those pictures were typically variety shows, with a hodgepodge of skits and musical numbers. There is none of that in this picture. Surprising because the director is Busby Berkeley, of all people.
Mr. Cantor, for his part, is usually found in variety shows, or at least movies with big scale musical numbers. There is none of that in this picture. Surprising because the director is Busby Berkeley, of all people.
FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS was based on a French farce called LE MIOCHE, that had been made in France a few years earlier. (Le Mioche means 'the tyke' in English.) The story was also filmed in Italy in the 1950s, and that time it was known as ONE HUNDRED LITTLE MOTHERS.
It's interesting to see Miss Anderson playing a more maternal type, the complete antithesis of her assignment in the Hitchcock drama. In this story, Anderson shepherds more than three dozen young girls, all with designs on motherhood. Mr. Cantor is mixed up in the proceedings, when a little child is placed into his care. This would be Cantor's only picture at MGM.
Somehow the wacky premise and the unusual casting work. It works so well, in fact, that one wishes a sequel had been produced. Cantor was usually seen in big budget spectacles turned out by Samuel Goldwyn. Those pictures were typically variety shows, with a hodgepodge of skits and musical numbers. There is none of that in this picture. Surprising because the director is Busby Berkeley, of all people.
Mr. Cantor, for his part, is usually found in variety shows, or at least movies with big scale musical numbers. There is none of that in this picture. Surprising because the director is Busby Berkeley, of all people.