Frank R. Strayer's Blondie in Society (1941)

Blondie in Society is the ninth of twenty-eight Blondie movies made by Columbia Pictures between 1939 and 1950, of which twelve were directed by Frank R. Strayer and seven were written by Karen DeWolf, who made Blondie in Society, along with veteran cinematographer Henry Freulich, who photographed five films in 1941.  The verbal wit and physical comedy of this film may even have been influenced by brilliant comedy writer Preston Sturges, whose first two directorial efforts were released in 1940.

Blondie is played by Penny Singleton and Dagwood by Arthur Lake, as in all the Blondie films.  Trouble starts when police and bank officials show up at the Bumstead residence suspecting that someone had forged Dagwood's signature on a check  for fifty dollars.  Dagwood says he wrote the check as a loan for his friend Cliff (Chick Chandler), a dog breeder.  Unfortunately he forgot to tell Blondie about the loan after she had counted on that money for a bicycle for their son Baby Dumpling, a new washing machine and a permanent for herself.  Blondie insists that Cliff return the money immediately but Cliff doesn't have the money so he gives Dagwood a Great Dane named Chin Up White Tie for Dinner instead.  Then chaos and entropy ensue, including Dagwood being attacked by a woman with a broom when Chin Up eats the pies cooling on her window.

I'm not one to worry about so-called "spoilers," since knowing the plot in advance usually will enhance rather than diminish my enjoyment of a movie, book, ballet, etc. but I will limit my comments here because the plot here is so brilliantly detailed and the performances so superb that I would find it  difficult to capture the combined intelligence of the screenplay and mise-en-scene verbally; a good print is available on YouTube. For the time being I just want to praise -- in addition to DeWolf's screenplay and Strayer's direction -- the excellent casting and performances of the character actors who so beautifully support Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton:  Jonathan Hale as J.C. Dithers, Dagwood's agressive boss; Edgar Kennedy, of the "slow burn," as the veterinarian who takes care of Chin Up; William Frawley as Waldo Pincus, who has his own Great Dane named Hamlet's Soliloquy; Charles Lane as the washing machine salesman, who has a demonstration machine attack him; the juveniles Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling and Danny Mummert, the sharp-tongued Alvin, Baby Dumpling's friend. Excellent, as usual, is the Bumstead's dog Daisy, played by a mixed breed terrier, poodle, cocker spaniel.

The film ends with Blondie taking Chin Up White Tie to a dog show with a $500 prize and when Chin Up won't allow himself to be shown Blondie rouses him by beautifully singing Joyce Kilmer's Trees, put to music by Oscar Rasbach, and wins the prize.