dougdoepke Catch that inferno consuming the lodge; it's an unexpectedly somber note inside the usual Blondie amusement. Must be stock footage since it's too real for a budget series. Seems our favorite movie family is taking a vacation lakeside. Trouble is the inn they're staying at is almost vacant and about to be foreclosed by a mean guy who owns the lodge across the lake. When B & D find out, they pitch in to help the old couple who are about to lose their livelihood. Meanwhile, Baby Dumpling and Daisy go missing. Oh my, what will Mom and Dad do now.There's more action here than usual with more cast extras. Still the Bumstead antics are funny as usual, especially Daisy the dog who steals the show. Too bad they don't give canine Oscars. Daisy deserves one for her flawlessly natural silliness. Then too, shouldn't overlook MacBride (Morton) who was such a good meanie. Here his clashes with Dagwood are little gems. And what about Donald Meek, he looks meek but is he. But whatever you do, don't let Dagwood fix your vacuum cleaner unless you want to visit the moon. Anyway, it's solid Bumstead fun, again showing what a perfect pairing they were.

bkoganbing The third film of the Blondie series finds Blondie and Dagwood finally on a vacation with Baby Dumpling and Daisy in tow. Unfortunately on the train to the lake resort hotel they've got a reservation for they manage to annoy at every opportunity Donald MacBride the owner of the place. He especially doesn't like dogs and kids.Which is enough to get them tossed from MacBride's place and the only other place is a ramshackle resort owned by kindly elderly couple Thomas Ross and Elizabeth Dunne. Eccentric old Donald Meek who took a liking to the Bumsteads left with them. But these folks are in hock up to their graying hair and to MacBride.Normally either Dagwood stumbles into a solution or Blondie figures a way out of the Bumstead troubles. But in this story, it's not Arthur Lake or Penny Singleton it's their little boy Larry Simms with the help of Daisy and some wood land friends she made who prove to be MacBride's undoing.It's what Bismarck said about the USA, God's got a special providence for the Bumsteads.

tavm This is the third in the Blondie movie series. Dagwood, Blondie, Baby Dumpling, and Daisy are finally on their two-week vacation. Unfortunately, it's not too soon enough for Mr. Beasley, the postman. On the train, they encounter a man who doesn't like them because of Daisy's presence-dogs aren't allowed-and turns them away at his hotel in the woods, which they didn't know about. So they end up at the abandoned one at the other side owned by an elderly couple who are in financial straits. Oh, and there's another man in the story who's revealed to be a pyromaniac...Despite many contrivances, this was another funny Blondie film in the series with a touch of real drama concerning the temporary disappearance of one of the characters. So on that note, I recommend Blondie Takes a Vacation. P.S. This is the third time this month I've seen comic screen drunk Arthur Housman in an old movie, the others being the first Judge Hardy's Family outing A Family Affair and the Marx Brothers' Go West.

mark.waltz The amusements are plenty in this third installment where Blondie, Dagwood, Baby Dumpling (oh that name starts to rake the nerves after a while) and Daisy head to the country, stirring up all sorts of trouble yet saving a failing countryside inn from closing. The chaos begins on a train where, while hiding Daisy, they incur the wrath of a passenger (Donald MacBride) who turns them in for having a dog outside the storage compartment then denies them entry to the lavish country inn he owns. They end up in another nearby inn where the phone is shut off, the electricity is about to be, and one of the guests (a very funny Donald Meek) is a secret pyromaniac.This entry is a bit darker than the rest because it involves a hotel fire and the fear that the lost Baby Dumpling may be inside along with the beloved pooch Daisy. It is also a bit touching as Blondie and Dagwood forsake the fun they intended to have so they can help the elderly couple who own the inn they check into. It turns that MacBride (who actually had my sympathy in the train sequences) is out to foreclose on their loan so he can take over the property and will stop at nothing to achieve his nefarious goals. The lighthearted first third becomes intense towards the ending, and an unlikely hero is revealed. Even though most of the film takes place away from the Bumpstead's house in the city, there are still brief repeats of old gags as the rather adult conversation between tots Larry Simms and Danny Mummert, as well as frazzled postman Irving Bacon's determination to deliver the mail without being knocked over.