It's almost heartbreaking to watch this film, a re-enactment of a real life struggle between father and son, veteran Broadway comic Ed Wynn (a "Ziegfeld Follies" star) and his son, popular MGM character actor Keenan Wynn. Both went onto further acclaim as part of the Disney stable, with Ed playing loveable old codgers and Keenan as the resident villain. Their working together on a dramatic television special ("Requiem of a Heavyweight") creates challenges as Ed isn't prepared for a strictly dramatic role and wants to make changes that don't work. Ralph Nelson and Rod Serling get to play themselves as director and writer, uncomfortable as the older Wynn fails to deliver in the initial readings and rehearsals.
For audiences who only saw Ed as the happy go lucky old vaudevillian, this is quite a transition for him, and in playing himself, he shows a truly personal side that must have been difficult at first. But his determination to prove himself does persevere, and that resulted in an Oscar nomination for "The Diary of Anne Frank", the ceremony having been just right before this program aired. For father and son, it's a tough situation, especially in the opening scene when Keenan sees his father repeating ancient jokes that are possibly older than him.
Both Wynn's are superb, but it's almost like a church confession for Ed to play himself so brutally honest that you can feel him finding it difficult to play the truth. Maxine Stuart as Keenan's wife and William Roerick as the producer (refusing to fire Ed) are also great. Red Skelton appears in a cameo as himself, acknowledging having been discovered by Ed years before. The older Wynn thankfully ended up as an immortal reminder of old school style comedy who persevered, and like Bert Lahr managed to grow with the changes required to remain relevant in a changing medium and a not so forgiving changing world.
For audiences who only saw Ed as the happy go lucky old vaudevillian, this is quite a transition for him, and in playing himself, he shows a truly personal side that must have been difficult at first. But his determination to prove himself does persevere, and that resulted in an Oscar nomination for "The Diary of Anne Frank", the ceremony having been just right before this program aired. For father and son, it's a tough situation, especially in the opening scene when Keenan sees his father repeating ancient jokes that are possibly older than him.
Both Wynn's are superb, but it's almost like a church confession for Ed to play himself so brutally honest that you can feel him finding it difficult to play the truth. Maxine Stuart as Keenan's wife and William Roerick as the producer (refusing to fire Ed) are also great. Red Skelton appears in a cameo as himself, acknowledging having been discovered by Ed years before. The older Wynn thankfully ended up as an immortal reminder of old school style comedy who persevered, and like Bert Lahr managed to grow with the changes required to remain relevant in a changing medium and a not so forgiving changing world.