Way Back Home (1931) User Reviews

Early 20th century Americana

[PeterPangloss · 7/10 · 9 May 2006]

This film gets off to a very slow start with a scene where an old New England farmer drives a tax accountant from the city nuts with his convoluted tales of bartering and swapping; being an accountant, he just wants the numbers. This went on so long, I almost gave up before the movie got underway, but I'm glad I stuck with it. It's not a great story, and it's certainly not what you'd call a Bette Davis film--she's a secondary character.

What it does do very well is to depict a rural American life that is long gone--listening in on the party line, sharing preserves with the neighbors, a taffy pull, and especially singing. The folks all gather at the preacher's house to sing the traditional American standards of the day, accompanied by the preacher's wife on a pump organ: "Love's Old Sweet Song," "Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet," "Seeing Nellie Home," and the like. I imagine these are mostly forgotten today, and it's nice to see them preserved in a relatively realistic context such as this. An unexpected pleasure.

Wonderful Mellerdrama based on Radio Favorite

[16mmRay · 7/10 · 27 October 2008]

This is NOT a movie for a wised-up 21st century audience. This is a picture designed specifically for the millions of fans of Phillips Lord's popular radio series Sunday Evenings at Seth Parker's. The story is a cracker barrel melodrama, the type that would be elevated a few years later by Philip Stong in his A VILLAGE TALE (also filmed by RKO, in 1934). The acting in WAY BACK HOME is sincere and quaint. Stanley Fields is the perfect villain, even without a moustache to twirl. The hilarious opening scene between Seth Parker and the tax man (Wade Boteler) was perhaps an inspiration for MGM's THE MATING GAME. Little Frankie Darro is terrific as Robbie. But the big prize goes to Bette Davis. Even amidst the tried-and-true showboat dramatics she pulls off a 100% believable, emotional performance. There was no question that this girl was going places and a lot farther than Jonesport! The community sing sequences in the Parkers' parlor are perhaps the most reminiscent of a bygone era. The harmonies are wonderful and they brought a great big smile to this audience member. Finally, a mention of the character "Cephus." I suspect Edgar Bergen was one of the listeners of SETH PARKER and might have based his Mortimer Snerd characterization on Bennett Kilpack's Cephus. This was Kilpack's only apparent film appearance, yet he became a titan in radio, creating and starring in MR. KEEN, TRACER OF LOST PERSONS. If WAY BACK HOME should come your way, give it a chance. But put yourself in the proper mood. It must be viewed in context and without a jaded mind or stony heart!

Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 21 October 2014]

Grandfatherly Jonesport, Maine preacher Phillips H. Lord (as Seth Parker) has trouble on the farm. Foster son Frankie Darro (as Robbie Turner) is discovered to be the offspring of drunken scoundrel Stanley Fields (as Rufe Turner). The teased boy is comforted by Mr. Lord, but young Darro's daddy will return to violently claim his boy. Nearby, handsome farmhand Frank Albertson (as David Clark) is fired from his job for dating pretty blonde Bette Davis (as Mary Lucy Duffy), the boss' daughter. This could be because Mr. Albertson's mother Dorothy Peterson (as Rose) ran off with a man and returned with a baby but no husband...

Lord was still in his 20s when he starred in this visual representation of his popular NBC Radio series. With matronly Effie Palmer (as Ma) helping, Lord is convincing as a spirited older man; the character, however, has lost appeal. Darro seems a little too mature for his role. As the young lovers, Mr. Albertson and Ms. Davis make a good impression. Davis seems to get a few extra seconds of screen time with most medium shots. Director William Seiter gets good looking photography from J. Roy Hunt and the Max Rée scenery helps, but "Way Back Home" seems stuck in the middle of sordid subplots and silly nostalgic sidetracks.

***** Seth Parker: Way Back Home (11/13/31) William Seiter ~ Phillips H. Lord, Frankie Darro, Frank Albertson, Bette Davis

A rather corny "simple folk" drama...

[AlsExGal · 4/10 · 2 January 2023]

... from RKO and director William Seiter. Old man preacher Seth Parker (Phillips Lord) and his wife (Effie Palmer) have trouble with their two wards: young Robbie (Frankie Darro) was left with them by his mother before she passed and made them swear to keep the boy safely away from his abusive father. Naturally, the brute (Stanley Fields) shows up and wants the kid back. Meanwhile, their other ward, Mary Lucy (Bette Davis), has been kicked out of her own home by her parents, and disapprove of her fraternizing with the low-born David (Frank Albertson).

Seth Parker was a popular radio show at the time, the creation of 29 year old Phillips Lord, who plays him in the movie under a big phony white beard and wig. It was considered dated and hackneyed even in 1931, with little appeal to younger listeners, so the screenwriters spiced it up a bit with the Davis/Albertson romance and some "high-speed" wagon chases at the end. That didn't save the movie for me, however, and I found it dull, tedious, and dumb, with bad performances and hoary dialogue that is nearly as dusty as the backroads of California that stand in for Maine. Davis isn't bad, and she's said to have liked the movie, since it allowed her to play an attractive girl at a time when the studios weren't giving her those kind of roles.

Way Back Home

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 9 January 2023]

This has the look of a silent film to the production, and with a decent story and a solid effort from Phillips Lord, is actually quite watchable. He adopts the young "Robbie" (Frankie Darro) after his brute of a father goes AWOL. Together with his wife (Effie Palmer), they soon come to love the lad, but a neighbourly dispute prompts the return of "Rufe" (Stanley Fields) to reclaim his son - despite the protestations of just about everyone else? Meantime, the young man's friend "Mary Lucy" (Bette Davis) is having family troubles of her own as her father will not let her see her beau "David" (Frank Albertson). Can they navigate the difficulties ahead find happiness? Davis (more especially, her big eyes) features quite sparingly; the film really belongs to an engaging performance from Lord as the decent family man determined to do what is right. The production is very basic. The camera work isn't helped by the editing (or is it the other way round?) but some work has gone into the characterisations and the dialogue is sparse enough to let the imagery do most the work - culminating in quite an entertaining buggy chase with some fisticuffs! No, it's not a film you are ever likely to recall watching afterwards, but it is quite fun and offers us a glimpse of rural American life in the 1920s.

Screen adaptation of popular radio serial

[Pilgrim-5 · 5/10 · 4 May 1999]

The story is cliched, the singing is interminable, the acting is weak. About the only time the film comes alive is in the buggy-chase toward the end, a nicely photographed sequence with some impressive stuntwork. A young Bette Davis is the love-interest. Based on a popular radio serial, the story of a Maine preacher who manages to keep his foster son places very little emphasis on the "preaching", more on the common sense humanity of "little people". As such, it has its worth; as a depiction of a cleric, the humanity, not the faith, is what shines through. Occasionally unintentionally hilarious.

Rock-Ribbed Mainers

[boblipton · 6/10 · 23 June 2022]

Phillips Lord plays Seth Parker om old-age make-up, a downeast Mainer who succors young lovers Frank Albertson and Bette Davis. Amidst singing old--time songs, he deals with adopted son Frankie Darro, whose natural father, Stanley Fields, shows up to demand his son.

Lord was 29 when he essayed the role for RKO, after making it an early hit on the radio. He based the character on his grandfather. He continued to play the character occasionally for the next ten years, but his further radio shows wandered far afield, including buying a four-masted schooner and sailing it around the world, searching for sunken treasure and looking at sea life. His next radio project was the well-remembered GANG BUSTERS, which he wrote and narrated. He also produced MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY.

The twice-divorced Lord died in 1975, at the age of 73.

dust off the dust and cobwebs!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 27 May 2006]

Wow, is this an old-fashioned film! And when I say "old-fashioned", I mean creaky and dull. I can only take so much of this homespun humor and atmosphere until I am about ready to scream! Not only does the story seem exceptionally dated, even for 1932, but the film is supposedly set in Maine and hardly anyone in the film speaks with the appropriate accent. In fact, much of the film looks more like it was filmed in the Ozarks! The story has to do with acceptance--of an adult bastard and of a young boy who is the son of a drunk. Neither story is especially memorable, but at least the story involving the drunk gets a little diverting when the old sot returns to town and demands custody of his kid. The other story involves this man and his love interest, a very young Bette Davis--who gets very little to say and do that would make you think she had a sparkling career ahead.

An interesting historical curio, but dull and dusty.

Makes A Good Case for a Return to "Silent" Films

[aimless-46 · 2/10 · 5 May 2006]

Rebecca: This is so bad it's almost good.

Enid: This is so bad it's gone past good and back to bad again.

If 1932's "Way Back Home" had been made a couple years earlier, it might have caused Hollywood to abandon "talkies" and return to making silent films. Fortunately, by 1932 enough talking pictures had already been made for everyone to realize that sound was not necessarily a device of audience torture. This is a borderline musical, with some of the worst singing you will hear this side of my shower. By the last number you will be envious of those with a serious hearing loss.

Most of the viewers who stumble across this film are Bette Davis fans seeking out some of her early performances. Davis has a supporting role as the female half of the film's romantic interest. She is paired with Frank Albertson who plays a farm laborer whose mother is an outcast and whose father is a bachelor. She looks beautiful and fresh but nothing about portraying the character is challenging. It is arguably the worst early film in which she appeared.

It is based on an early radio character named Seth Parker, played by Phillips Lord in the film, whose family are simple country folks. Sort of Ma and Pa Kettle without any comedy. The principle subject of the film is Seth's unofficially adopted son Robbie, after ten years Robbie's biological father Rufus Turner is back to claim him.

The theme is that a community can rise above its prejudices regarding illegitimacy and genetic parentage if it has a good example to follow. Because everyone is a caricature and the acting is so uneven this worthwhile theme is turned into a sappy and silly embarrassment.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Heartwarming and Uplifting Tunes and Tears with Hillbilly Humor

[LeonLouisRicci · 8/10 · 7 December 2014]

Life on the Farm and Hill Folk in General have Always been Good and mostly Innocent Entertainment for ever. Ma and Pa Kettle, Francis the Talking Mule, The Real McCoys, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Waltons, Etc.

This Dusty Antique is No Exception. Even before making it to the Screen it was a Popular Radio Show. The Film Version is a Homey, Tear-Jerker that is Livened Up with a lot of Songs and some Homespun Humor.

The Talkies were often over Burdened with Music and Songs feeling out the New Technology for this and that to See what Audiences Liked and of Course because Everyone Likes a Tune or two.

In this one there may be a Tune too Many but what is here are some Classic Sing-A-Longs that Raise the Spirit more than they make the Toe Tap. The Two Intertwining Stories are Emotional to Say the Least.

One is the Foster Son Raised by the Farmers that They obviously Love and He Loves Them. His Real Father Abandon Him for 10 Years, an Alcoholic and really Bad Guy, is back an Up to No Good.

The Second is where Bette Davis comes in. She Plays the Daughter of a Bigot (with a Whip) trying to keep Her from Dating a "Bastard Child", for Pre-Code enthusiasts.

Overall, it is a Product of its Time, and the Messages and Good Feelings that this Produce are for the Ages. It also Contains some Interesting, Supporting, Comedy Relief Characters. Heartwarming and Recommended.

Calvin Coolidge must have been a fan

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 12 July 2017]

Watching Way Back Home and for contemporary fans the only reason it is at all memorable is that Bette Davis has a supporting role might make one wonder what people saw in it. Thinking about it you must remember in the height of the Roaring Twenties the American people elected Calvin Coolidge as president who had just such a cultural background as did the folks in Sundays At Seth Parker's. I'll bet Coolidge was a devoted listener.

Phillips Lord's Seth Parker is a local community leader and preacher of sorts in a rural Maine community. In this era of no mass media things like a Sunday gathering at the preacher with some community singing was not uncommon. By the way check out Joel McCrea's Stars In My Crown also about a rural preacher in a bit earlier an era in a different part of the country. Note the community singing there among the young people.

The main story in the film is that Lord and his wife Effie Palmer took in young Frankie Darro after his mom died and raised him as their own. Darro's real dad Stanley Fields has been in and out of trouble for years, but now he wants to lay claim to his kid.

Another subplot involves Bette Davis as a good girl being courted by Frank Albertson who as they said back in the day was born on the left side of the blanket. Mom never married dad and Davis's mom Sophie Lord won't have her daughter going out with him. Dorothy Peterson is Albertson's mom and she is shunned by a lot of the puritanical types in the town.

Let's say the two strands of the plot come together and it all works out for all except Fields.

I think I can safely say Way Back Home will not see a remake any time soon. As it is it's picture of a bygone era or one rustic curiosity, you take your choice.

Diamond in the (Very) Rough

[nycritic · 4/10 · 5 May 2006]

Love conquers feuding families in this obscure movie from 1932, one of the firsts in Bette Davis' career when she was mainly an unknown and it shows. Not even remotely close to the potential she would show only two years later, and looking as awkward as the day she arrived in Hollywood, she plays Mary Lucy, a country farm girl in love with David, but wouldn't you know -- they're from families at war with each other. A dull story that even when only about 80 minutes long seems interminable with the opening sequence on a carriage and the dances, the bad acting from pretty much everyone, in particular Mrs. Philips Lord, this is again, only for admirers of Davis' body of work, but as blunt as a sledgehammer.

For nights when you can't sleep....

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 8 April 2014]

Insufferably boring, this is one of those deadly dull "Perils of Pauline" style melodramas that were dead weight even at the end of the silent era. Every decent character seems to be a hand-wringing worrier, and every villain is of the "Snidely Whiplash" variety.

The lead character is a preacher (Phillips Lord) who takes an interest in his congregation and community so much that it is surprising that he has time to write his sermons. Juvenile Frankie Darro is the focus of his help here with the young Bette Davis in an early role as the kindly neighbor who helps him and becomes the target of Darro's evil father (Stanley Fields).

This shows its radio origins throughout with its creaky soap opera like structure that might have worked on radio with ironing wives listening, but had no purpose being put on film other than to cash in on its radio success. At times, Lord is so over the top in his "purpose" that he seems more like the original conception of what a few years later would become the long-time radio and television soap opera "The Guiding Light". The dullness of this script indicates that the bulb needs to be changed.

"okay" early bette davis

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 20 October 2014]

Well, the first eight minutes are spent on a long, slow comedy bit between Seth (Phillips Lord) and the tax man, in an Abbott & Costello-type who's-on-first routine. That just goes on way too long. Audiences of the day would have been familiar with radio personality Seth Parker, kind of a Pa Kettle kind of guy. Bette Davis is "Mary", his daughter, who is trying to figure a way to get to the barn dance. This was only Davis' fourth role, and she plays it very straight forward... at twenty-three, she hadn't yet developed her sophisticated, scheming style. Effie Palmer is Ma Parker - in one of the two films she made, and both in 1931. One of the characters talks about going to Bangor ("Bangah"), presumably Maine, but the only new england accent we hear is one very badly-done one. The actress playing Lizzie (Sophia Lord... Phillips' actual wife) was actually BORN in Connecticut, so you'd think she would be more familiar with a new england accent! I guess that explains why she only (over)acted in this one film. Oscar Apfel (from Shop around the Corner, and SO many others) is a minor character here, but he doesn't have his usual giant, twitchy, mustache, so you almost don't recognize him. Not at all coherent; the main story seems to be Mary and David sneaking around to try to spend time together alone, but Mary's father is determined to keep them apart. There's also the side story of Rufe Turner (Stanley Fields) trying to take his son back from the man who raised him. Again, Fields' own story is quite interesting; Fields had been a boxer, moved into vaudeville, then into films. Everyone's real life story is much more interesting than the story we are watching here. Seth and his cronies sit around and sing a beautiful version of Love's Old Sweet Song at one point, but other than that there isn't much going on here. Some of the other songs used are more from the south - several Stephen Foster songs, Turkey in the Straw, which isn't really appropriate for a film taking place in Maine. Directed by William Seiter, who worked with the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy later in his career. This wasn't one of his better films.

Heavy moral drama about doing the right thing

[cgvsluis · 3/10 · 11 November 2020]

There are some pretty heavy morals in this film that often makes you feel as though you are a voyeur silently observing quant rural life. There are some beautiful rural moments...high jinx with pigs and trap door, preserved gooseberries delivered to a neighbor, folks gossiping and listening in on the telephone...as well as singing together in the family room. They heavier topics involve loose women and child adoption. There is a young Bette Davis in this film who was is quiet lovely along with her on screen paramour. For me this was a watch and delete, but I enjoyed many moments including the organ accompanied songs sung in chorus.

Love Thy Neighbors

[lugonian · 5/10 · 30 July 2023]

WAY BACK HOME (RKO Radio, 1931/32), directed by William A. Seiter, became the screen adaptation to the popular radio show of the time featuring Phillips Lord as Seth Parker. A homespun melodrama with touches of humor in the reminder of some Fox Films starring the ever popular Will Rogers, Phillips Lord mannerisms with white hair and beard comes as a reflection to the similar performer of stage and screen named Charles "Chic" Sale, who appeared in more motion pictures to Lord's two. With the opening titles introducing Lord's character of Seth Parker above the title gives the indication of fans of the radio show to have the pleasure of watching the radio characters coming to life on the big screen. That was way back in early 1932. Seeing WAY BACK HOME would be more of interest today to a young actress early in her career to become a two-time Academy Award winner as Best Actress and a major star before the end of the decade. Her name is Bette Davis.

Set in Jonesport, Maine, the story focuses on just plain folks living as neighbors in a farming community. Seth Parker (Phillips Lord) is a middle-aged preacher who dedicates his life to the community and his loving wife (Ellie L. Palmer). Some years ago, he had taken in a child who grows up to become Robbie (Frankie Darro) as a favor of his dying mother to raise and keep him away from his drunken father who has since vanished from their lives. The subplot to the story involves David Clark (Frank Albertson), a hired hand working for Woobling Duffy (Oscar Apfel). Duffy fires David for being so much in love with his daughter, Mary Lucy (Bette Davis), but more to the fact that David's mother, known to the community as "Runaway Rosie" (Dorothy Peterson) had left town years ago to return with a child and no husband, only to be an outcast living alone without any friends. Problems arise when Mary Lucy is evicted from her home for standing up to her father, thus an outcast finding a new home living under the Parker family. As for Seth, who never adopted Robbie legally, finds himself facing Rube Turner (Stanley Fields), who has come to claim back his son. Other cast members include Sophia M. Lord (Lizzie), Bennett Kilpack (Cephus), Raymond Hunter (Captain Bang), and Shep, the dog.

Based on the story "Other People's Business" by Jane Murfin, WAY BACK HOME, its new title, is trifle slow with Phillips Lord doing quite a bit of talking and little action. Aside from humorous dialogue between Parker and the bill collector (Wade Boteler), and verbally reading at great length current events from the newspaper, one thing that sure matters is how the community should not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Dorothy Peterson's character gathers sympathy here as the outcast mother living through town gossip without really knowing the circumstances. The only time WAY BACK HOME becomes a real point of interest is during a horse and buggy chasing scene. Though Bette Davis is still early in her career, her performance, coming ten minutes into the story, shows her natural ability in performing along with her scenes opposite Frank Albertson played off in realistic manner.

WAY BACK HOME also consists of some old-style songs as "The Girl I Left Behind Me," "On Moonlight Bay," "Love's Old Sweet Song," "Swanee River," "Auld Lang Syne," "In The Good Old Summertime" and "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet" among others. Maybe as a silent movie under the direction of D. W. Griffith in the 1920s, this might have proven more favorable considering how reminiscent to similar themes produced at that time to be seemingly outdated to Depression audiences of 1932.

Had it not been for the presence of Bette Davis, maybe WAY BACK HOME would seldom see any television revivals, or simply remain in some film vault gathering dust. Distributed on video cassette in 1991, and later DVD, Seth Parker and his homespun neighbors can be seen on occasion on Turner Classic Movies. (**)