After watching some eps from the Death In Paradise box set I gave him as a Father's Day present,my dad started checking what films were on BBC iPlayer. Both of us being fans of his movies since seeing the Flubber flicks,we were pleased to find a rare Fred MacMurray that had just screened,which would hopefully not have a dull moment.The plot:Taking care of his daughters after the death of their mum/his wife, Chris Heyward raises cash by being a rodeo who travels across states. During a visit to New York,Heyward crosses paths with singer Kay Kingsley,and falls in love for the first time since he became a widow. Catching each other up in a whirlwind romance,the couple get married,and Kingsley leaves the songs,to join Heyward and his kids on the farm. Despite getting a warm welcome,Kingsley is unable to shake the feeling that she is suited to the limelight,rather than the farm life.View on the film:Getting knee-deep into all the farmyard chores,the very pretty Irene Dunne (who replaced Myrna Loy) gives a wonderful performance as Kingsley,whose singing glitters with gold that Dunne melts down into a Southern belle. Joined by a very young Natalie Wood (and future Rebel Without a Cause co-star Ann Doran) Fred MacMurray gives a great performance as Heyward,with MacMurray throwing Screwball Comedy haystacks in exchanges with Andy Devine's very funny Orvie.Keeping the Comedy and Melodrama lassos spinning, MacMurray gives a warm sincerity to Heyward's attempts to support Kingsley getting used to a different lifestyle. Bringing Frank Capra's cinematographer Joseph Walker down on the farm,director George Marshall impressively finds ultra-stylised barns for the daily grind of the family,via rustic tracking shots going over the muddy boots and family dog leaping for joy,to elegant overlapping shots listening in on local gossip,in a town that never has a dull moment.

Our story begins at a charity rodeo in New YOrk City where one of the cowboys (Fred MacMurray) meets and quickly falls in love with a song writer (Irene Dunne). They are next seen after their marriage as they return to the ranch, where MacMurray has 2 young daughters from his previous marriage (which ended with the death of his wife). The ranch is a simple one that shows promise, but the overarching problem is water rights. The Wyoming folks enthusiastically welcome the new wife...except for neighboring rancher William Demarest, who holds the water rights. Dunne fits right in...except for with Demarest, whom she accidentally humiliates at a party. Much of the early part of the film traces her difficult (but good-spirited) adjustment to ranch life. Then, she accidentally kills Demarest's prize steer. She almost returns to New York where she could quickly earn money to help pay for more water rights, but she feels she is needed by the children and her husband, so declines the Broadway job. But, eventually things go from bad to worse, and she does return to New York, only for MacMurray to be dragged (or should I say carried) by Andy Devine to patch things up.This is a somewhat typical romantic comedy, but they resist the common temptation to resort to an imagined affair and jealousy as a reason to scotch the marriage and lead to kissing and making up. That's where I thought it was going, but thank goodness they followed a somewhat more realistic route. The one complaint I have is that a simple solution would be for her to work on her music at the ranch and not have to return to New York City. Ah well, that would be too obvious.Irene Dunne is wonderful here. Humorous and warm...perfect for the role. Fred MacMurray should never have taken the role on "My Three Sons"; it forever tainted his career, and people mostly forget what an important and beloved actor he was; he's very good here an believable as a cowboy/rancher. William Demarest is almost cartoonish here; they should have lightened him up just a tad. Andy Devine is seen mostly at the beginning and ending of the film, but he's good here, and important the story line. Natalie Wood again is a young girl, the elder daughter; she seemed like a natural.Nice gentle humor with a warm love story. A very nice film.

Question: How does a New York City gal fit in out in the country as a new bride? Response: I don't know. Is this Barbara Stanwyck in "The Purchase Price", Merle Oberon in "The Cowboy and the Lady", Claudette Colbert in "The Egg and I" or Eva Gabor on "Green Acres"? Real Answer: Well, in this case, it's Irene Dunne in "Never a Dull Moment" where she is ironically wed to Fred MacMurray who did basically the same thin in "The Egg and I". Instead of a chicken farmer here, though, he is a rodeo performer, and she is a Broadway songwriter. The predicament is pretty much the same for Dunne as it was for Colbert, except for the fact that MacMurray has two young daughters (Gigi Perreau and Natalie Wood) who are at first suspicious of her but are won over when she gives them designer watches as "Hi, I'm your new step-mommy dearest" presents. Then, there's the gossipy neighbors on party lines, an overweight Indian cook who practically drowns herself in Dunne's perfume while trying to fit into Dunne's dresses, and the grouchy rancher (William Demarest) keeping his water supply all to himself and anxious to buy MacMurray's property himself. When he is humiliated at Dunne's opening night party, you know he's going to be doing all he can to get them out, but Dunne has a trick or two up her gingham sleeve.One very funny scene has Dunne fighting practically every kind of disaster (including the wind which threatens to tear down the house) all at once. MacMurray is pretty much overshadowed by Dunne who dominates pretty much the entire movie. She is still youthful enough here to do pratfalls, sing a square dance and remain glamorous as she figures out how to close a swinging gate surrounded by mud without getting filthy herself. To think the same year she played Queen Victoria in "The Mudlark" shows her versatility, but unfortunately, she was on the verge of permanently ending her film career. Perreau and Wood start off in dangerous territory as they appear to be hateful brats, but fortunately, the writers changed course quickly. The results of all of this is a watchable but formula comedy that has some unique moments but basically suffers from familiarity.

IRENE DUNNE, for some strange reason, is called "Buckshot" by her cowboy husband FRED MacMURRAY. That alone is supposed to be funny and endearing. Not.Too bad that after the smash success of films like LIFE WITH FATHER, Irene Dunne was so desperate for good parts that she agreed to settle for a film like this--tedious, predictable, banal sort of comedy that struggles manfully to be funny by putting her through some slapstick paces that are about as funny as a stubbed toe.Occasionally there's a lull in the proceedings that gives Dunne and MacMurray a chance to remind us that they're still the same old likable stars. But then the script takes over again and forces them to play a series of unlikely scenes.For good measure, they have two obnoxious girls (played by a plain looking Natalie Wood who clearly did have an awkward stage, and Gigi Perreau). They add nothing to the charm or situations which strain for laughs. One of the comedic highlights is supposedly when Dunne shoots a neighbor's pet bull. You get my drift.You can skip this one. Even the presence of two top-flight stars can't save it from being the most inappropriately titled comedy of the decade.