Good Table Manners (1951)

★★★★★ · "Oh Boy, Ham!! · Spuzz · 2005-05-17

Chuck is a typical guy seen in these types of films who just wolfs down his meals, much to the chagrin of his parents. He even talks while his mouth his full! One day, after seeing his parents going to a supper club party that Chuck didn't want to go to, (and wearing a laughably ugly sweater with the widest collared shirt ever) he wonders what life would be like in the future for him (or soemthing lol). Then all of a sudden, an 'older' version of chuck appears before him (wearing the same ridiculous outfit) to chastise Chuck about his table manners. The problem with this is, the guy has an…

★★★★ · Good social instructional film for the youngsters of 1951 · ERD. · 2008-07-24

A simpler era when compared to today. A time when the middle classs family could all sit down together and eat dinner. Standards were very important in those social circles. Somehow I found this 1951 film cute, although somewhat naive. In today's busy world, most of us don't think of what position to leave our knife and fork on the plate to indicate we are finished. The acting and direction was well done. The script was well written for the generation intended to view the film.

★★★★ · Emily Post For Kids · JayKay49 · 2012-12-11

This film has some very 1951 features which include the saturated color on the livingroom wall (still in vogue from the late 40's); and who could miss the sweaters with the familiar moose pattern on 'em. A had-to-have in those days. Chuck's father is either a clerk or cameraman filling in for the guy who was supposed to play that part....or he has a butt plug up his yank that's as big as a football. He is downright laughable - as are the Chuck and his alter ego characters with those Joan Crawford eyebrows...apparently a must have for teen characters when it came to casting for these Coronet…

★★★ · High Concept, 1951 · Dodsworth the Cat · 2022-07-07

Instead of a blinking genie or a witch who twitches her nose, we get a guy who snaps his fingers and voila! Food. Clean dishes. Table settings. But he's not just any guy. He's the future version of young, manners-challenged kid Chuck. Actually, he's really David Whitehouse, who starred as Ken Michaels in "Better Use of Leisure Time" (1950), complaining employee Ed Blakeslee in "How to Keep a Job" (1949); literate son Pete Willis in "Build Your Vocabulary" (1948) and a bit player in "Are You Popular?" (1947). Whitehouse was a Chicago radio actor. Young Chuck can't wait to dig into that "ha-am"…

★★★ · Unintentional Time Travel Tale: · Time Travelin Mike · 2010-03-31

The writers of this instuctional film obviously wanted to make the story more interesting to it's young viewers, so they centered the story around the discussion between a young boy and his 21 year old self. I don't think the writers even had in the back of their minds that they were creating a time travel tale, but it is nontheless. Just for fun, using today's sensabilites, we can deduce that 21 year old Chuck must have struck out on an important date due to his bad table manners. Therefore, he finds a way to go back to correct the mistake. Why else would you go back in time just to teach…

★★★ · time travel useful in improving your table manners · Tavish McDonell · 2004-07-20

Chuck is visited by his future self, a kind of John Connor sent back to the past to save him from the Terminator of bad manners stigma. An Oedipal fantasy of self-fathering... The most amusing piece of unintentional irony is how "older Chuck" talks about the growing importance of impressing girls and authority figures, while at the same time being dopier and more maladroit than "younger Chuck." The manners recommended are quite reasonable and still valid today--if only in the most formal settings. A painless little time capsule of early 50's mores where "cool" is a distant rumour. Teenagers…