Pick of the Pod (1939)

★★★★★ · Fresh as the moment when the pod went pop! · compoundeye · 2011-04-25

...as the slogan for Birds Eye peas in the 1970s used to go. This Del Monte film from 1939 still looks good even after all these years. Granted the domestic scenes are amusing, as they differ somewhat from modern so-called 'sensibilities', and the father is so incredibly stilted and hammy in his grimacing delivery... but WOW! a magic book that zooms you into a whole World of Pea-dom. I'd sit through 5 mins of happy family guff any day of the week to get to the other 15mins of the film, and it makes you wish there was a whole series of shorts with the magic book variously whisking you off to…

★★★★ · Find out how your pea peas got there. · Spuzz · 2004-02-19

A hopelessly overwritten ("The peas are just busting their buttons with freshness!" exploration into Peadom which actually is quite interesting, especially to a jaded reviewer like me who has seen everything lol. The story begins with Mr and Mrs Bad Actor and their 2 bad acting kids. They wanna know where peas come from. I suppose the kids HAVE to know the facts someday right? So after dinner the father sits down with the kids and tells all about their peas (this is all so surreal). We then get a very good overview of how they get the peas off the vines into the cans. So essentially two…

★★★★ · Absurdism in everyday reviews · lwilton · 2006-08-04

While everything is absurd in an era of total absurdism, the dinner scene depicted in this infomercial (which is essentially what it was, lacking only the hard sell) was typical of an American dinner table and conversation from practically the founding of the country to the mid 1960s. It is impossible to believe now, but families used to sit down at least once a day and actually TALK to each other, sometimes for up to an hour. Parents were even able (and permitted) to help in their children's education. An encyclopedia in the living room or den was as common in the last century as an iPod in…

★★★ · a nostalgic look at pea canning · nightfishsnake · 2006-08-15

it's rather funny to watch a documentary that was filmed in the early 20th century and just hear how dated the dialogue is.the only thing in the film that looks current is the boy's haircut(i'm sorry,but the boys today ARE wearing that style!) with the timeless tradition of sibling rivalry blended in.the question that's on my mind is:did the canned peas of that era really have a fresh garden taste?i know today's canned peas don't; they taste bland,starchy and overcooked.BLAH!!! but you have to admit,the selective method that was used in those days was of heavy scrutiny, despite the now…