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Colonel Effingham's Raid Poster

Colonel Effingham's Raid

"Who Says You Can't Fight City Hall?"

The story takes place in 1940. On the eve of America's entry in World War II, a colonel retired to his small Southern town, and discovers that there is a plan afoot to tear down Confederate Monument Square. He begins a campaign to rally the townspeople to save the square.

Top Cast

  • Charles Coburn

    Charles Coburn

    Colonel Will Seaborn Effingham

  • Joan Bennett

    Joan Bennett

    Ella Sue Dozier

  • William Eythe

    William Eythe

    Albert 'Al' Marbury

  • Allyn Joslyn

    Allyn Joslyn

    Earl Hoats

  • Elizabeth Patterson

    Elizabeth Patterson

    Cousin Emma

  • Donald Meek

    Donald Meek

    Doc Buden

  • Frank Craven

    Frank Craven

    Dewey

  • Thurston Hall

    Thurston Hall

    Ed - the Mayor

  • Cora Witherspoon

    Cora Witherspoon

    Mrs. Clara Meigs

Overview

The story takes place in 1940. On the eve of America's entry in World War II, a colonel retired to his small Southern town, and discovers that there is a plan afoot to tear down Confederate Monument Square. He begins a campaign to rally the townspeople to save the square.

Rating

6.0 / 10
7 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Apr 1, 2023

    I found this to be quite an entertaining tale of the eponymous, curmudgeonly, old gent (Charles Coburn) who returns from the army to his home town, only to find that standards have gone to pot and that there is no longer any civic pride in the place. The culmination of this cultural disintegration is the proposed demolition of the dilapidated city hall on the town's rallying "Confederate Monument Sq.". Can he galvanise the locals into thwarting the plans of the city planners and of an increasingly indifferent population? Irving Pichel leaves almost all of the heavy lifting here to a competent Coburn, but the rest of the cast (most notably a lacklustre Joan Bennett) and the rather uninspiring script let the film down a bit. Coburn always did have oodles of charisma, and is ideally cast here - but he can't do it all himself, and after a while the story runs too thin and thereby too predicably. That said, it is enjoyable to see a character actor having some fun on screen and it's a short and sweet nostalgia ride that does, certainly, raise the odd smile.

Recommendations

Relative Values

A comedy of discriminating taste and dirty little secrets. In 1952 England, Nigel, the Earl of Marshwood, woos Hollywood star Miranda, upsetting both Nigel's mother, Countess Felicity, and Miranda's former love fellow Hollywood star Don. Right before the engagement party at Marshwood, Moxie, the Countess's personal maid and best friend, reveals that Miranda is her estranged sister. Crestwell, the Countess's butler, devises a plan - but an inebriated Don's arrival at Marshwood to talk to Miranda causes all chaos to break loose.

Relative Values

6.1 2000