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The Kettles in the Ozarks was the eighth of Universal's "Ma and Pa Kettle" series--minus "Pa" (actor Percy Kilbride had left the series). Carrying on without the Kettle paterfamilias, Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) and her large brood of children head for the Ozarks to visit her brother-in-law Sedge (Arthur Hunnicutt). She spends a good portion of the film's running time outwitting three bootleggers who've set up shop in Sedge's barn. Ma also accelerates Sedge's marriage to Bedelia Baines (Una Merkel), to whom he has been engaged for two decades. Kettles in the Ozarks suffers from the absence of Percy Kilbride, but the climactic slapstick battle with the bootleggers is well up to par. Una Merkel, who played Sedge's erstwhile sweetheart, would recall years later that she fought tooth and nail with her agent to get out of Kettles in the Ozarks, but eventually had a wonderful time on the set thanks to the kindness and cooperation of star Marjorie Main.