Richard Leacock and Joyce Chopra's Happy Mother's Day (1963) is an engrossing film about a mom who just gave birth to quintuplets and the exploitation that dogs her every move. Today's television hoopla surrounding multiple births shows that very little has changed when it comes to commercial opportunism and self-serving hot air. In this film, though, the Fischer family come across as sensible people who will outlast their temporary notoriety. A fond humor for small town Americana hovers over almost every shot, a warm visual counterpoint to the somewhat sarcastic narration.
