Baby Face Morgan (1942)

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Been years since I've seen this one, it's good to see it again. The only thing I had recalled about this film was that it was about gangsters and that I liked the film. I was thinking this was a serious drama but my memory failed to remember that it was a comedy. Oh it gets serious but it's not a pure hard-nosed drama like I was recalling it to be from my teen years -- that's OK. I finally got to see the film again and it's cute. It's a screwy jokes comedy with slapstick thrown it for good measure.This is not the worlds greatest film - but it's a fun one. It is one mixed up mess these guys get the young, naive Edward "Baby Face" Morgan into.7/10

Flaky PRC production. Looks like the producers were aiming for a gangster comedy, with veteran goof-balls like Hymer and Barnett, along with serious types like Armstrong and Harolde, plus a gamely compliant Cromwell. What they get instead is a silly concoction, despite a cast that tries hard. Sweet-natured innocent (Cromwell) is set up by conniving gangster (Armstrong) as fall-guy for his insurance scheme. Trouble is the kid has no business sense and undercuts the scheme with wasteful spending. Meanwhile Armstrong has to contend with rival toughie Harolde who doesn't trust him. So there's trouble all around. Too bad the script is so clumsy (many gaps), along with slack direction from pedestrian director Dreifuss (check his credits). The result is 60-minutes of awkward entertainment, best left to aficionados of the 1940's.

After "Central City" loses its mob boss to murder, partner-in-crime Robert Armstrong (as "Doc" Rogers) decides to take drastic measures To preserve criminal continuity, he recruits the dead mobster's milquetoast son, Richard Cromwell (as Edward "Baby Face" Morgan), to run the family business. The naive Mr. Cromwell is taken to the city, and installed as President of his father's "Acme Protection Agency", a front for gangsters. While Cromwell sells innocently sells insurance, his "employees" run an extortion racket. Cromwell falls for pretty client Mary Carlisle (as Virginia Clark); and, the duo find themselves in great danger… "Baby Face Morgan" catches star Cromwell and Ms. Carlisle nearing the end of their once "promising" film careers. It's a quick, light, and inoffensive little crime drama.**** Baby Face Morgan (9/15/42) Arthur Dreifuss ~ Richard Cromwell, Mary Carlisle, Robert Armstrong

A son of a deceased mobster is unwillingly ceremoniously placed as the new leader of a racket the mob has put together, even though he is a bit naive and light headed. Through a clumsy series of events, he opens an insurance company that covers insurance claims on mob hits, even though he has no idea that this is all a front for the Mob. Soon, he gets way over his head, and eventually has to pretend to be someone that he is not to clear his name! If this whole premise sounds familiar, you may be right. This film, of all things, is a pre-successor to Corky Romano, which is about a dim-watt son of a Mobster infiltrating the FBI, unknowingly to benefit the mob. Another similarity? They're both pretty awful.James Cromwell, who plays the title character, looks strikingly like Jude Law. Too bad he can't act like him. The film, which is typical for these type of pictures, jumps all over the place from comedy to action to drama to thriller, leaving plot holes galore. But this is never boring, just stupid in its approach.