Baby Face Harrington (1935)
Thanks to a series of comic mishaps, a timid, small-town office clerk finds himself wanted by the police and labeled by the media as "Public Enemy No. 2." Comedy.
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Don't listen to the negative reviews
A Brilliant Conflict
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Yes its slow at times and a little creaky but it makes up for it with sharp witty dialogue unappreciated by some because of its understated dryness. Watch it for the interplay - Butterworth is superb, Merkel is delightful, great supporting roles for Pallet, Meek, Pendleton and the rest.One of the most Britishly dry US comedies I've seen and definitely not the usual for its period.
With all the right cast members for a comedy, MGM comes through in this shortie! Gene Palette, Don Meeks, Una Merkel, Charles Butterworth, and wrestler turned movie star Nat Pendleton. We follow husband and wife team Millie and Willie (Merkel and Butterworth) as they are caught up in an adventure when Willie thinks Skinner (Meeks) has taken his money. They get in deeper and deeper when fate, the police, the mob, and the big city reporters step in and make things worse. Directed by Raoul Walsh, although this one must have seemed pretty light fare, after the heavy work he had done earlier in his career. It's a "Much ado about nothing" sort of story, with a fluffy light script, but a fun way to kill an hour. Finally, a film where they give Palette and Meeks plenty of screen time. They were frequently relegated to tiny roles.
The story of a mild mannered milquetoast (today he'd be called a loser) played by Charles Butterworth, who gets mixed up with criminals, cops and a bank robbery. He predictably winds up a hero. But I believe the story here is secondary to the cast, which features Una Merkel (brightens up any film in which she appears), Nat Pendleton, who made a career of playing gangsters and dumb cops, Eugene Palette as a detective and Donald Meek, who for once played a role that wasn't particularly in keeping with his name. Butterworth underplayed a role that was meant to be underplayed, and did it beautifully. Call it a B picture, a bill filler or whatever, it was a pure pleasure watching some of the great character actors of the '30's carry a film in which the focus was not on a major star.
Baby Face Harrington is a slight but entertaining MGM bill filler that highlights the underappreciated talents of Charles Butterworth. This time he plays a meek and not terribly bright chap who gets mixed up with stolen money and a surly gangster. There's an excellent supporting cast on hand, led by Una Merkel as his loving and long suffering wife and Eugene Pallette as the gravel-voiced (what else?) local sheriff. 62 minutes of brief and breezy light comedy for fans of 30s B films.