Hide-Out (1934)

Too much of everything

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Robert Montgomery stars in Hide-Out playing a dapper hood, front man for protection racketeer C. Henry Gordon. He doesn't do the rough stuff, Montgomery is the velvet glove and others provide the muscle.Police lieutenant Edward Arnold has been trying to nail Montgomery for years and a complaint has Gordon ordering Montgomery out into the country. With a police bullet in him Montgomery does wind up on the Miller farm upstate where they nurse him back to health.Montgomery who got that police bullet because he made an unscheduled stop to pick up one of his bimbos, falls for country girl Maureen O'Sullivan. She's certainly the farmer's daughter in a part normally reserved for Janet Gaynor at Fox. The rest of her family are parents Whitford Kane and Elizabeth Patterson and kid brother Mickey Rooney.I don't think I have to tell you too much more. Montgomery does well as the slowly reforming hood and he gets good support from the rest of the cast. Note down the list playing club owners and protection racket victims Henry Armetta, Herman Bing, and Douglass Dumbrille.This one's a good comedy/drama, comedy provided by Montgomery's attempts to adapt to country living.

It's a modest movie. Not a big deal. But it's got some things in it I like. First, it stars Robert Montgomery, and Maureen O'Sullivan, which though not a guarantee of a good movie, sure is a sign of promise. And in this case it pays off. Montgomery plays a racketeer who has to lam it to the countryside to wait for some heat to die down. The odd thing is, I could not really figure out what his "racket" was. There he is injured and stays with a family to recover, meeting and chumming it with the daughter. That's where the dividing line is. In the first part you are in precode gangster land. Then Montgomery wakes up in a four poster bed with a gingham bedspread - he has arrived in production code land. The plot's flimsy, for sure, on both sides of the line, but it's there to provide the opportunity for Montgomery and O'Sullivan to meet and chatter. And that's the main attraction. The banter between the simple, ingenuous, yet clear-headed and no-nonsense country lass, and the sophisticated, jaded, out-of-his-element city feller, as they get to know each other, like each other, and fall in love. The style of their exchanges has an informal, conversational feel, as if they were talking, not reciting lines.Of course, the love story is accompanied by his character reformation into a good person, or one that looks to be in the future. But it's handled discretely, and if you ignore it, it doesn't spoil things. The supporting cast is a bunch of pros, so they know how not to step on things: Elizabeth Patterson and Whitford Kane as the ma and pa, Mickey Rooney-for once not insufferably irritating playing an insufferably irritating son, and Edward Arnold as the dogged cop. One other thing I like about the movie is that it achieves portraying a lively, energetic, spontaneous family scene without being noisy, discordant, and irritating. Something a lot of movies attempt, but fail miserably at doing.

Ladies man and gangster Lucky Wilson (Robert Montgomery) is shot by the police but manages to escape, driving into the country before passing out. He's found and taken in by a kindly family. They nurse Lucky back to health thinking he was the innocent victim of a gangster shoot-out. Gradually Lucky starts to fall for the pretty daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan) and has second thoughts about his criminal ways.Montgomery is at his charming best here. Even when he's bad, you can't help but like him. Lovely O'Sullivan was no stranger to taming wild men in films, obviously. She's one of the most likable actresses from the '30s and movies like this show why. Whitford Kane and Elizabeth Patterson are terrific as Maureen's pure, salt-of-the-earth parents. Mickey Rooney is fun as their son. Edward Arnold is great as the tough detective out to get Lucky (ha!). Muriel Evans is extremely sexy in her small part as nightclub singer Baby. Va-va-va-voom! It's a funny, sentimental film with a little bit of edge and a great cast. Give it a shot.

Cute little B film from MGM in 1934 stars Robert Montgomery as a sassy hood in the nightclub rackets who flees the city after being wounded in a shout out. He lands in the wilds of Connecticut on a farm where lovely Maureen O'Sullivan is languishing. Predictable but well done.In a role that might have been meant for William Haines, Montgomery shows his comic skills as the city slicker who has never heard a cow or seen a chicken. O'Sullivan in a rare starring role is very good as the farmer's daughter. The rest of the supporting cast is also quite good here: Elizabeth Patterson as the mother, Edward Arnold as the cop, Mickey Rooney as the kid brother, Herman Bing and Henry Armetta as the flustered nightclub owners, and Muriel Evans as the floozie. Also look for Douglas Dumbrille, C. Henry Gordon, Edward Brophy, and a funny spot for Harold Huber. Whitford Kane plays the father but I never heard of him.No great shakes but pleasant throughout with a nice ending.