Baby Face Harrington (1935)

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.

Baby Face Harrington (1935) ** (out of 4) Raoul Walsh directed this comedy about a dorky bookkeeper (Charles Butterworth) who gets mistaken for a dangerous gangster. Una Merkel, Eugene Palette and Donald Meek co-star in this comedy, which only runs 65-minutes yet it takes at least a half an hour to get warned up but by then it's a little too late. The first half has all sorts of stupid jokes, which aren't funny but there are also long scenes where no laughs are even gone after. Once the mistaken identity happens then things pick up with Butterworth being charming in his role. It's rather strange that Walsh would take over the gangster genre from D.W. Griffith with the landmark Regeneration and then make one of the all time great gangster films in White Heat but have this stuck in the middle.

1935 was an interesting year because two very similar movies came out at about the same time--THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING and BABY FACE HARRINGTON. Both are about a nice but mousey little man who is accidentally pulled into the world of crime but in the end they both end up becoming, rather accidentally, heroes. While THE WHOLE TOWN TALKING is a vastly superior film (thanks to John Ford's direction and exceptional acting by Edward G. Robinson), both are well worth your time and are funny little films.The eternally befuddled Charles Butterworth stars as an ineffectual and rather daft man. While his wife (Una Merkle) loves him, she is upset that Butterworth has so little ambition and strength--being the supreme milquetoast. However, all this changes when Butterworth accidentally robs a man in a very clever scene. When in jail, once again through a series of mistakes, he is taken to be a dangerous criminal. This is all egged on by the local newspaper who convinces everyone that Butterworth should be on the FBI's most wanted list! There's much more to the film than this, but it's cute how no matter what Butterworth does, it's misinterpreted and problem upon problem occur--making his life a disaster. Thankfully, by the end of the film, things miraculously work out (after all, it IS a movie) and Butterworth is once again welcomed home--this time as a hero! Cute, inventive and worth a look. After seeing this film, try to get a copy of THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING--both are terrific films.

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.