Babe Ruth - in addition to being perhaps the greatest baseball player ever - had quite a little side-gig going in Hollywood films. He appeared in several - always as "Babe" (usually but not always as Babe Ruth, but always as "Babe.") "Headin' Home" was his first ever appearance in the movies. Yes, he plays "Babe" - a small town boy who makes it to the big time. Was he playing himself? No. The story of this Babe's life is nothing like the story of Babe Ruth's life, but it's still interesting and enjoyable to watch this silent movie.
This Babe grew up in the small town of Haverlock, fiercely devoted to his apparently single mother and his foster sister. The real Babe grew up in a Baltimore suburb until he was farmed out to an orphanage, after which he only rarely saw his family. So this is most definitely not a biography in any way, shape or form, although you get the definite impression that the producers wanted people to think it was a biography and that Babe Ruth was playing Babe Ruth instead of just plain Babe, since the opening shot of the Bambino has him in his Yankees cap.
But since this story bares absolutely no resemblance to Babe Ruth's real life, I'm not going to call it inaccurate; I'm going to assume it's fiction. As fiction, it's pleasant enough and it even tries to be funny, although jokes told on the title cards used in silent movies don't really work very well. It's most interesting for a look at a very young Babe Ruth - before he put on weight. He's pretty slim and trim in this. There's also a bit of politics mixed on that you have to watch for. This was made in 1920. Woodrow Wilson, until he suffered a stroke in late 1919, had been aggressively promoting Senate passage of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. I thought it interesting that, in a veiled sort of way, there was mention of the "14 points" - Wilson's plan that led to the Treaty - and to the League of Nations - Wilson's brainchild that Senate Republicans were fiercely opposed to. There's even a bit of a crazy dogcatcher who's clearly identified as a Republican. Was a political point in favour of Versailles being made? I don't know.
This is an enjoyable, fun movie. (7/0)
