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Paul Muni has to get used to hearing "Hi, Nellie!" when he's demoted to the Heartthrobs column in this 1934 film also starring Glenda Farrell and Ned Sparks. When bank official Canfield disappears at the same time as $500,000 and the bank has to close, all the other papers print that Canfield took the money. Managing editor Brad Bradshaw refuses to tie the two incidences together without proof - thus, the demotion. The current Heartthrobs (Farrell) gets a news beat.

This is one of those fast-talking '30s films, probably in response to the MacArthur-Hecht "The Front Page" from 1931. It's all pretty routine except that it stars Paul Muni who, as Brad/Nellie, is a wisecracking, sarcastic editor now mercilessly teased by his cronies. Muni, well known for his dramatic work, shows his expertise at comedy here. Also it's a rare chance to see how handsome he was as he wore so much character makeup and so many costumes throughout his career. He is very good as the determined managing editor turned lonelyhearts columnist. Farrell is her usual sharp-mouthed self; this isn't much of a departure from other roles for her.

Recommended if you want to see Muni in something approaching a comedy.

You know instantly from the moment you see that WB shield and hear Leo Forbstein's jaunty music that you're going to enjoy this. It's one of those typical Warner Brothers fun, upbeat stories about "ordinary people" who first encounter misfortune then work out how to make it better. In this type of picture you're not going to get anxious or worried because you just know that everything's going to work out fine for them in the end. This was exactly what was needed to cheer up the audiences of The Great Depression and this one is still as entertaining today. There's nothing really special about this but as a cinematic equivalent to eating a box of chocolates, it's brilliant and guaranteed to keep you smiling all the way through.

Why HI NELLIE is still so watchable now is because it is made so well. One of Warner's top directors, Mervyn LeRoy could turn his hand to anything and rarely made anything you would not want to see. To those of us familiar with old Warner movies, there's a few familiar faces here including the usually sombre and serious Paul Muni who is never, ever associated with light comedy. However, if you have no idea who Paul Muni was and stumble upon this, you would simply think that he'd being doing these types of light comedy roles all his life - he is absolutely superb!

There's really nothing bad to say about this - as an example of this chewing gum for the masses type of entertainment, this is just right. The story, the script, the acting and the atmosphere are all spot on. If there were any vacancies at that newspaper office I would probably apply! Maybe Glenda Farrell should have had a meatier role (like she did in MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM) since at the start of the picture she's a real go-getter reporter not afraid to get her hands dirty but towards the end, she seems to defer all the important stuff to the men - oh well, it was the thirties.

HI, NELLIE! (Warner Brothers, 1934), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, is an interesting newspaper story starring Paul Muni in his third film for the studio. Having achieved great popularity in the title role of I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (Warners, 1932), also directed by Mervyn LeRoy, HI, NELLIE not only has the distinction of being one of Paul Muni's lighter films of the period, but also the movie that reunites him with his CHAIN GANG co-stars as Glenda Farrell, Berton Churchill, Douglass Dumbrille and Edward Ellis. While CHAIN GANG has remained a classic thanks to frequent television broadcasts throughout the years, HI, NELLIE! is rarely shown and discussed among Paul Muni's resume of movie credits. Often classified as a comedy, it's far from a laugh-out-loud one in the screwball sense, but more of a grand mix verbal humor with melodrama and mystery combined.

Plot Summary: Samuel M. Bradshaw, better known as "Brad" (Paul Muni), is the pipe-smoking managing editor of the Time Star whose working desk is usually filled with paper note clutter. Also at the newspaper establishment are Harvey Dawes (Douglass Dumbrille), the city editor; "Shammy" McClaw (Ned Sparks), Brad's associate; Mr. Durkin (Donald Meek), the oldest copy boy of forty years; Fullerton (Hobart Cavanaugh), a reporter who's always asking Gerry Krale (Glenda Farrell) out for a date, but never gets anywhere. Gerry happens to be the "advise to the lovelorn" columnist known to all as "Nellie," a job title she hates. With the latest news of a bank closing due to a half a million dollar shortage, and Frank J. Canfield, head of the government investigating committee mysteriously disappearing, Brad, who finds no evidence against Canfield, writes nothing about the story as a front page spread as rival newspapers have done. For this, the Star's publisher, John L. Graham (Berton Churchill) has Brad fired. Because Brad has a contract with the Time Star where he cannot quit or get fired, the only thing that can be done is demote Brad to Gerry's old job on the "Hi, Nellie!" columns, with Gerry promoted to a better job. Having his pal, Shammy (Ned Sparks) continue to investigate the Canfield story, Shammy comes up with enough evidence to have Brad join forces with him on further investigations to prove Brad's intuitions are correct, followed by unsuspecting results. Also in the cast are: Robert Barrat (Beau Brownell, gang leader); Dorothy LeBaire (Rosa Martinello); Marjorie Gateson (Mrs. Canfield); George Meeker, Frank Reicher, Sidney Miller, Harold Huber and Allan Vincent.

HI, NELLIE! must have been successful enough for Warners to remake this more than once, as LOVE IS ON THE AIR (1937) with Ronald Reagan; YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FOREVER (1942) with George Brent, and THE HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET (1949) starring Wayne Morris. Yet it's the 1934 original that succeeds most due to LeRoy's fast-paced direction set in the newspaper world. While Glenda Farrell, who specialized in newspaper material playing the categorized term of "sob sister" as in MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) followed by subsequent "Torchy Blane" movie series (1937-1939), her role as "Nellie" offers some amusements, but not enough action in the manner of the dominating Paul Muni character, who's the sole attraction here.

For anyone familiar with Paul Muni's acting style as a prestigious actor in such landmark films as THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (1936), THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (1937) and JUAREZ (1939), HI, NELLIE is a little movie (75 minutes) that offers more of Paul Muni's character than the character behind the heavy make-up of historical figures. Aside from never playing the same type of character twice, Muni would go on for developing his craft in challenging roles as his two 1935 releases of accented speaking characters as the Mexican lawyer in BORDERTOWN or Swedish bo-hunk in BLACK FURY before finding his mark for which he very much prefered rather than those that suit him best.

Though not the best movie title depicted, HI, NELLIE!, which could have starred the likes of a James Cagney or Lee Tracy in the cast, ranks one of the finer, yet most underrated newspaper stories of the 1930s that can be seen and rediscovered occasionally on Turner Classic Movies. (***) -30-

Paul Muni plays a newspaper editor who refuses to run a story accusing a missing man of embezzlement without proof. All the other papers in town run the story and Muni, who's under contract, is subsequently demoted to the lonely hearts column. There he writes advice to the lovelorn under the name of Nellie Nelson. While working on the column he unexpectedly gets a lead that may solve the case of the missing man and get him his editor job back.

Fun, well-paced WB crime drama with touches of comedy. Muni's terrific and is backed up by a great cast, including the always enjoyable Glenda Farrell, Douglas Dumbrille, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, and many more fine character actors. Ned Sparks, master of the deadpan delivery, steals every scene he's in. Remade several times but this is the best.

Muni takes a break from all the heavy-breathing dramas he was turning out at Warners for this lively newspaper yarn, which takes an odd turn about halfway through. At first it's a "Front Page"-style comedy, complete with bustling newsroom, huffy editor, and speedy copy boys. Muni's demoted from managing editor for mishandling a story and relegated to taking over Glenda Farrell's lonely-hearts column (see also Montgomery Clift in "Lonelyhearts," a couple decades later). Oddly, these two bickering reporters don't romance each other. After being miserable in his new position and getting self-pitying drunk, he braces up and becomes the world's greatest lonely hearts reporter (thus all the "hi, Nellie!" mirth, which comes off today as homophobic and unkind). But then we transition into a convoluted newspaper drama, with Muni and the newsroom-a fine Warners bunch, with Donald Meek, Ned Sparks, Douglas Dumbrille-chasing down a missing executive and pursuing an unlikely course through Houston Street, Little Italy, and Greenwood Cemetery. It becomes less interesting, but Mervyn LeRoy, working at a furious Warners pace, keeps it brisk, there's a swell deco supper club set with a full-size carousel, and even the main-credits theme is memorable. Not top-drawer Warner Brothers, then, but enjoyable middle-drawer.

Bette Davis is quoted as once saying that the great character actor Paul Muni tried to hide himself under all kinds of makeup, so that no one would ever know who he was or what he looked like. Well, in many of his early films, the real Muni is quite visible. Here, Warner's one time "resident thespian" does a slick turn as the managing editor of a big city newspaper. He gets demoted to writing an advice to the lovelorn column and spends the rest of the film trying to get the goods on a gang of hoods, hoping it will get him his old managing editor's job back. Glenda Farrell plays his female antagonist while sour face Ned Sparks is along for the ride as a city beat reporter. A solid role for Muni, with lots of comedy, which he pulls off well. I suppose the comedy was a welcome change from his usual heavy drama, falling somewhere between "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", "Scarface" and "Louis Pasteur." Watch and enjoy Muni's talents. His 5 Oscar nominations should speak for themselves, but it seems, over 30 years after his death, he's not as well remembered as several of his contemporaries, which is a shame.

In that stretch of years between his performance in I'm A Fugitive From A Chain Gang and The Story Of Louis Pasteur, Paul Muni hit a dry patch with his home studio of Warner Brothers. They put him in a series of films way beneath his talent when you consider what he subsequently did and I'm told he particularly despised this film. From his point of view I can see why.

Still Hi, Nellie! is not all that bad, though I think Muni was definitely a second choice. James Cagney must have been doing something else at the time. The film has the feel of a project meant for Cagney.

Knowing that and knowing how much he wanted to do much more serious parts Muni pulls out all the stops and hams it up to beat the Philharmonic. I guess he had to have some fun.

Muni is your hardboiled editor of a city newspaper, a very typical part for the Thirties. But when he uncharacteristically soft pedals a story about a bank folding and a prominent civic leader disappearing, he gets himself demoted. Publisher Berton Churchill can't fire him because of a contract, but instead demotes him to the writer of the advice to the lovelorn column. That's a source of great amusement to all those who were under him before, especially Glenda Farrell who was writing that column and wanted a chance for some hard hitting journalism.

But Paul is nothing else if not resourceful and when a chance sob sister letter comes to his attention that might give him a lead on that story that he got in a sling over, he runs with it.

Warner Brothers and director Mervyn LeRoy gave Paul a really good cast to support him with Donald Meek playing the world's oldest office boy, Douglass Dumbrille as the editor who succeeds Muni, and Robert Barrat as the political boss of the city and ultimate villain of the piece.

It's not Zola, or Pasteur, but Hi, Nellie is not half bad as entertainment. Just not up to Paul Muni's exacting standards.

Forced to write the Heartthrobs column, the former managing editor of a big city paper finds himself exposing a story of murder & political corruption.

Fast-moving & fun, HI, NELLIE! is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Brothers was so expert at producing. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured. Here, the look & feel of the paper's busy newsroom is smack on the mark and the performances, even with a script that's too plot heavy, never fail to entertain.

Consummate actor Paul Muni gets a rare chance at comedy here and pulls it off brilliantly, adding just the right amount of drama from time to time. Whether he's trashing his office in a fury, fighting with his boss or going nonchalantly into the headquarters of the enemy to collect information, Muni is never less than fascinating. He is teamed with the equally watchable Glenda Farrell, playing another one of her hard-boiled dames with a heart of gold. It is obvious from the script that their two characters were once lovers, but refreshingly no time is wasted with rekindling the flames - they are just chums, wary & respectful. Their unromantic chemistry adds much to the fun of the film.

A fine cast of character actors helps move the story along. Ned Sparks plays his usual acerbic self as an investigative reporter loyal to Muni. Little Donald Meek is equally good as an aged office clerk who provides assistance on the hectic news floor for Muni & Farrell. Berton Churchill as the paper's publisher & Douglass Dumbrille as Muni's rival both score in their roles.

Robert Barrat, Harold Huber & Edward Ellis all play dangerous bad guys who must be dealt with. Frank Reicher, fresh from his double stint as the captain in the KONG movies, here plays a none-to-savvy lawyer.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited John Qualen as a tenement custodian.

Having seen Paul Muni in so many dramas, I wondered if he could pull off comedy as well. I needn't have worried. Since he's teamed with Glenda Farrell, a master of the wisecrack, he gets solid support and the looks they exchange throughout the movie are priceless. One scene that I loved was when Glenda is pretending to be Nellie Nelson so that a woman will confide in her and she's bossing Muni around like he's her office boy.

The plot isn't that original. In fact, there are several versions on the same theme (star reporter demoted), but this one has the star material to give it an extra life. Ned Sparkes also adds to the fun.

HI, NELLIE! is a fun film to watch but in no way could it be mistaken for a deep or high quality product. Instead, it's just simple fun--plot holes and all.

Paul Muni plays a managing editor at a newspaper. However, his decision to underplay a big story is second-guessed by the owner and as a result, he is demoted to writing a "lonely hearts" column. His co-workers ridicule him unmercifully, but after initially refusing this indignity, he actually makes a success of it. However, he always is thinking about how to get his old job back, as he misses the excitement of crime and other lurid stories.

The film has some very good support for Muni, with Glenda Farrell, Donald Meek, Douglass Dumbrille, Ned Sparks, Robert Barrat and others. So, while it's a relatively cheap and silly production, the supporting characters make it a lot more interesting and worth watching. However, just be prepared for an amazingly easy resolution to the mystery in this film and some jumps in logic. Good as a time-passer but far from Warner's or Muni's best.

Paul Muni was in a privileged position for an actor in Hollywood, in that he could select his own films. That couldn't have been the case with the above production - it's unworthy of Muni's talent and the rest of the cast.

"Hi Nellie" borders on the ridiculous a lot of the time. The opening 15 minutes are okay and then the plot becomes confusing and contrived. Nothing improves the film henceforth, although Paul Muni and Glenda Farrell do their best!

Luckily, brighter prospects were just around the corner for Muni.

Journalism movies can be great when they are straight up journalism movies without trying to be didactic. Then you get the ones that try to push a heavy handed message, usually about the unscrupulousness of the media, and those generally suck. "Hi, Nellie" was of the former variety.

"Hi, Nellie" stars Paul Muni as Sam Bradshaw, managing editor of a newspaper. He was relegated to the Heart Throb column written under the pseudonym Miss Nelson after he botched a big story. He took the high road and refused to smear a banker named Frank Canfield when all signs pointed to him being a crook who ran off with $500,000 of the Central Labor Bank's money. Every other paper made the easy connection between the bank's money issues and Canfield's sudden departure, but Bradshaw refused to cast aspersions on Canfield until he had more evidence. As a result, every paper in town was flying off the presses with a sensational story while Bradshaw's rag failed to register.

Bradshaw was demoted to the role of Miss Nelson aka Nellie, a job that was being done by Gerry Kale (Glenda Farrell). He could give the article his all, or stick it to his boss J. L. Graham (Berton Churchill) and be lousy at it.

Even as the new Heart Throb columnist he wasn't giving up on trying to find out what really happened to Canfield. For that he had his buddy Shammy McClure (Ned Sparks) a solid newspaperman himself.

I enjoyed "Hi, Nellie." It went from a nice comedy to a solid mystery without losing itself. Paul Muni sure knows how to pick 'em. He was in "Scarface," a good movie, and one of my favorites from that era, "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang."

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There's a reason why Paul Muni was nominated for Best Actor at the 1934 Hot Toasty Rag Awards. In Hi, Nellie!, he played a fast-talking newspaper man completely unlike any other character he ever played. There was no makeup, no aging process, no historical figure to mimic; Paul had to play a regular fellow, someone he rarely played. And while It Happened One Night was busy sweeping the Oscars, Paul snagged a nomination at the Rags because he ran circles around Clark Gable. Paul could have played Peter Warren, but then again, so could any number of actors, including those who famously turned the role down.

In this funny, fast-paced hidden gem, Paul is forced to take over the heartthrobs column in his newspaper after a disagreement with the editor, Berton Churchill. He gets made fun of by his fellow reporters, including his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Farrell, until he gets embroiled in a murder case. Then, Paul and Glenda pull together to crack the case! Seriously, folks, rent this cute flick. Paul is incredibly handsome, has unexpectedly great comic timing, and shows a side he doesn't usually show the audience: a normal fellow!

Hi, Nellie is one of the most arch, hilarious movie titles I've ever encountered. At first it sounds banal, but as it's tossed around in different scenes by different characters, it gets funnier and funnier. There's a barroom scene that's a howler.

But rather than just a prop for the title's running gag, the story is quite interesting on its own. It involves a newspaper and corruption and a missing banker, and things aren't what they seem. We're taken through some amazing sets. it's impressive to see how many resources were plowed into them by the studio, from tracking shots of the cavernous newsroom, of teeming city streets, of the interior of an elaborate nightclub, all following Paul Muni, who, by the way, is a rough-and-tumble editor relegated to the lovelorn column by his publisher.

And this is a great showcase for Muni. Most of his scenes show him in closeup. Remember, Cagney had Public Enemy and Muni had Scarface, both intensely focused on their personas. I think Muni, because of his stage background, overdraws his character in movie closeups. (He may have won the Oscar for Louis Pasteur because he wore a beard that restrained his over-expressiveness.) But hey, it's Muni, and it's fun to see him do his stuff.

This is a comedy-crime flick, fast-paced, with rapid-fire dialog between great Warner players, so you have to pay attention. There's a scene where a dim young reporter tells Muni that the children's picnic he was assigned to cover didn't occur because the boat taking the kids to the venue ran aground on a sandbar and broke up, so he only had one paragraph to report. This is great stuff!

I will make my comment short for other reviewers have done so well in writing about Hi, Nellie and Mr. Muni's performance. Many thanks always to TCM showing films lke this. Paul Muni may not be a film star that all film watchers may recognize, but he is one star of classic films that perhaps they should become aware of his many films of quality..This is a film not to miss.

Paul Muni was the biggest interest point here. Am more familiar with him in roles such as Emile Zola and Louis Pasteur, same most likely with many other classic film fans, but it was very interesting to get a chance to see the real him and not buried under heavy make-up and such. Mervyn LeRoy was another reason for seeing, not one of my favourite directors but a dependable enough one and one of not many directors at the time to get away with doing several films a year.

'Hi Nellie!' is not one of the best films of either of them, both went on to better things later that they are also more famous for. Muni with roles such as Zola and Pasteur and LeRoy with classics such as 'Random Harvest' and 'Waterloo Bridge'. That said, it is still a great example of LeRoy's elegant visual style and energy evident when he was on form and it was great to see a different side to Muni and to see him looking at home in it. 'Hi Nellie!' is also a lot funnier, interesting and cleverer than the initially bland title suggests.

It is not perfect. Plot-wise, it is very slim and anybody who has seen succeeding films before watching 'Hi Nellie!' will know exactly how things map out.

The film also for my tastes ends a little too conveniently, with everything wrapped up on the too neat side.

On the other hand, 'Hi Nellie!' has a slickness and stylishness that was always there in LeRoy's films. Even if other films of his later looked more expensive and were more lavish. The music matches the film's energy without being over-bearing or too manic. The script has a sharp wit and also a biting toughness that doesn't fall into sugar-coating a familiar subject that is still relevant now. The second half is especially tough as nails, without jarring with the lighter but not frothy tone of the first. The story may be thin on the ground, but the fast-paced energy stops it from ever being dull.

Plus there is not near as much of a suspension of disbelief feel that one saw in some films at that time with similar subjects. LeRoy directs with slick style and verve while Muni shows sharp comic timing and he shows too that he was capable of showing a lighter side to him, which he doesn't play too heavily. Glenda Farrell stands out too, sharp mouthed and hard-boiled while also showing that she could do wisecracks just as well as the likes of Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell. Ned Sparks is suitably cynical and smarmy.

Concluding, very good. 8/10