St. Benny the Dip

By 1951 the blacklist was in full force. But Lionel Stander got to appear in this film St. Benny The Dip because it was an independent production shot in New York City released by United Artists. In 1951 no Hollywood studio would have employed Stander.

Stander along with Roland Young and Dick Haymes who plays the title role play three confidence men whom the police are hot on the trail of. In eluding the cops the three go into a church basement and take three clerical habits. After that they seek shelter in what turn out to be an old closed up mission.

The police do catch them there, but they think they're clergy come to reopen the place. After that the three are trapped in their roles, but each in his own way works out his salvation.

St. Benny The Dip is one of those old sentimental type films that we never get seen made today save for the Hallmark Channel. All three of the leads fit comfortably into parts that are written for them.

This film marked the farewell big screen performances of Roland Young and Freddie Bartholomew who plays a young minister. Young died two years later and Bartholomew just left the business all together.

A lot of laughs, but also a few moments of pathos characterize St. Benny The Dip. Good family entertainment still.

The flick's got an interesting premise. Three con-men fleeing the cops grab white collar cleric suits and pretend to be men of God. It works. Trouble is they then get mistakenly recruited into serving as real ministers at a newly opened poverty-row mission. Now, in order to keep the cops away, they've got to pretend to be what they're not. Can they do it, given their criminal backgrounds.

Trouble is the storyline fails to develop this suspenseful potential in sustained fashion. Instead, we get a loosely focused series of personality sketches that scatter instead of gel. Thus the premise is unfortunately squandered. Nonetheless, there are two unusual aspects to note: the tricky religious aspect never turns sappy in the sanctimonious manner of the day, while the question of legal justice for the three culprits is left unresolved unless I missed something. So, despite its overall failures, the flick avoids some significant cliches.

In passing. Note presence here of actor-crooner Dick Haymes {Benny} whose promising career was cut short by accusations of dodging service in WWII. Then too there's actor Stander {Monk} who was soon blacklisted for 10 years for defying anti-communist investigations into Hollywood political affairs. But what's the story on youthful Freddie Bartholomew's silly Reverand Wilbur that's disruptive of the flick itself -- must be a backstory behind this his last movie appearance.

All in all, though the story may fail, the movie still has some points of interest. So you might give it a look-see if your goal is more than sheer entertainment.

In New York City, dapper Dick Haymes (as Benny), gruff Lionel Stander (as Monk), and crafty Roland Young (as Matthew) are a trio of con men who hide from the police by assuming the identity of three reverends attending to a needy mission. While hiding out, the three con men of the cloth begin to question their criminal ways. Our leading man Mr. Haymes cozies up to attractive blonde illustrator Nina Foch (as Linda Kovacs) while Mr. Stander mulls over the family he left...

Freddie Bartholomew (as Rev. Wilbur) makes his last feature appearance, in a supporting role. Although still a young man, and acting able to follow a successful character actor career path, Mr. Bartholomew retired from the screen grind. Haymes' sole song "I Believe" is not the Frankie Laine song that came out a couple years later. The obvious plot potential in making Mr. Roland a fallen preacher is not realized. This would have made his part, and the story, stronger.

***** St. Benny the Dip (8/24/51) Edgar G. Ulmer ~ Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, Nina Foch, Freddie Bartholomew

Regarding the previous comment about being unable to see St. Benny the Dip as a parody of Les Miserables, I, too, do not see a parody. I do see, however, an homage to Les Miserable. There is in both works the common theme of redemption. In the same way the priest in Les Miserables covers for Jean Valjean and gracefully provides for him, so, too, does the priest in St. Benny the Dip provide for our three scoundrels, and that gracious act in the same way begins the process of redemption. True, Jean Valjean was not the scoundrel that Benny, Matthew, and Monk are, but they, like Valjean move from outside the law to inside the law.

Grace begets grace.

Considering its a Danziger Brothers poverty row production, St. Benny the Dip is blessed with a marvelous cast. Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, and Cosmo Topper himself, Roland Young, play a trio of small time hoodlums who disguise themselves as priests to escape a police dragnet. Finding themselves in an abandoned Bowery mission, the threesome take their masquerade to extremes, holding services and feeding the poor. This marvelous tale of redemption also stars a luminous Nina Foch as love interest and Freddie Bartholomew in his final screen appearance. This is perhaps the first and so far only noir-comedy ever made, with some very fine black and white location photography by Don Malkames, whose career took him from Yiddish pictures to 'race' films. John Roeburt's screenplay is consistently intelligent and amusing. The film's low budget is apparent, but its clear everyone involved was working very hard to make a quality picture, and they succeeded.