Elmer, the Great

Elmer the Great (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Second film in Joe E Brown's trilogy has him playing a slugger living in a small town in Indiana. When the Chicago Cubs come to sign him at first he does want to go but he eventually does a gets the team in the World Series but being the idiot he is, gets in trouble with gamblers. This is a step up from the first film but I'd still say the third one is the best of the trilogy. Brown is in top form here and adds a lot of laughs but the serious side with the gamblers is handled very well. I guess there's an added bonus in the fact that Chicago's other team had their own gambling scandal a decade earlier. It was also nice seeing Wrigley Field way back when even though it doesn't look too much different today.

Joe E. Brown is largely forgotten today and it's too bad. He made a string of fine little films for Warner Brothers in the early to mid 1930s. Ironically he has the final riotous line in the American Film Institute's no. 1 comedy, from their 100 Greatest Comedies list, "Some Like It Hot". Regarding "Elmer the Great," this film recaptures a wonderful era in baseball as well as a nostalgic feel for small town America. Its story is told with the Warner Brothers' successful no frills approach to movie making at that time. There is plenty of warm humor throughout especially from the always wonderful Joe E. Brown as the cantankerous, egoist Elmer Kane, still likable in spite of these character flaws. I wish Joe E. Brown's WB movies were available on DVD. A single packaged trilogy release could be made of his 3 baseball films: "Fireman Save My Child" (WB 1932), "Elmer the Great" (WB 1933) and "Alibi Ike" (WB 1935).

I admittedly don't know much about Joe E. Brown. My only reference before streaming this movie was his classic performance in Some Like It Hot.

He didn't seem like the type of actor I would like and frankly, his mvies were never broadcast on TV when I was a kid.

So I looked him up and it turns out he was pretty darn big int he 30's and 40's. So much so tht ometimes his name was above the title on publicity material.

Not sure if this movie is indicative of his acting. It seems a bit odd. His voice is different than Some Like it Hot and his walk is an odd stride.

That notwithstanding, this movie is generally pretty good. And it was probably close to his heart in that he was actually a professional baseball player early in his career. In fact, he was offered a spot on the NY Yankees but turned it down to go back to the circus! Talk about confidence.

Mervyn LeRoy directed this movie and it moves very quickly. But then I's also very short - one hour and ten minutes.

First of all, I'm a huge Joe E. Brown fan. I have loved him and his movies since I was about 12, and now I'm 17. Anyways, I think this is a fun movie, but of course not as hilarious and fantastic as Alibi Ike. Like the previous user said, those two movies (Alibi Ike and Elmer the Great) are very much similar, but different at the same time. And if you notice, you can see that Joe E. Brown's brother in the movie is Sterling Holloway, who also plays the Stork in some Disney cartoons, Winnie the Pooh, and he is also in "Meet John Doe". Frank McHugh is also a familiar face! He is in another movie with Joe E. Brown called "Son of a Sailor", where Joe plays the character named Handsome and Frank plays his side-kick. To all Joe E. Brown fans or anyone who enjoys that type of fun humor: This is a must see!! Thanks to Turner Classic Movies for showing many, many of his movies on his birthday (July 28).

ELMER, THE GREAT home run hitter doesn't want to leave his pretty boss in Gentryville, Indiana, to play ball for the Chicago Cubs.

Rubber-limbed comic Joe E. Brown scores big in this fine little comedy. Without even trying, the fellow could be funny - his huge grin and mischievous eyes a sure catalyst for laughter. In his first scenes, the mere act of his putting on his socks or eating his breakfast is a riot. The film also gives him a chance to suffer from unrequited love and face the abuse heaped on him for his yokel ways as he tries to deal with professional ballplayers and dangerous gamblers. Brown carries it all off with natural aplomb.

A sturdy cast lends fine support: pretty Patricia Ellis as Brown's conflicted boss; sweet Emma Dunn as his loving mother; goofy Sterling Holloway, perfectly cast, as Brown's baseball-mad younger brother (notice that Holloway's name is spelled incorrectly in the credits). Blustery Berton Churchill plays the owner of the Cubs, Preston Foster is the manager. Genial Frank McHugh plays the Cubs catcher. Claire Dodd has a mysterious role; she seems to be a chum of the ballplayers and little else - but at least she's easy on the eyes and the plot doesn't try to set up a silly romance between her and Brown. Casino hoodlum J. Carrol Naish plays the film's villain.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Jessie Ralph as Brown's plain speaking, softhearted housekeeper.

The early scenes in Gentryville have a delightfully homespun, nostalgic charm which the later Chicago sequences can't match. Notice the fine use the minimal soundtrack makes of just two songs: ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game' & ‘On The Banks Of The Wabash.'

Brown's use of a four-letter word near the film's climax underscores the film's pre-Code status. Also of interest, in the last inning of the final World Series game, the plot has the catcher & pitcher of the New York Yankees deliberately and maliciously cheat in an attempt to win. One wonders what Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig must have thought of that...

ELMER, THE GREAT was the second of Brown's ‘baseball trilogy,' the other films being FIREMAN, SAVE MY CHILD (1932) & ALIBI IKE (1935).