Elmer, the Great

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).

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.

Let's see, a near-insufferable Joe. E. Brown bets $5,000 on his Cubbies and doublecrosses some gamblers. Hmmm... sounds familiar. One of the amazing things about this movie and Brown's own ALIBI IKE (1935) is that they have basically identical plot elements (an obnoxiously likable player vs. gamblers) AND focus on the Chicago Cubs (prominently featured against the NY Yankees). You can never fault Warner's for any inability to squeeze the last buffalo nickel out of plot formula. The final game-in-the-rain sequence is ingeniously edited and if you think about it, you can sense the director's frustration at intercutting his scenes with an actual big-league ball game. Patricia Ellis looks terrific and it's hard to believe she's barely 17 here. Joe E. Brown can be an acquired taste--- a face of a bulldog crossed with a catcher's mit, he can overplay the obnoxious bit to the hilt or act unbelievably dumb, often simultaneously. But also keep in mind that he was over 40 when this movie was shot and the guy kept himself in incredible shape. He's ripped. It's too bad that Brown would ultimately shoot himself in the professional foot by leaving Warner's for the cheapskate producer David L. Lowe's RKO deal and his career would nose dive... a move that he would later call the greatest mistake of his life. Watch this and count all the modern day suspensions Elmer racks up... He's a 1933 Pete Rose.

Sure it's cornball, and in many respects it seems hopelessly naive, and Joe E. Brown's persona is in some respects pretty insufferable, but it's clear that the makers of this picture knew all that. For some reason, Joe really resonated with American society of the 1930s, and that's what the producers gave to the public. I doubt if folks back then could have related to Johnny Depp, either. While "Elmer the Great" is certainly no masterwork, if you just take it on its own terms, the film is quite likable. It's particularly atmospheric in the earlier scenes set in Gentryville, Indiana. And there's some nice moments of pathos here, too. I would rank all three of JEB's baseball trilogy as about equally good.

Elmer Kane (Joe E. Brown) is a simple small town ballplayer with small town girl Nellie Poole. He is recruited by the Chicago Cubs, but he hates the big city. Nellie convinces him to go. His teammates hate him even though he hits loads of homers. He loses Nellie and gets entangled by criminal gamblers.

The character is frustratingly dumb. He's not actually dumb. His idiocy comes from arrogance. It's a particular character and I struggle to like him all the time. I don't buy the teammates especially after they are winning. Winning solves all problems in the clubhouse. This movie is oscillating between pass fail and ultimately wins me over.