Elmer, the Great

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).

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.

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).

Just as Dizzy Dean was lifting baseball braggadocio to a fine art as a pitcher, Warner Brothers came out with one of Joe E. Brown's best comedies in Elmer the Great. In real life Joe E. Brown was a very big baseball fan and this film along with his other baseball comedy, Alibi Ike, was a labor of love.

In 1933 the Chicago Cubs were not yet a national joke, going 98 years without winning a World Series and 62 years without being in one. They fielded some very good teams during the Thirties and Forties, but never quite could get to the top. In 1932 the year before Elmer the Great came out, they were in the World Series and were crushed by the selfsame New York Yankees four straight games which featured Babe Ruth's famous 'called shot' home run.

The Babe had nothing on Elmer Kane from Gentryville, Indiana who was not loath to let one and all know exactly what his contribution to the Cubs was going to be. He fulfilled his promise though, hitting 67 home runs in his rookie season, leaving Babe Ruth's mark in the dust. No one accused him of taking steroids either. In fact in real life both Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg made serious runs at Ruth's record with seasons of 58 homers each during the Thirties.

But off the diamond, Joe is a real babe in the woods himself. He's caught between two girls, good girl Patricia Ellis and bad girl Claire Dodd. And the simpleton gets himself caught up in a gambling house where he drops $5000.00 to slick gambler Douglass Dumbrille. Of course with Brown's IOU in his pocket Dumbrille sees a chance for a killing in Brown not playing on the square during the World Serious as Brown calls it.

The last game of the World Serious is one of the funniest baseball sequences put on film. It was actually shot at Wrigley Field, but Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which housed the minor league team in the Pacific Coast League.

Preston Foster plays the Cubs manager and Frank McHugh Brown's best friend on the team. It's a very nice comedy for baseball fans and others and a good chance to become acquainted with the comedy of Joe E. Brown.