Alibi Ike

While A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was really Olivia de Havilland's first film, the studio in the meantime put her in ALIBI IKE which was released first--so this gave the public their first view of her.

She's a pretty ingenue here with just a hint of stardom about her. Joe E. Brown was very popular at the time and had already done a couple of baseball comedies. Apparently, his fans considered this Ring Lardner tale one of his best.

I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it, although I did find several scenes rather amusing. However, unless you're a die-hard fan of Joe E. Brown with an addiction for baseball, ALIBI IKE comes across more as a curiosity piece than anything else. The night baseball scenes came as a surprise to me. Brown does his usual genial job in the title role and obviously relishes the limelight.

William Frawley plays a baseball manager and Ruth Donnelly has a brief role as Olivia's sister.

Trivia note: Ruth Donnelly would join Olivia thirteen years later for 1948's THE SNAKE PIT, as a fellow inmate.

The character of Alibi Ike was well known to the American public. There was not only Ring Lardner's short novel but a comic strip for a couple of years, with Ring Lardner as one of the strip's writers.

Lardner's prose was funny, but it was also an incisive exposure of the ignorance and bigotry of middle America of the 1920s. He was inditing a culture which was smug in its ignorance and prejudices. There is, of course, none of this in this Joe E. Brown comedy, designed mainly for Brown to do his familiar shtick while cruising along with a well used plot.

Warner Brothers was willing to bring social criticism into their films at this period (unlike the other studios), but they knew that it wouldn't work in a Joe E. Brown comedy. Brown's movies were designed for rural America (and were very successful), and rural America could laugh as Brown made fun of "citified ways", but they wouldn't have appreciated cogent criticism aimed at them. At least, they wouldn't have laughed.

So this is a fast comedy, pretty funny, especially for baseball fans and baseball historians.

I loved Lardner's short story and didn't really expect movie to have same punch. That said I love this movie; yeah, I'm a sucker for old movies. They didn't go on forever, had good pacing and terrific dialogue. This one fits the category. Joe E Brown is "goshdarnit" fun as Ike and just can't help himself. I've known people like this who have an excuse for everything. Yes, it's one joke but it's a funny one!

"Alibi Ike" 1935 was just one of Joe E. Brown's great contributions to the comedy world. In this picture he was a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and played other roles as a St.Louis Cardinal, always arriving in the top of the nineth inning and saving the game as a top notch pitcher and hitter. It surprised me to see that Oliva de Havilland co-stared with this slap stick comedian, it was her very first film in 1935 and she went on to great fame in "Gone With The Wind" 1939 and many other famous classic movies. William Fawley, veteran film star("My Three Sons" TV Series) also performed his great talents. Another great star in this film was Roscoe Karns, who played, "Rocky King, Inside Detective" in the 1950's TV Series. Joe E. Brown's famous large mouth was his trade-mark and he sure gave people a great deal of happiness during World War II, his films will live on forever and ever.

This movie is a nice, enjoyable way to spend a weekend afternoon. Nothing heavy or terribly dramatic, just the very comical and entertaining Joe E. Brown, backed by an able supporting cast.

Brown is perfect as Alibi Ike, a baseball player who is a chronic liar but somehow manages to be likable despite this rather serious fault. Olivia de Havilland is young, very pretty, and engaging as Brown's somewhat frustrated but ultimately successful fiancé. And it's a treat to see William Frawley -- crusty old Fred Mertz himself -- as the baseball manager. Frawley was a real-life baseball fanatic, so he probably really enjoyed making this movie.

I loved Brown's crazy unique wind-up before pitching the baseball. He seems to be great with physical comedy. I think I read somewhere (can't remember where, so consider this unverified) that in real life Brown was very athletic, and the reason he wore full business suits, long sleeved shirts, and loose fitting baseball uniforms throughout this movie was that his rock hard abs and well-defined biceps conflicted with the loose and easy-going character he portrayed on the screen.

Got a free afternoon or evening? I'd recommend giving this film a try. And thanks to Turner Classic Movies for broadcasting the "uncensored" version of Alibi Ike! (See the Trivia section of the IMDb Alibi Ike site for more information.)