Elmer, the Great (1933)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Ring Lardner (play) &
George M. Cohan (play) ...

Release Date:

29 April 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Plot:

Elmer does not want to leave Gentryville, because Nellie is the one that he loves. Even when Mr. Wade of the Chicago Cubs comes to get him...

Plot Keywords:

Chicago Cubs | Gambling | Debt | Brother | Double Cross

Cast

Joe E. Brown	...	Elmer Kane
Patricia Ellis	...	Nellie Poole
Frank McHugh	...	Healy High-Hips
Claire Dodd	...	Evelyn Corey
Preston Foster	...	Dave Walker (as Preston S. Foster)
Russell Hopton	...	Whitey
Sterling Holloway	...	Nick Kane (as Sterling Halloway)
Emma Dunn	...	Mrs. Kane
Charles C. Wilson	...	Mr. Wade (as Charles Wilson)
Charles Delaney	...	Johnny Abbott
Berton Churchill	...	Colonel Moffitt
J. Carrol Naish	...	Jerry (as J. Carroll Naish)
Gene Morgan	...	Noonan

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2657-R: 8 September 1936 for re-release) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers First National Studio - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Ring Lardner's play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 24 September 1928 and closed in October 1928 after 40 performances. The opening night cast included Walter Huston as Elmer Kane. George M. Cohan produced the play.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The onscreen credits read "based on a play by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan," but the Internet Broadway Database (IBDb) lists Lardner as the writer of the play and Cohan as the producer. They get their credits from the original playbill.

Quotes:

Elmer Kane: Warm up? Hell, I ain't been cool since February!

Movie Connections:

Version of Fast Company (1929)

Soundtrack:

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Elmer Wins The World Serious

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.