GManfred
Mild-mannered 'B' comedy which serves as a vehicle for Charles Butterworth's oblivious, Tom Smothers-type humor, which can be very funny (see "Love Me Tonight"). In "Baby Face Harrington" he is asked to carry a whole picture and his particular talent is stretched to the breaking point. Luckily, the movie only lasts 65 minutes. As reviewers have written, he is a boring milquetoast to everyone but his adoring wife (Una Merkel). He unwittingly becomes mistaken as a notorious criminal, with the attendant misunderstandings and pitfalls.Charles Butterworth's brand of humor is an acquired taste, and I acquired it over the years. A very funny man, this picture ends just in time. There are lots of noteworthy character actors to tide you over, and you can test your memory, as there are a lot of them.
busterggi
Yes its slow at times and a little creaky but it makes up for it with sharp witty dialogue unappreciated by some because of its understated dryness. Watch it for the interplay - Butterworth is superb, Merkel is delightful, great supporting roles for Pallet, Meek, Pendleton and the rest.One of the most Britishly dry US comedies I've seen and definitely not the usual for its period.
Michael_Elliott
Baby Face Harrington (1935) ** (out of 4) Raoul Walsh directed this comedy about a dorky bookkeeper (Charles Butterworth) who gets mistaken for a dangerous gangster. Una Merkel, Eugene Palette and Donald Meek co-star in this comedy, which only runs 65-minutes yet it takes at least a half an hour to get warned up but by then it's a little too late. The first half has all sorts of stupid jokes, which aren't funny but there are also long scenes where no laughs are even gone after. Once the mistaken identity happens then things pick up with Butterworth being charming in his role. It's rather strange that Walsh would take over the gangster genre from D.W. Griffith with the landmark Regeneration and then make one of the all time great gangster films in White Heat but have this stuck in the middle.
John Seal
Baby Face Harrington is a slight but entertaining MGM bill filler that highlights the underappreciated talents of Charles Butterworth. This time he plays a meek and not terribly bright chap who gets mixed up with stolen money and a surly gangster. There's an excellent supporting cast on hand, led by Una Merkel as his loving and long suffering wife and Eugene Pallette as the gravel-voiced (what else?) local sheriff. 62 minutes of brief and breezy light comedy for fans of 30s B films.
AD
