Really Surprised!

hyped garbage

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

One of the funniest movies I've seen in ages- featuring:Edward G. Robinson as a genial bootlegger going legit after prohibition with a brewery making horrible beer.Ruth Donnelly as his wife, trying to be teddibly refined.All the great character actors who played mugs in the 1930s playing it for laughs.A wild party4 corpses in the guest room closetA stuffy prospective father-in-lawAnd, best of all, Bobby Jordan as the beer-swilling Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom, the worst orphan in New York.Try it-- you'll like it!

This would seem to have all the elements for a good Thirties comedy. Robinson with his great timing and the great Damon Runyon sounds like a very winning combination. However, the film got rather heavy-handed treatment from the adapters and Damon Runyon's material seems more out-dated than retro chic. The Bowery Boys-like characters make things quite obvious that the treatment will be rather crude and Lloyd Bacon's perfunctory treatment and static direction don't help much either. "Arsenic and Old Lace" is around the corner with Capra's stable of character actors. This seems to just miss the mark.Curtis Stotlar

That great theme of Damon Runyan: Society mixing it up with those who aren't exactly high class. Again, we see this theme in "A Slight Case of Murder."Edward G. Robinson and Ruth Donnelly are fabulous here as husband and wife trying to go straight with the end of prohibition. With it all, you can't take the past from them, no matter how much you try.Four years after going straight, Robinson's brewery has hit rock bottom. Nobody wants to tell the boss that the beer he serves is absolutely terrible.Robinson goes back to the orphanage he grew up in to take the worst child for a month in his summer place. Watch for Margaret Hamilton, one year before her witchcraft in the memorable "Wizard of Oz."As for this film, it has everything, mistaken identity, associates of Robinson, who are a riot by themselves, a wayward brat who proves his mettle, their wonderful daughter engaged to a police officer, his snobbish father caught up in all the mayhem.

Ex-bootlegger Edward G. Robinson (as Remy Marko) celebrates the end of Prohibition by declaring to go legit, but wisecracking wife Ruth Donnelly (as Nora) wonders about his business sense. "If I can only be sure you ain't got a bug in your nut," she tells him. Sure enough, Mr. Robinson's "Gold Velvet" beer sales fall flat, shootings litter his suburban Saratoga home, and pretty daughter Jane Bryan (as Mary) reveals she is engaged to handsome and amusingly-named policeman Willard Parker (as Dick Whitewood).Robinson and veteran director Lloyd Bacon make this an often brilliant and still refreshingly funny "spoof" of gangster pictures, based on a Damon Runyon play. Robinson gets great comic support from velvet-voiced Allen Jenkins (as Mike), Edward Brophy (as Lefty), Harold Huber (as Gip), and the usual suspects at Warner Bros. Watch for marvelous Margaret Hamilton as a reform school teacher, stuffy Paul Harvey as the copper's dad, and well-spoken "silent" star Betty Compson to make the most of a bit part.Beer-swigging "bad boy" Bobby Jordan (as Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom), the aforementioned Ms. Donnelly, and star Robinson are amazing. Although not finally nominated, hopefully Donnelly was considered for a 1938 "Academy Award" as "Best Supporting Actress" and Mr. Jordan for a "Best Juvenile" performer of 1938 mini-statuette. "A Slight Case of Murder" was soundly listed in "Best Picture" territory, at #5, on "The New York Times" annual bests list. It seems like an entirely accurate placement.******** A Slight Case of Murder (2/26/38) Lloyd Bacon ~ Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Donnelly, Bobby Jordan, Allen Jenkins