The Expert

'The Expert' is based on a play titled 'Minick', and the name change is probably down to the fact that Chic Sale plays the leading role. For many years, Sale was a vaudeville monologist who did rural material about hicks and hillbillies. More importantly, Sale was also the author of a book called 'The Specialist', consisting entirely of cornpone jokes about outhouses. This book was a tremendous best-seller in the 1920s and '30s, to such an extent that its success eclipsed Chic Sale's career as a performer, and - in an era when many Americans still used outhouses - it became fairly prevalent to refer to an outhouse as a 'Chic Sale' ... in much the same way that, a few years later when Don Ameche starred in a film about Alexander Graham Bell, people thought it was funny to call a telephone an 'Ameche'.

Warner Brothers must have named this movie 'The Expert' so that its title would evoke Chic Sale's best-seller 'The Specialist', misleading audiences to believe that this film is a comedy. It's not; it's a sensitive character study.

John Minick (Sale) is a small-town man who's getting on in years. His son Fred and daughter-in-law Nettie prevail on Minick to live with them in Chicago. But there really isn't much room for him, what with Nettie's baby, and there isn't much money either. Minick has his life's savings: not much money, but he's able to keep his pride so long as his finances don't require him to live off Fred's meagre salary. Down the street there's a residence for old men who have nowhere else to live. Minick finds himself spending most of his time there, to socialise with men his own age and to give Fred and Nettie some privacy. It's clear that, if Minick outlives his life's savings, his only real option is the old-men's home. This being 1932, a year when many banks failed, it's quite understandable that Minick keeps his life's savings at home.

Next-door over to Fred and Nettie live the Crowleys, a married couple who have adopted a boy named Dickie Foster. (Why did the orphan's name have to be Foster? I kept expecting jokes about him being a 'Foster' son.) The Crowleys are a couple of Fagins, who are raising Dickie to share their criminal ways. Old Minick befriends young Dickie, and tries to be a good influence on him.

Then, one day, Minick discovers that his life's savings have vanished. Has young Dickie betrayed the old man? If not, who stole the money? Either way: with Minick's savings gone, the old-men's home beckons...

This is an engrossing story and a serious one, not at all the sort of material we expect from playwright George S. Kaufman. Apart from some wisecracking dialogue, the comedy in 'The Expert' is largely confined to one set-piece scene, in which Minick antagonises the stuffy women of a civic organisation with his views on child-rearing.

Chic Sale acquits himself well in both the dramatic and comedic aspects of his role. There are good performances from Elizabeth Patterson and Walter Catlett, and an unfortunate 'yassuh' performance from black actress Louise Beavers, who was typecast in such roles. In the important role of Dickie Foster, child actor Dickie Moore is in over his depth. I once interviewed Dick (formerly Dickie) Moore well into his adult years, when he was running a public-relations firm in New York City. He spoke to me in detail about his many experiences as a child actor working with some of Hollywood's biggest directors and actors. Much as I'm grateful for his kindness, I was never impressed with Moore's performances on screen ... and 'The Expert' features Dickie Moore at his twee worst. I can't rate this movie higher than 5 out of 10.

In Chicago, elderly Charles "Chic" Sale (as John T. Minick) arrives to live with son Earle Foxe (as Fred) and his socially-conscious wife Lois Wilson (as Nettie). Asserting that an old man is harder to handle than a baby, their maid quits. Dorothea Wolbert (as Annie) and Louis Beavers (as Lulu) make the most of their small maid roles as the script gives them some room to characterize. "I come here to be a help, not a hindrance," Mr. Sale declares, and tries unsuccessfully to be handy around the house. Without much to help with, Sale goes outside to shovel and meets adorable neighbor Dickie Moore (as Richard "Dickie" Foster). The plot thickens when thieving little Moore sees Sale has a stash of money hidden in his trunk...

Watch as director Archie Mayo does a fine job introducing young Moore as "across the tracks" although he lives in the relatively nice community. The orphan boy is living Charles Dickens-style with unscrupulous Ralf Harolde (as Jim Crowley) and his sexy wife Adrienne Dore (as Sadie). This simple adaptation of Edna Ferber's "Old Man Minick" scores in the cute Sale/Moore casting and captures a pre-"New Deal" America where an old man with no personal assets is able to bond with a similarly afflicted orphan; they provide each other with a grandfather/grandson relationship that might have otherwise been impossible. The "old folks' home" herein is not the more common "poor house" many had to live in, though.

***** The Expert (3/5/32) Archie Mayo ~ Charles 'Chic' Sale, Dickie Moore, Lois Wilson, Earle Foxe

Charles 'Chic' Sale was a very odd sort of entertainer. In films and on stage, Sale played a likable but cantankerous old man...yet was far younger than he appeared due to a combination of makeup and acting. Here in "The Expert", he is 47 but appears to be at least 75. Sadly, by 51, Sale would die...never having actually become an old man in real life! As for his films, they are a very similar lot--with Sale playing a very spry old man who is full of wisdom yet is pretty much ignored by the young folks around him.

When the film begins, Grandpa (Sale) moves in with his son and daughter-in-law. It's pretty obvious he's a bit of a nuisance but out of obligation they invited him to stay. Grandpa CAN be a bit opinionated and annoying but the young folks also are a very intolerant lot. So, Grandpa spends much of his time in the park with his fellow oldsters as well as with a sad little boy, Dickie (Dickie Moore). While Dickie has a father, he's a scum-bag and not the sort of fatherly figure you'd want any kid to have.

The film is extremely typical of Sale's films...so much that it's not exactly what I'd put in the Must-See category. But it is reasonably enjoyable...especially for the climactic fight scene near the end. The film's only major deficit, apart from originality, is Dickie Moore. Although cute, he's not the best child actor in this one and comes off as rather whiny and annoying.

The Expert is the story of two outcasts coming together. Chic Sale plays an old man who is more of a nuisance to his family than he wants to be. Dickie Moore plays a young boy without good parents who is taught to steal. The two meet and begin a friendship in which Dickie is instructed to be a good boy. He calls Sale "Grandpa" and Sale treats the boy like his own grandson, showering him with gifts.

This emotional film is done with class. Although the story could have been lifted from a Lifetime or Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-TV movie, it is done so well, that anyone could be entertained by it. Sale is highly effective as the sympathetic old man and Dickie Moore is unbelievably good in his part despite Moore's own assumptions that he couldn't act. Moore could charm anyone and his crying scenes are heartbreakingly realistic. This is truly a remarkable, forgotten gem.

With his various collaborators one is never sure just how much of George S. Kaufman gets into any of his work. Especially here since the original story is one of Edna Ferber's lesser works. But I think that Kaufman might have been projecting ahead to his own senior years in the lead character that Chic Sale plays here and O.P. Heggie did originally on the Broadway stage.

By all accounts Kaufman was an irascible old codger, a cross between Gabby Hayes and Monty Woolley. This being Hollywood wit was sacrificed for sentiment. My guess is the original work is a lot more witty than what we have here.

That being said the biggest strength The Expert has is the good chemistry between Sale and little Dickie Moore who was apparently understudying Jackie Cooper. Sale is Earle Foxe's father and he's come to live with Foxe and his wife Lois Wilson. But he forms a bond with young Moore who sells papers and does a little stealing on the side to support his guardians Ralf Harolde and Adrienne Dore.

Two scenes stand out the first being Sale's intrusion into Wilson's women's club meeting, on the order of Elwood Dowd and Harvey's intrusion on his sister's afternoon tea. The second is the final confrontation of Harold and Sale where Sale shows Harolde he's got some moves on the order of Nature Boy Ric Flair.

Don't expect any sparkling wit here going by the authors, but The Expert is a nice sentimental film.