Baby Face Morgan

Flaky PRC production. Looks like the producers were aiming for a gangster comedy, with veteran goof-balls like Hymer and Barnett, along with serious types like Armstrong and Harolde, plus a gamely compliant Cromwell. What they get instead is a silly concoction, despite a cast that tries hard. Sweet-natured innocent (Cromwell) is set up by conniving gangster (Armstrong) as fall-guy for his insurance scheme. Trouble is the kid has no business sense and undercuts the scheme with wasteful spending. Meanwhile Armstrong has to contend with rival toughie Harolde who doesn't trust him. So there's trouble all around. Too bad the script is so clumsy (many gaps), along with slack direction from pedestrian director Dreifuss (check his credits). The result is 60-minutes of awkward entertainment, best left to aficionados of the 1940's.

When a mob boss gets knocked off, they put his son "babyface" in charge of the "protection" outfit. But the son is a store clerk, and clearly not the tough guy they thought he would be. Can they show him how to be a rough, tough guy that they need to run the show? It's a 63 minute shorty from prc.. producers releasing corp. Pretty low budget. The little side bits about the rabbits was just a waste of time. They should have spent that effort jazzing up the script. There's a pretty good framework of a mob and rackets story in here, they just needed to fix it up. And because the war had been raging, they do manage to work it into the story. The picture quality is pretty bad in some spots. I don't see a restoration coming any time soon. Directed by arthur dreifuss. I've seen two other films that he has directed, and they were about as forgettable as this one.

My score of 7 is very good, but relative to other B-films I'd give this one a 9--it's that good despite the tiny budget. For a lesser production made by a so-called "Poverty Row" studio (PRC--one of the cheaper and crappier studios), it's amazingly good. Normally, you'd expect ordinary or lousy writing--not a clever film like this one.

The film begins with a meeting of various mobsters. Robert Armstrong (of "King Kong" fame) is leading the discussion and he's lamenting the death of their leader years before and how he wishes the mobs would all work together like the "good old days" under Morgan's leadership. Armstrong suggests that perhaps Morgan's son MIGHT be the guy to take this leadership role. The problem that the men in the meeting are not aware of is that Morgan's son (Richard Cromwell) has no idea who his father was and is a very nice and somewhat wimpy young man. However, throughout the film, there are many opportunities where various mobsters see the guy and assume he's talking about killings and extortion--when the guy is really talking about mundane things that aren't the least bit violent. What makes it even funnier is that after he's brought to the big city to run the mob, he thinks this is a legitmiate insurance company--and he begins selling policies right and left. He's so successful, though, not because of his salesmanship but because everyone else thinks he's selling "protection". Eventually, however, "Baby Face" learns the truth--and how can he possibly extricate himself from this terrible situation?! This film made me laugh many times. The acting, writing and entire production are very crisp and clever--making it a hidden gem that is a standout among the Bs.

This was almost what they call a "curiosity piece," something really odd. It's part of a "Mobsters Movies" 4-movie DVD disc of short, old crime films...but it was more of a slapstick, corny comedy than a "mobster" movie, although it did involve gangsters.

Richard Cromwell plays "Baby Face," a supposedly-notorious gangster who really is a fake and doesn't know it himself until the end. He's really just a puppet figure invented by gangster Robert Armstrong who uses him as a never-seen mob boss as a scheme to skim money from the gang. Hijinks ensue late in the film when all parties discover what exactly is going on. The craziness also involves a romance between Cromwell and Mary Carlise ("Virginia"). I didn't take much time figuring a better way to explain this screwball story, and I apologize for that. Hey, the movie didn't take long, either: one hour.

It's a silly "B' film but charming with some likable leads and cornball humor. It's not boring but it's not something you'd watch over and over, either. The picture quality is not good but that's what you often get with a DVD that gives you four films for a cheap price.

When gang chief Big Mike Morgan (Jim Blaine) is killed, his lieutenant, "Doc" Rogers (Robert Armstrong) re-organizes the mob. Learning that Morgan has a son named Edward (Richard Cromwell), living in the country with his mother, Rogers has him brought to the city, and installs him as the head of Acme Protective Agency, which is a blind for gang's shakedown activities with local merchants. Edward thinks his father left him a legitimate business, and that he is running an actual insurance company.

Rogers tells the gang members that "Baby Face" Morgan is now in charge, is a cold-blooded killer and does not even want the gang members to know him. Joe Torelli (Ralf Harolde), who thinks he should be the leader of the gang, is suspicious and grows more so after the protection collection money starts to roll in, and nobody sees the money after it is turned over to Rogers, who tells them that "Baby Face" is handling the dough.

Complications arise when Edward/"Baby Face" meets Virginia Clark (Mary Carlisle), head of a transportation company, who has had a truck wrecked when she wouldn't pay the protection money. Edward writes her an insurance policy and promptly pays off when a second truck is wrecked. This starts a rash of business to Acme, and as fast as the gang shakes down trucking companies and wrecks their trucks, Edward pays the merchants on their policies, and this puts a serious dent into the gang's cash flow.

Torelli learns that Edward is "Baby Face", which puts him way up on Edward who does not know he is the infamous gang leader "Baby Face." So Torelli kidnaps Edward's sweetheart Virginia.