El demonio es un pobre diablo

This is a great movie. The one and only film to starr Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew together. Mickey Rooney in my opinion steals the show from both of them. The scene where he hears his father being electrocuted is so dramatic. There is just something about the life that Mickey Rooney adds to a movie. His tough but gentle demeanor. Those dramatic facial expressions. The way he can make you laugh and tear your heart out at the same time. If anyone watches a Mickey Rooney movie and and says he cannot act don't know what acting is. Mickey Rooney can do it all and is still doing it today! LONG LIVE THE MIGHTY MICK! This is a great film Very well acted. The story is endearing! You will not be disappointed. It will be playing on TCM later this year (2005).

They sure don't make movies like this anymore and I wish they did. I just watched The Devil Is A Sissy and although it was made 80 years ago the films message of friends for life still resonates today. This is a story about three young boys of which two are from struggling backgrounds financially who in the 1930's lived in lower Manhattan before it was home to more wealthier New Yorkers as it is today.

Mickey Rooney (age 14) played Gig Stevens and Jackie Cooper (age 16) played Buck Murphy who had their own little gang which included boys nicknamed Bugs and Six Toes and they all met in their makeshift clubhouse hidden behind a junkyard. In comes the third young lad Claud Pierce played by Freddie Bartholomew (age 12) who really wants to fit in at almost any cost so he is most gleeful when he decides to challenge the much bigger Buck to give him back his football even if it means being on the receiving end of a shiner.

The younger Limey Claude persists on getting on the good side of the alpha dog Gig and his right hand man Buck even if it means getting involved in a bit of thievery. Gig's father was convicted of some serious crimes so serious in fact that he receives the electric chair and young Gig and his mother have to find a way to get on with their lives. Now Limey Claude's dad and mom are divorced and his father moved to lower Manahattan due to economic constraints. Claude and his dad have a close relationship whereas Gig just lost his father to the electric chair and Buck's dad being a war veteran believes he can whip the truth out of his son when the boys get in trouble.

The films main story is how these three young lads cope growing up in a financially struggling neighborhood with the help of a caring judge, Claude's understanding father Jay Pierce and Gig's empathetic Aunt Rose and how they not only survive some very serious predicaments but their friendship thrives based on their loyalty to one another and their families. Even though this 1936 film is in black and white and there may not be any sex, blood or CGI (computer generated imagery), it does contain great emotion and it made my eyes start to swell up in a couple of scenes.

I really enjoy these old black and white films and it certainly makes for great screen presence with Mickey Rooney (14), Jackie Cooper (16) and Freddie Bartholomew (12) generating so many great scenes throughout this fine dramatic film.

Ahhhhh, the good old days of simpler times when the movie director was more important than the special effects were. Sadly, all three main stars are now deceased but their film legacy will live on in film classics such as The Devil Is A Sissy. Watch it and see if you don't agree. It deserves an 8/10 rating.

Bartholomew and Rooney teamed for five films at MGM. Usually either Bart would be sent to an American school where he would get beat up for being British, or Rooney would be sent to a British school where he would get beat up for being an American. Or some combination thereof. This is one where Bart gets sent to America...and gets beat up, but fights back. All in all it is the best of the bunch because Rooney and Bart and Jackie Cooper make a terrific trio. Much of this film reminded me of "The Outsiders" except for its syrupy last three minutes. The movie opens by telling us that Rooney's father is about to be executed. We are showed the effects this has upon Rooney and Rooney's mother. We never see Rooney's dad in the film, nor the execution, but we witness Rooney's face as he hears his mother scream when the clock strikes midnight at the minute of execution. Rooney still loves his father and his only goal is to buy his father a tombstone. This is contrasted with the leader of the trio, Jackie Cooper who is physically abused by his father, and Freddie Bartholomew who has a poor loving caring father divorced to his rich distant mother. The three try to survive for the moment on the streets of New York.

Wonderful movie starring the three biggest male child stars of their era. It's about a young English boy (Freddie Bartholomew) who comes to live with his father in New York and makes friends with a couple of tough kids (Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper). Before long the boys are getting into all kinds of trouble. Two other kids who are part of the same gang are called Bugs and Six Toes, because one eats bugs and the other has six toes on one foot. Sounds weird but their scene together is actually pretty funny.

The three leads are all excellent. Likable, fun performances. It's a treat to see the three of them together like this. Ian Hunter plays Freddie's bohemian father. Hattie McDaniel's sister Etta McDaniel plays a maid. The two look almost identical to me except for different noses. At first I thought it was Hattie but couldn't figure out why she looked different. Calvin Lockhart has an amusing part as Jackie Cooper's father who keeps bragging about his service in World War I. Jonathan Hale is great as a wise judge who gives the boys a corny but cute speech about the devil being a sissy. Hence the movie's cool title.

There are a lot of funny lines and some good banter between the boys. One of my favorites is when the boys are breaking into a house and Freddie warns the other two to be careful or they'll have Scotland Yard after them. Dull-witted Jackie responds "How do you know whose yard it is?" A lot of times these culture clash movies, typically comedies, can fall flat and be insulting to one side or the other. This one manages to avoid that and pokes a little fun at the Brits as well as the Yanks, but both without malice. It's an entertaining movie, for sure. A sappy ending too but I loved it.

This movie is rather entertaining although some parts seem a little off-the-wall. For instance, there is one scene in the film where the three friends go to visit one of the boys hip, young aunt living in a pent house and she does cartwheels over to the piano and the four start singing. Other than odd instances, this movie is very good for any era.