The Life of Jimmy Dolan

Compulsively entertaining spiritual regeneration yarn with a surprising layer of sensitivity and depth to offset the mawkishness. The dapper Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is more than a mite improbable as the title character, a middleweight boxing champ, but delivers a charming and sympathetic portrait of a hard-luck cynic.

Framed for a murder and thought to be dead, an embittered Jimmy D. takes to the lonely road and winds up on a health ranch for invalid children. Run by sad-eyed earth mother Aline MacMahon and the winsome Loretta Young, and populated with the likes of such professional heart-tuggers as Mickey Rooney and Allen "Farina" Hoskins, you can bet that Jimmy's redemption is waiting around the bend. But the film is so sharply written and cunningly played that the shamelessly convenient finale still packs an emotional punch.

With Guy Kibbee as the myopic ex-detective, Lyle Talbot as the crooked manager, and a youthful John Wayne in the antithesis of his macho image as a diffident amateur boxer.

1933's The Life of Jimmy Dolan, a fine movie, is a good example of how the Motion Picture Production code of July 1934 changed movies, since, for comparison, you have the 1939 remake, They Made Me a Criminal. The big difference is that the remake turns a tough story into sentimental claptrap, making sure that crime does not pay. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. doesn't get the credit he deserves as a star in the Warner Bros. repertory company, but he looks too skinny and upper class for a champion boxer. John Garfield is better cast for the part, especially with his nervous energy. But the 1933 picture is way more realistic and cynical. In the 1933 version of a boxer's life, everyone has hard times, including John Wayne, who gets carried out after trying to go the distance in a boxing contest between amateurs and a pro fighter. Production Code Administrator Breen wouldn't allow crime to pay at all, liked a white bread world and would have stopped Warner Bros. from re-releasing The Life of Jimmy Dolan. That was not a problem, because of the remake. The better movie about the boxer on the lam is the one made in 1933. Gritty movies like The Life of Jimmy Dolan vanished until after the demise of the Production Code in the early 1960s. What movies Hollywood would have made if not for rigid censorship for over 25 years is an unanswerable question. Warner Bros. pre-code sound movies indicate that older movies made before censorship have dated a lot better than much of the drivel released during the Breen censorship period.

I love Turner Classic Movies for programming old, less-than-classic movies like this nearly forgotten 1933 Warner Bros. chestnut. While channel surfing, I came across this one and was drawn in by the charming, natural performances of Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the children. I won't rehash the plot because it's been done in other reviews. It's astonishing to see the familiar faces, sometimes unbilled, playing supporting roles in this one. I instantly recognized Aline MacMahon, Lyle Talbot, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee (excellent) and child stars Mickey Rooney, Anne Shirley and Allen "Farina" Hoskins. And then there's John Wayne in an early non-Western role as a boxer. Rooney and Hoskins were veterans by this time, effortless scene stealers who could wring tears as easily as laughs. I wasn't familiar with child actor David Durand and he's quietly charming as a crippled boy. It's amazing how satisfying a simple, beautifully-crafted movie made for pennies compared to today's CGI-laden millon-dollar blockbusters can be. I'm just grateful that the programmers at TCM refuse to allow little treasures like "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" to gather dust in a can on a vault shelf. And this was just one movie in a day filled with other early Thirties treasures from the Hollywood assembly line. Long live TCM!

Isn't it funny when you figure out a movie's a remake? When I was watching The Life of Jimmy Dolan, I sensed it was familiar. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays a successful southpaw boxer who claims to have a squeaky-clean after-hours image for his fans. When asked if he's going to party after the fight by a reporter, he grins and says he doesn't drink but instead will be hanging out with his mother. When he's shown drinking with his arm around a blonde floozy in the next scene, I realized I'd seen it before. They Made Me a Criminal, starring John Garfield, is the 1939 remake!

I didn't like the John Garfield version and actually turned it off after half an hour, because the prominently featured Dead End kids were too irritating. So the rest of The Life of Jimmy Dolan was a nice surprise for me. After an accidental fatal beating at the after-party, Doug Jr. passes out, and his best friend runs off with his girl, his car, and his watch. They get in a car crash and explode, and the news reports Doug Jr.'s death instead. If he comes forward and says he's alive, he'll be arrested for murder, so his only option is to stay out of the limelight and start a new life. He hides out in an out-of-the-way farmhouse and falls in love with Loretta Young.

If you watch this movie, which is infinitely better than its remake, you'll see a very young, very handsome John Wayne for about ten minutes as a boxer preparing for a fight. You'd never believe he'd become one of the most popular movie stars of all time after seeing him in this, but he certainly is cute.

This was a surprisingly good movie. I expected to turn it off, but I ended up with tears in my eyes in the final scene. Doug Jr. gives a very strong, emotional performance, making you wonder why his career fizzled out. He does everything the character needs him to do, and since the movie was made in 1933, it's understandable that a little of his silent movie acting style still lingers. Guy Kibbee costars as an ambitious journalist who doesn't believe the famous boxer was killed in the car crash, and he's given a couple of great scenes to sink his teeth into. Check this one out if you've never seen Doug Jr. in a talkie. The ending will stick with you for a long time.

Despite the miscasting of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as prizefighter and Light Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Dolan, The Life of Jimmy Dolan makes for good entertainment. After all, a film where you can see Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, John Wayne, and Mickey Rooney in the same film is worth catching.

I'm a big fan of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who to me always epitomized class and elegance. And because of that, try as he might, he just doesn't come across as a pugilist. John Garfield would have faired no better taking on Fairbanks's kind of roles.

In those early days John Wayne was starring in his own B westerns, but occasionally he would support in another film. The Life of Jimmy Dolan gives you a rare glimpse of the Duke, not as the Duke. He plays an amateur fighter who is with the on-the-run Fairbanks. His scene is in the arena dressing room with Fairbanks as he's trying to psyche himself up for the upcoming bout.

Mickey Rooney plays one of the kids at the ranch run by Loretta Young and her aunt Aline McMahon. In They Made Me a Criminal the ranch was a camp for city kids, in The Life of Jimmy Dolan it is for kids who have infantile paralysis. It was originally started by Young's father who was a doctor and he's passed on, leaving her with kids and a mortgage. Of course in seeking screen properties for the Dead End Kids while they were under Warner Brothers contract, someone had the good idea to dust this one off which they already owned. The Dead End Kids are a little older than the youths here.

Loretta Young does well in her part and I'm convinced she probably helped John Wayne get the part he got. She and her sisters were friendly with the Duke and his first wife. He did a couple of films with Loretta in their salad days. They never worked together once Wayne hit it big in Stagecoach.

Even with the Code restrictions that They Made Me a Criminal had to operate under, I think it is better than The Life of Jimmy Dolan, because of the casting. But they really should be viewed side by side for comparison.