St. Benny the Dip

In New York City, dapper Dick Haymes (as Benny), gruff Lionel Stander (as Monk), and crafty Roland Young (as Matthew) are a trio of con men who hide from the police by assuming the identity of three reverends attending to a needy mission. While hiding out, the three con men of the cloth begin to question their criminal ways. Our leading man Mr. Haymes cozies up to attractive blonde illustrator Nina Foch (as Linda Kovacs) while Mr. Stander mulls over the family he left...

Freddie Bartholomew (as Rev. Wilbur) makes his last feature appearance, in a supporting role. Although still a young man, and acting able to follow a successful character actor career path, Mr. Bartholomew retired from the screen grind. Haymes' sole song "I Believe" is not the Frankie Laine song that came out a couple years later. The obvious plot potential in making Mr. Roland a fallen preacher is not realized. This would have made his part, and the story, stronger.

***** St. Benny the Dip (8/24/51) Edgar G. Ulmer ~ Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, Nina Foch, Freddie Bartholomew

The flick's got an interesting premise. Three con-men fleeing the cops grab white collar cleric suits and pretend to be men of God. It works. Trouble is they then get mistakenly recruited into serving as real ministers at a newly opened poverty-row mission. Now, in order to keep the cops away, they've got to pretend to be what they're not. Can they do it, given their criminal backgrounds.

Trouble is the storyline fails to develop this suspenseful potential in sustained fashion. Instead, we get a loosely focused series of personality sketches that scatter instead of gel. Thus the premise is unfortunately squandered. Nonetheless, there are two unusual aspects to note: the tricky religious aspect never turns sappy in the sanctimonious manner of the day, while the question of legal justice for the three culprits is left unresolved unless I missed something. So, despite its overall failures, the flick avoids some significant cliches.

In passing. Note presence here of actor-crooner Dick Haymes {Benny} whose promising career was cut short by accusations of dodging service in WWII. Then too there's actor Stander {Monk} who was soon blacklisted for 10 years for defying anti-communist investigations into Hollywood political affairs. But what's the story on youthful Freddie Bartholomew's silly Reverand Wilbur that's disruptive of the flick itself -- must be a backstory behind this his last movie appearance.

All in all, though the story may fail, the movie still has some points of interest. So you might give it a look-see if your goal is more than sheer entertainment.

How is this a parody of "Les Miserables"? I fail to see any similarity other than the fact that both stories deal with sympathetic criminals. There is no chase, no obsessive policeman-the Sgt. isn't really in pursuit of Benny and his gang in the way Javert pursues Valjean. I don't see any true parody here at all but I am willing to listen to counter arguments.

Is it possible that you mean a particular scene? I'm going to go back and watch it again to see if I can catch something I might have missed the first time around.

The movie is pretty lightweight despite its creative team having such a strong pedigree but still, it's pleasant enough. Stander and Roland Young are great as usual and crooner Dick Haymes is likable and believable enough as Benny. It's not "We're No Angels" or "His Girl Friday" but it's not bad.

In his characteristically bemused and half-faltering voice, Roland Young reads the majestic opening of Genesis to a handful of charity cases in a nobly spacious but dilapidated old building still remembered for its better days. He and his comrades, the script reminds us, are just three people in a city of eight million, and the city is visually portrayed in towering terms of expressionism; but the eccentric trio still nurses hopes of turning the game in their favor. It turns out that Man proposes, but God disposes. A wise priest is on hand waxing philosophical and poetic about the situation, and in addition along comes a woman-- Nina Foch-- whose own definition not about fame (which she seized at but lost) or about globetrotting or getting rich quick but about a successful domestic life. A comedic situation arises from the contrasting lures of a quiet, productive lifestyle versus an independent and unrestrained one. Dick Haymes sings an unexpectedly bluesy hymn in one of his last movie roles, and fellow actors Roland Young and Freddie Bartholomew are winding up their big-screen careers as well, adding unintentionally and retroactively to the movie's elegiac quality.

Considering its a Danziger Brothers poverty row production, St. Benny the Dip is blessed with a marvelous cast. Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, and Cosmo Topper himself, Roland Young, play a trio of small time hoodlums who disguise themselves as priests to escape a police dragnet. Finding themselves in an abandoned Bowery mission, the threesome take their masquerade to extremes, holding services and feeding the poor. This marvelous tale of redemption also stars a luminous Nina Foch as love interest and Freddie Bartholomew in his final screen appearance. This is perhaps the first and so far only noir-comedy ever made, with some very fine black and white location photography by Don Malkames, whose career took him from Yiddish pictures to 'race' films. John Roeburt's screenplay is consistently intelligent and amusing. The film's low budget is apparent, but its clear everyone involved was working very hard to make a quality picture, and they succeeded.