The Devil Is a Sissy

Three little tough guys learn the value of friendship & loyalty, during family crises and troubles with the law.

While overlong & predictable, THE DEVIL IS A SISSY is the only chance to see all three of MGM's little 1930's princes in one film. Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper & Mickey Rooney (12, 14 and 15 respectively when the film was released) are a great deal of fun to watch & make a terrific cinematic trio.

At this point, they were all at different stages in their careers. Jackie's heyday as a child star - including a stint with Hal Roach's celebrated OUR GANG - was in the past. Freddie was in the very midst of his intense, brief major stardom. And Mickey was exhibiting glimpses of the talent that in a few years would make him the biggest star in Hollywood.

Although a ‘youth picture' in every way, there are several good performances from a small crowd of adults, most notably Englishman Ian Hunter, as Freddie's sincere, honest father. Also appearing to advantage in smaller parts are Kathleen Alexander as Freddie's emotional mother; Gene & Kathleen Lockhart as Jackie's stern parents; and Peggy Conklin as Mickey's free-spirited aunt. Little Etienne Girardot appears as a fierce school principal, as does Jonathan Hale playing a sympathetic judge and Grant Mitchell as a serious suitor to Mickey's mom.

Harold Huber, Stanley Fields & Frank Puglia are a gang of brutal thugs who run afoul of the three youngsters, while Hattie McDaniel's older sister, Etta, makes the most of her one scene as Miss Conklin's maid.

That's an unbilled Dorothy Peterson doing a fine job as Mickey's mother. Movie mavens should recognize Christian Rub as a funerary stone mason; Ian Wolfe as a pawnbroker; and George Davis as a French diner owner - all uncredited.

The good production values bestowed by MGM are also a great asset to the film, particularly in the neighborhood scenes.

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.

I taped this based on its title alone. It's the kind of classic Hollywood film I really love because, while it's definitely a quality picture, it's also goofy in a lot amusing ways. The Devil Is a Sissy stars three child stars of the time, Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper, and Mickey Rooney. Bartholomew is a young British chap who is staying with his humble father (Ian Hunter) for six months in the middle of New York City. At his local public school he meets up with Cooper and Rooney, two little toughs. It takes a while, but soon Bartholomew has learned the customs of the people around him, like how to play American football (the ball has points, unlike British football) and what people do to squealers. Near the beginning, Rooney's father is executed for murder. I wouldn't call it anti-death penalty by any means, but it's nice to see a movie from this time deal with the way it effects the family of the person who is executed. Over the course of the film, Cooper and Rooney learn what comes from being bad. The title of the film comes from a speech given to them by a judge, who tells them that it is easier to be good than bad. The angels were good, and the devil was the real sissy. The lessons to be learned remind me a lot of Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces, but The Devil Is a Sissy is a much better film. The three kids here are professionals. They are the heart of the film, where the titular angels were merely plot devices. That was just a James Cagney vehicle. The script here is much better, as well. In addition to the actors I mentioned, Peggy Conklin gives a great performance as Mickey Rooney's rich aunt. She and the kids (and also her black maid) sing a nice little number, "The 'Ah' Song." The script kind of tiptoes around why the aunt has money. At first I assumed it was because she was a singer, but it seemed to hint later on that she may have been a kept woman. I'm not sure. Conklin's career seems to have sputtered and died, which is far too bad.

Without this film anyone having a classic movie collection just thinks they have a classic movie collection. It is a fine old movie with lots of good, old-fashioned humor in it.

Most of all, it has three of the top child actors preceeding World War II. All three of these came together just one time to do a movie. And, do a movie they did. See Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, and Jackie Cooper star together as, once again, good triumphs over evil.

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).