Morgan il bandito

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 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.

A son of a deceased mobster is unwillingly ceremoniously placed as the new leader of a racket the mob has put together, even though he is a bit naive and light headed. Through a clumsy series of events, he opens an insurance company that covers insurance claims on mob hits, even though he has no idea that this is all a front for the Mob. Soon, he gets way over his head, and eventually has to pretend to be someone that he is not to clear his name! If this whole premise sounds familiar, you may be right. This film, of all things, is a pre-successor to Corky Romano, which is about a dim-watt son of a Mobster infiltrating the FBI, unknowingly to benefit the mob. Another similarity? They're both pretty awful.

James Cromwell, who plays the title character, looks strikingly like Jude Law. Too bad he can't act like him. The film, which is typical for these type of pictures, jumps all over the place from comedy to action to drama to thriller, leaving plot holes galore. But this is never boring, just stupid in its approach.

Baby Face Morgan is one frustrating film. Producers Releasing Corporation a true poverty row outfit assembled a good cast of players and had a really original idea for a story. If this had been done by a major studio with a top director this could have been one of the great comedy gems of the era.

Richard Cromwell is in the title role and he plays a hayseed young man who happens to be the son of a notorious gangster. Dad split from Mom and Cromwell never had any contact with him.

Cromwell has a Mr. Deeds like quality to him as Robert Armstrong plucks him from obscurity to use him as a front man for their protection racket. Things go well for Armstrong until Cromwell falls for Mary Carlisle who heads a trucking company that was a victim of the protection racket. It all unravels for Armstrong after that.

Any film with such colorful movie faces like Warren Hymer, Chick Chandler, Charles Judel and Ralf Harolde is going to be enjoyable on some level. But there was real potential here that was sadly wasted.

What Preston Sturges could have done with Baby Face Morgan.

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.