It Happened in Flatbush

Following their first National League Pennant win since 1920, The Brooklyn Dodgers team players, though losing the 1941 World Series, went to Hollywood to appear as themselves in this film's field and locker room scenes. Though uncredited on screen, they included Mickey Owen, Dolf Camilli, Billy Herman, Pewee Reese, Arky Vaughan, Dixie Walker, Cookie Lavagetto, Peter Reiser, and pitchers Hugh Casey, Whitlow Wyatt, and Freddie Fitzimmons. However, Lloyd Nolan played the team manager instead of Leo Durocher and Red Barber's substitute was KMPC radio Broadcaster Hal Berger whose 1941 in-studio game recreations fostered the birth of L.A.'s Dodger fan clubs.

Enjoyable movie. Years back they would have called this a B film. Today, it would rate A+.

Lloyd Nolan provides just the right touch as the baseball manager. His speech intonation reflects a wonderful Brooklyn accent. We bums in Brooklyn would appreciate every minute of it.

Brought back to manage a baseball team by the owner, (Sara Allgood in an all too brief performance) the film depicts the trials and tribulations of managing a last place team to pennant contention.

Romance is in the air as Nolan tries to woo the snooty niece of the recently deceased owner. Carol Landis does well as the niece.

We see Brooklyn at its best here as the faithful root for the Bums of yesteryear.

Wonderful nostalgia.

Very enjoyable "B" movie from 1942. Nolan as skipper of Brooklyn Dodgers is good. For once they did not use old Wrigley Field in Los Angeles for the long shot scenes. Instead they used films of the three games played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in the 1941 World Series. You can tell from the bunting hanging from the stands. Also some events are very close to actual happenings of the old Dodgers. A most for all us old Brooklyn Dodger fans.

Nolan is perfectly cast as the struggling ball club manager. What a fine effortless actor he was, always making dialog sound both natural and spontaneous. The movie had more substance than I expected. It's not a straight Cinderella story of a manager taking a last place team (Brooklyn) to the top. Instead, Maguire (Nolan) has plenty of downs to go with the occasional up, and in the romantic department, as well. And what a dish Carole Landis (Kathryn) is, all outfitted here in upper-class finery, and before she became the more familiar blonde.

The most notable thing about this sports story is how the fans of Brooklyn are portrayed. Note that the movie was made at the beginning of WWII. The preceding decade of the 1930's was the decade of the "common man" when everyday ordinariness was honored by Hollywood's dream factory.

Here, that ordinariness is on display with an emphasis on fighting spirit from both the rowdy fans and the Brooklyn team. On a larger scale, it would take that sort of popular effort and team spirit to win the big war, which amounts to a topical sub-text even in this modest programmer.

Note too how the upper class is portrayed as slightly effete, especially lounge lizard Walter (Allen), Maguire's rival for Kathryn's affections. In the screenplay, Brooklyn stands for the borough of the common man and his combative spirit, while Manhattan receives a rather dismissive upper-class reference. It's Hollywood gearing up for the big war, and, on the whole, a better movie than I expected, but nothing special.

(In passing—I can't help noticing that the Brooklyn team is never referred to as the Dodgers, just as the generic "Brooklyn". Similarly, for St. Louis minus the Cardinals. I expect these generic references allowed the producers to avoid legal problems.)

It Happened In Flatbush is a very fun and very entertaining baseball comedy from 1942. The beautiful Carole Landis stars as Kathryn Baker, a socialite who inherits a baseball team but knows nothing about sports. Lloyd Nolan, a washed up baseball player, returns to Brooklyn to manage the team. At first he clashes with Landis but eventually (of course ;-) he falls in love with her. Can they work together to save the team and win the big game? Although this is a movie about baseball I thought the personal scenes between Carole and Lloyd were the best. Miss Landis gives an excellent performance and gets to wear some really beautiful gowns. She was one of Fox's most promised starlets but sadly she took her own life in 1948. She appeared in more than forty films during her career and It Happened In Flatbush is one of her better roles. The movie got very good reviews and was a modest hit when it came out in 1942. The talented cast also includes William Frawley, Scotty Beckett, and Sara Allgood. It was directed by Ray McCarey who also worked with Carole on 1941s Cadet Girl. If you're a fan of fun baseball movies or just want to see the lovely Carole Landis you'll enjoy this film.

In 2015 Fox finally released It Happened In Flatbush on DVD.