Adorável Conquistador

Jack Holt is the key man in the city's political machine, a position he maintains by doing favors. When his young brother, Jimmy Butler, is barred from playing in his school's baseball team because of poor grades, Holt tries to fix it with Jimmy's teacher, Mona Barrie. She agrees to a make-up test. She catches the boy cheating, and calls it off. Holt has her fired, and this kicks off a political storm.

It's an odd mixture of reform politics and romantic comedy, and Holt is stiff and casual in his trademark Fearless-Fosdick manner until the very end. There are scads of the great supporting players that Columbia could pick up on the cheap in this period: Winnie Lightner has a yen for Eddie Brophy, Charles Lane (as Charles Levinson, his real name) is a reporter who breaks the story to his editor, Clarence Wilson, and other actors welcome to fans of old movies include Nedda Harrigan, Charles Wilson, and that old vampire-killer, Edward Van Sloan.

Director Roy William Neill certainly keeps things moving along at a lively clip, but this movie was never intended for more than an unambitious second feature, and there's no depth to it. Still, at less than 70 minutes, it's a painless little effort.

Bill Grimes (Jack Holt) is a powerful man who usually gets what he wants. So, when his little brother*, Bobby, is kicked off the school's baseball team because of his grades, Bill assumes he can fix everything. Instead of politely talking with the boy's teacher, Bill throws his weight around and more demands preferential treatment than anything else. As for the teacher, she's firm that the boy needs to pass but is willing to re-test him.

When the test day arrives, Bobby hasn't studied and it's obvious. When Bill arrives to talk to the teacher, the boy takes his chances and pops open a book while working on the exam. He's clearly cheating and the teacher soon walks in and catches him! But instead of accepting his punishment, Bobby lies...and Bill believes it. So, when she refuses to pass the kid, Bill arranges to have her fired. However, this abuse of his power ends up backfiring and the teachers all protest en masse...and soon the public starts to question Bill and his tactics. What's next? See the film.

This is an interesting film because the public's love of sports and lack of respect for education is certainly NOT a topic limited to 1934! It makes for a nice morality tale and kept my interest throughout. And, as a retired teacher, I certainly could relate to the story and parents' lousy attitudes about grades and getting a decent education.

*Jack Holt was 46 when he played Bill and Jimmy Butler was only 13 when he played Bobby. That's 33 years difference in age....which seems ridiculous considering they are supposed to be brothers.