O Grande O'Malley

I didn't mind at all that this was predictable and formulaic-- I like the sappy stuff. Who's a better Irish cop than Pat O'Brien? And it's a treat to see early Ann Sheridan and Bogart. The Production Code guaranteed that justice, and not just the letter of the law, would be done.

I noticed that Father Patrick was played by Father Sheridan, but it appears that he was no relation to the lovely Ann. He had quite a long career in films, beginning with silents in 1915.

It was really a cheap shot for Warners to release a publicity tagline such as "a Hot-Headed Irish Cop Comes to Grips with a Cold-Blooded Killer..." to rope in audiences who'd be expecting a crime thriller instead of a heart-warming tale of a mean cop's redemption.

Heart-warming is fine with me.

Overall this is a particularly good film. Top-notch acting and direction, an involving plot, realistic scenery. A gaggle of veteran and up-and-coming actors deliver worthy, multi-dimensional performances that make us care about their characters. Pat O'Brien, always reliable as a fast-talking, rough and tough, take charge and take no prisoners character here gives a much more nuanced performance than is his usual. Donald Crisp is reliable as always as O'Brien's boss. Sybil Jason, the South-African wunderkind, was very endearing and a professional despite her age. It's too bad she didn't make it as she grew older. Then there's Humphrey Bogart, Frieda Inescourt, and Ann Sheridan who would all go to much bigger and better things.

So what's my beef? Well, let's consider the basic premise of the film: a man (Bogart) is on his way to work in a beat-up car with faulty exhaust and is given a ticket by an overzealous cop (O'Brien). The delay causes him to lose his job and in desperation he commits a burglary which lands him in prison. OK, so the cop didn't have to cite him for such a minor offense and even after he stopped him, could have believed him and let him go. But this is exactly where the logic is flawed and we find out how in the next few minutes. When Bogart tries to pawn some items the pawnbroker asks him why he doesn't go on relief to which Bogart replies that he wouldn't take any handouts. And there you have it. Had the man been on relief he could have fixed his muffler which would have given the cop no reason to stop him and he would have made it to his job on time. But no, in true pioneer spirit, rather than ask for government help (which after all he contributed to with his taxes) and preferring false pride to responsibility to his family he runs foul of the law and ends up in the clink completely powerless. And to me that's stupid.

Now I'll get off my pedestal and stop sermonizing. "The Great O'Malley" many not be masterpiece but it certainly bears watching and a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

"The Great O'Malley," directed by William Dieterle, was Bogart's second film with Pat O'Brien, a man he deeply respected as a person and as an actor… In this very predictable movie, O'Brien was a too zealously cop whose attachment to the letter of the law alienates friends as well as enemies…

Bogart was an honest family man who was forced to turn to crime in order to provide for his family after O'Brien arrested him for a minor offense and caused him to lose a job opportunity…

Bogart had an excellent chance to show some versatility by turning from his earlier carefree attitude into one of frustration and bitter hatred, and he carried it off rather effectively

Great O'Malley, The (1937)

** (out of 4)

Boring melodrama from Warner about cop James O'Malley (Pat O'Brien), an overbearing cop who follows the law down to the wire and this includes passing out tickets for the smallest of issues. Soon he costs a poor man (Humphrey Bogart) a job and the man turns to crime and soon finds himself away from his cripple daughter and doing a ten year sentence. O'Malley gains more and more enemies and soon finds himself close to the man's daughter where he might finally learn his lesson. I'm really not sure what the point of this film was for several reasons. O'Malley is an ugly character, a complete jerk and one people are really going to hate so showing this type of cop to people probably wasn't the best of ideas. I'm not even sure why a story like this would interest anyone and the film comes off like the stars and director didn't have much faith in it either. Dietrich is certainly directing by the numbers as nothing here really jumps out at you as having much effort put into it. There's really not any powerful scenes, drama, laughs or anything else. Granted, nothing here is overly bad but just flat. O'Brien gives a decent performance but it's certainly far from his best because there's not much soul or fire to the character. Bogart does get to shine in a role that you normally wouldn't see him play. I thought he did a pretty good job playing the poor guy trying to look out for his family and it's the type of role you'd expect someone like Spencer Tracy to play but Bogie does fine with it. Sybil Jason and Ann Sheridan add nice support as does Donald Crisp. Warner was the studio for blue collar tales but this one here never really works and I'm really not sure what the point of any of it was.

THE GREAT O'MALLEY (Warner Brothers, 1937), directed by William Dieterle, stars Irish actor, Pat O'Brien, properly cast as an Irish policeman by the name of O'Malley. Having previously played an officer of the law by the name of O'Hara in THE IRISH IN US (1935) where James Cagney starred and gathered most of the attention, his role of O'Malley solely belongs to O'Brien, with some notable attention to some of his supporting players, such as Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan, who would become major star performers by the 1940s, and the little child actress by the name of Sybil Jason, the studio's answer to 20th Century-Fox's Shirley Temple. Though cute and agreeable in her role, Jason never became a major child actress of her time. After co-starring in two movies starring Temple at her home studio, Jason would become lifelong friends with the legendary child actress.

Set in New York City, the story introduces James Aloysius O'Malley (Pat O'Brien), whose late father was also a policeman, as a "by the book" officer who passes out citations for petty crimes and ordinances. He takes his job very seriously, even to a point of criticizing his own mother (Mary Gordon) for breaking the law for littering. One day he stops John Phillips (Humphrey Bogart), a family man with a wife (Frieda Inescort) and a child, Barbara (Sybil Jason), while on his way to his first job he's has in years, for a violation driving his Model T car with a bad muffler. Only a few minutes late, John loses his job to another man. In desperate need of extra money to buy food for his family, he tries to pawn off some personal items. Unable to get the $10 needed, John steals $400 from the pawnbroker. Later he is stopped by O'Malley for a traffic violation, unaware that he is now a wanted man. Later arrested, John is put to trial and sentenced to serve two to ten years in the state penitentiary. His wife informs Barbara that her father has gone away on his new job in Canada. Because of the incident that could have been prevented, but has only ruined a man's life instead, Captain Cromwell (Donald Crisp) asks O'Malley for his resignation, but is refused. Cromwell decides to make or break O'Malley by reducing him to school crossing guard at Public School 141. Although O'Malley finds his new job humiliating, he soon takes an interest in a girl with a lame leg, who happens to be the daughter John Phillips, and the child's teacher, Judy Nolan (Ann Sheridan). Other members of the cast include: Henry O'Neill (Defense Attorney); Hobart Cavanaugh ("Pinky" Holden); Frank Sheridan (Father Patrick); Lillian Harmer (Miss Taylor); Frank Reicher (Doctor Edwin Larson), with Granville Bates, Henry Armetta and Stanley Fields in smaller roles.

Based on the story with material that was previously done in the silent era as THE MAKING OF O'MALLEY (1925) with Milton Sills and Dorothy MacKaill, this latest update gathers enough attention through its Warner Brothers stock company in their properly placed roles. As mentioned earlier, O'Brien handles his role perfectly as a no nonsense policeman. While Humphrey Bogart has become relatively known for playing gangsters, villains and later detectives, this along with his earlier BLACK LEGION (1936) does he get the rare opportunity playing a father of a small child. Of all the cast members, O'Brien is the sole focus who nearly takes second place to Sybil Jason. No matter, since he won't ever give her a citation for scene stealing. Regardless of some syrupy scenes, and how the Great O'Malley gets through his humiliation with job demotion, the movie is satisfactory 70 minute production.

Viewed mostly on Turner Classic Movies cable channel, THE GREAT O'MALLEY, which was at one point in history was rarely shown on television since the 1960s, has become available on DVD. It would be nice to have the silent 1925 movie available one of these days for O'Malley comparison. (***)