Jours heureux

"Hide Out" starts out focusing on a group of racketeers operating in Manhattan. We are introduced to Jonathan Wilson, who seems to be a key man to the organization. Jonathan is clearly a ladies' man, but his luck is about to change after he is seen pursuing the glamorous Baby. In a hilarious scene, Jonathan, has secured a ring side table to watch the beautiful Baby singing, as part of a night club act. He proceeds to ask her for a date that same night, without the singer missing a beat while she accepts his invitation. That also proves to be his own undoing because the police is closing after him.

The second part of this comedy, directed with style by W. S. Van Dyke, concentrates in how Jonathan, who has been wounded when he tried to flee his pursuers, is found on the side of the road by a Connecticutt farmer, Henry Miller. He takes him home, where the whole family takes an interest in making him well. The lovely Pauline Miller, a young teacher, likes "Lucky", as Jonathan calls himself. Life in the farm works its magic in this man and transform him when he falls in love with the beautiful Pauline.

Of course, we all know that crime doesn't pay, so when at the end of the film we see Det. MacCarthy come knocking on the Miller's door, we realize that Lucky must pay for his evil ways of the past, although he makes us feel, because of his transformation and the love he feels for the young woman, that somehow, he has vindicated himself by wanting to stay in the farm forever.

Robert Montgomery's appearance in the film makes it even better than what it should have been. Mr. Montgomery is excellent in his scenes with Maureen O'Sullivan, who is perfect as the young Pauline Miller. Pauline Patterson and Whitford Kane are the older Millers, and Mickey Rooney, who was about thirteen, but looks much younger, makes a valuable contribution as Willie Miller. Edward Arnold, one of the best character actors working in films at that time, puts an appearance as Detective MacCarthy.

The film, with a running time of 81 minutes, has the right length and involves us in it. W. S. Van Dyke directed with usual sure hand and got a lot out his great cast in this delightful film.

This sentimental M-G-M "gangster" film works like a "Tarzan" in reverse: here the seemingly incorrigible hood played by Montgomery, urbane and a touch cynical, finds his cold heart surely melting in the warm embrace of a simple farm family and their soothing workaday life.

In "Tarzan" Maureen O'Sullivan is the "outsider", and although she must adjust to life in the jungle the thrust of that story is that she "domesticates" the "ape man" even as she learns to accept the simpler pleasures of living "close to nature". Here Montgomery is the one out of his element and we find him mystified by the sounds of crickets in the evening--something almost as strange and foreign to him as the unpretentious caring ways of the Miller family. When Mom and Pop and little "don't call me" Willy (played by young Mickey Rooney) conveniently leave the farm for a day, Montgomery and O'Sullivan get to play "farm" (baling the hay, splitting wood) the same way Tarzan and Jane get to play "house" together. In both cases O'Sullivan has "tamed" the wild beast.

"Tarzan" was an adventure film, however--the journey takes place in the great outdoors and nature is a mirror. "Hide-out" is an inner journey, on the other hand--even as he's hauled off to prison Montgomery smiles because he's finally come "home".

This is a very enjoyable though predictable film--exactly the sort of classic Hollywood film I like and they just don't make any more. The first portion of the film shows leading man Robert Montgomery to be a real jerk. Not only is he a mobster, but he's also completely selfish and a real cad. Eventually, though, his larcenous ways nearly get him killed and he is forced to escape to the countryside to avoid the law and heal following being shot by police in his escape.

Montgomery is discovered by a nice and unsuspecting family who have no idea he's a crook. They sweetly agree to let him stay there and they treat him like a member of the family. While the dad is a pretty forgettable but nice character, long-time character actress Elizabeth Patterson does an amazingly effective job as the mother and Mickey Rooney is cute as a nice little boy who is all boy! The sister was played by a young Maureen O'Sullivan who is simply radiant. It isn't surprising that Montgomery soon falls for O'Sullivan, but her inherent decency and sweetness result in a change in the crook. Over time, he realizes for the first time that he truly cares about her--as well as the entire family. Is this predictable? Sure,...but it's handled so well and the film is so engaging that you probably won't mind--I know I sure didn't! Overall, the film gets very high marks for acting (with a great ensemble cast), a well-written script (especially the dialog) and is just plain entertaining. See this one--you probably won't be sorry.

About handsome, smartly-dressed "Lucky" Wilson (played by Robert Montgomery), ladies' man and racketeer who spends his time hitting up successful New York nightclubs for "protection" money and at the same time hits on every blonde he sees (even when it means dumping the current blonde he's with). When a couple of smart cops get someone to spill the beans on his rackets, Lucky is forced to leave town in a hurry and head for a hideout, but he gets himself shot on the way out and ends up getting picked up on the road by a Connecticut farmer, who bunks injured Lucky in his quite lovely family home/farm. The kindly family proceeds to nurse Lucky back to health, but Lucky just wants to get out of there - until he meets the farmer's beautiful daughter Pauline (Maureen O'Sullivan). Soon he's feeding the chickens, milking the cow, picking cherries, chopping wood, and performing other farm chores (all dressed in his nice white shirt and jacket) all in pursuit of the girl. And the family has NO clue that Lucky is a criminal!

Very entertaining film, with excellent performances by all including Elizabeth Patterson as the charitable farm wife/mom, and a young Mickey Rooney as the boisterous little brother/devoted rabbit farmer. Robert Montgomery is, as usual, charming and oh so attractive, and quite good at playing this gangster type role in addition to his usual roving playboy type - plus he has a good deal of chemistry with Maureen O'Sullivan here. I enjoyed the story in this and found the whole film to be very enjoyable. Well worth seeing.

Robert Montgomery plays a gangster hiding out on a farm in "Hide-Out," a 1934 film also starring Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold, Elizabeth Patterson, Whitford Kane, and Mickey Rooney.

With the police after him, Lucky Wilson takes off but ends up shot and unconscious. He is then found by a farmer Miller (Kane) who takes him home.

There, Lucky, now calling himself by his real name, Jonathan, meets a normal American family, including an above-normal looking Pauline (Maureen O'Sullivan), who is the daughter of the house.

Jonathan stretches out his recovery and begins to enjoy the idyllic life of milking cows, feeding chickens, romancing Pauline, and being sort of a big brother to her younger sibling Willie (Mickey Rooney).

This is a sweet film with nothing special to recommend it except the beautiful young O'Sullivan and an amusing performance by Montgomery. In one of the best scenes, he sits at a ringside table and asks a singer out - while she's singing - and she answers him under her breath during short orchestral interludes.

The end seems a little abrupt, but this is a pleasant film. If Mrs. Miller looks familiar, she was Mrs. Trumbull, the neighbor who babysat Little Ricky on "I Love Lucy."