The Kid from Kokomo

Silly bit of nonsense is played lightly by pros. Certainly the plot was old hat even in 1939 but it's breezily presented.

Wayne Morris pretty much reprises his Kid Galahad character here but he is appealingly earnest and a young Jane Wyman in one of the numerous programmers she churned out that year is fresh and flip. They make a cute couple.

The real enjoyment comes from the fantastic cast of characters that populate this. Pat O'Brien in full on slickster mode. The divine Joan Blondell as a former bubble dancer and wised up gal and the great May Robson, playing another version of Apple Annie, are completely charming. The rest of the cast is filled out with familiar faces doing what they do best. As long as you realize its a B this is a fun undemanding pastime.

One Sunday morning, I was flipping through the channels when I caught this film on T. V. It was an interesting film. Pat O' Brien and Joan Blondell star, and it was a pretty good story. Of course, this little film pales next to most releases of 1939 (GONE WITH THE WIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, STAGECOACH, etc.)

A whole lot of the best players that Warner Brothers had under contract got signed for this film. But personally I found the whole thing a bit too much. No one could be as naive as Wayne Morris as The Kid From Kokomo.

Which is where Pat O'Brien fight manager, girlfriend Joan Blondell and trainer Edward Brophy have gone looking for a fighter with a reputed devastating right hand. But the guy whom they were seeking Ward Bond, they see get flattened by farm kid Wayne Morris.

It seems as though Morris was abandoned by his mom at a tender age and never knew his dad. God knows who raised him, but he's going to stay at the farm because even after 22 years mom will come home to claim him.

What to do but get a mother for him so in night court Pat O'Brien finds May Robson an old wino once an actress who has certainly seen better days.

Basically The Kid From Kokomo depends on Morris and Robson recycling roles that they got famous for, Morris in Kid Galahad and Robson from Lady For A Day. But their parts her are pale imitations of the roles from those better known pictures.

The Kid From Kokomo other than Morris's quest for mom is your usual boxing picture. Pat O'Brien and Joan Blondell are also in parts they've done a couple dozen times.

Usually with a cast like this I'd be more than generous, but Morris's character for me was so preposterous and so off putting that I can't believe in 1939 people took this any kind of seriously. Morris isn't naive, the guy is positively backward.

Boxing manager 'Square Shooting Murph' (Pat O'Brien) has to get out of town quick after betting against his own boxer in dirty business fraud. He discovers boxing savant farm boy Homer Baston (Wayne Morris) who is haunted by his long-lost mother. Murph and girlfriend Doris Harvey (Joan Blondell) convince him that the boxing publicity would bring his mother to him. When no mother shows up, he threatens to leave boxing and go home. No matter what, Murph needs to come up with a mother.

It is a fun premise. There is a better ending. I would like Murph doing something powerful and emotional to redeem himself after Homer discovers the truth. That would be the more standard way to go. This one is a bit more goofy and I don't see it as happily ever after as it thinks it is.

WELL NOW, WHAT have we here? In what could very well have been an obscure title that we'd passed up, our fancy was definitely tickled to a very high degree. Although this KID FROM KOKOMO was undoubtedly pre-classified as a "Pot Boiler" and definitely just one cog in Warner Brothers' yearly output, it certainly did it self proud in showcasing its containing pure entertainment and fun. And its lack of any pretension about being cinematic "art" underscores its true mission in pleasing a movie audience.

WE HAVE FORMULATED a few educated guesses in our review and plead "guilty as charged" about our high level of fondness generated.

WE'VE ALWAYS FELT that, whereas there are so many other great and near great examples of great pictures out there in our film archives and we have been blessed with such fine names behind the film industry, that Warner Brothers somehow had always managed to have its corporate finger right on the pulse of American tastes and preferences. This assertion extends all the way, across the board from the Class "A" features., the "B's", Short Subjects and even to their animation department's LOONEY TUNES and MERRY MELODIES.

AT LEAST SOME of the cause behind our thesis is attributable to the background of the Brothers Warner. Sons of Jewish Immigrants from Poland (Russian Empire), after immigrating to America, then to Ontario, Canada, they were raised in Youngstown, Ohio. This,we contend, gave them a less than provincial outlook on the country and the world. It also prevented them from being indoctrinated with any sort of "Big Apple" syndrome. (Although so many of their pictures were centered on life in our greatest city).

ANOTHER ATTRIBUTE WHICH we must bring to the floor is the Warner Brothers' propensity to simplify production matters. Jack W. was once quoted as saying something about if a script is too long to be read while sitting on and using the commode, it was too long.

THE STUDIO ALSO had a knack for taking stage plays , many having been unproduced, and turning them into celluloid gold. This movie would certainly fit into that category. (By the bye, ever heard of EVERYONE COMES TO RICK'S aka CASABLANCA ?)

AS FOR THE production itself, it is fine example of economy of time and shooting schedule. whereas it certainly was no cheapie or poverty row special, it made great use of many preexisting sets. Added to that we have a fine cast top to bottom. We had Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell and Wayne Morris in the starring roles. In support we have May Robson, a young Jane Wyman, Edward Brophy, 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, Sidney Toler (Charlie Chan), Morgan Conway (future Dick Tracy), rising star John Ridgley, Ward Bond and Paul Hurst. In an uncredited role, Al Hill appears (better known to us of the Baby Boomer generation as Heavyweight Champ, "Killer Kilduff" in the 3 Stooges' PUNCH DRUNKS (Columbia, 1934) and as bank robber "Filthy McNasty" in the W.C. Fields starring vehicle THE BANK DICK (Universal, 1940).

AND FOR JUST one last observation, it would appear that the studio was attempting to recapture at least some of the magic that was generated by the previous production of KID GALAHAD (WB/1937), which starred Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. It introduced a young Wayne Morris in a very similar role to this one.