L'Ennemi public

I did not have any surprise with this film. I have always loved every of the Don Siegel's features and this one makes no exception. Action packed, rough, tough script pulled by terrific performances with the likes of Mickey Rooney and Leo Gordon. I will never forget their prison films characters; LAST MILE for Rooney and RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 for Gordon. Rooney is as crazy as he was in the Howard Koch's masterpiece where he already was a cold blooded killer, leader of a bunch of men who have nothing to lose. This gangster film is not so easy to purchase and that's a real shame. I think it is one of the best of Don Siegel, so typical of his trade mark. Find it at all costs.

What separates a film noir from just a regular gangster flick made in the mid-40's to late 50's? Genre definitions are slippery beasts. I think a noir should, in most cases, say something about the human condition, something about how we respond to pressure, how our past defines us, how a bad decision in a moment of weakness can send us down the wrong path. A gangster flick is pretty much simple shoot-em-up entertainment. Because Nelson starts out bad and maintains that course, I wouldn't say we're getting much insight into the human condition. But it is damn fine shoot-em-up entertainment with another surprising performance by Mickey Rooney. As the tough-as-nails Nelson, he's cold and ruthless without a trace of his goody-good reputation. Also notable is Carolyn Jones as his game-for-anything devoted gal, and a series of fine (but with Nelson around, short-lived) supporting performances. Siegel proved with THE LINEUP that he could create top-notch thrills of the vicious variety, and although this film doesn't quite reach those heights (Rooney's good, but he's no Eli Wallach) it presents a series of rapid-fire scenarios without ever dawdling too long. Terrific jazz age score and one hell of a great ending, too. Noir or not, definitely worth a look.

Baby Face Nelson is directed by Don Siegel and co-written by Daniel Mainwaring, Robert Adler and Irving Shulman. It stars Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon, Anthony Caruso and Jack Elam. Story is based on the notorious criminal who became public enemy number one in the first half of the 1930s.

Gangsters have always been a profitable source for film makers, with many of them proving to be the basis of classic cinema. The story of Baby Face Nelson is ideal for cinematic treatment.

Don Siegel's 57 movie is tight and taut, yet still briskly paced, and in the main as per the characterisation of Nelson, it's pitched right by Siegel and Mickey Rooney. Nelson is seen as a pocket rocket of inferiority complexes, a deluded bully held in the grip of jealousies. He's a trigger-happy punk with anger issues, while Siegel is professional enough to ensure the little thug is not glamorised (the film opens with a written statement pouring praise on the FBI). The recreation of the period is grand, those cars, those guns, the latter of which get a good amount of screen time as Siegel gives us gun play aplenty. While visually (Hal Mohr on cinematography duty) it's lighted for shadows and period starkness. There's even a pitch black noir ending to round it off.

The flaws? Rooney never fully convinces in the role of Nelson, where perhaps he is a mere victim of following in the footsteps of greater characterisations in the genre? Or maybe it's just a case of being familiar with him in more airy roles? But with Hardwicke doing fine work as a boozy lecher, Jones appealingly knowing and sexy as Nelson's moll, and Elam and Elisha Cook Jr bolstering the support ranks, film is in capable acting hands. Narrative is a bit scratchy, not quite a complete whole, more a case of a number of great scenes inserted here and there, but it doesn't hurt the picture too much. Overall it gets in and does its job in next to no time, never out staying its welcome, it overcomes its faults and entertains the genre fan with ebullience. 7/10

Mickey Rooney stretched the limits of his talents and continued to live down the image of all American Andy Hardy in this blood and guts portrayal of Baby Face Nelson. In the title role Rooney dominates this film and that's no small achievement for him as he is supported by a really good bunch of character players, especially for a small independent United Artists film. This part was certainly a better fit for him than that other true life short man he played Lorenz Hart.

One of the nastiest of the famous public enemies of the Thirties, Lester Gillis aka Baby Face Nelson had some real issues. A nasty temper and some inferiority feelings about his short size are what makes him what he is. Give him a Thompson submachine gun and he cuts all down to size.

Reading the Wikipedia article and knowing what I know about him, Rooney really captured his character well. His fans should love what he did in this. Only the cheapness in production values prevents me from giving Baby Face Nelson a higher rating.

Don Siegel's low budget gangster tale has a nasty uncompromising sting to it. Siegel's Direction is spare, but efficient. Mickey Rooney plays the title hood for all he's worth - a bitter thug with a chip on his undersized shoulders. Carolyn Jones is his sultry moll, Sue Nelson, who doesn't have that much cheerier a disposition. Irving Shulman and Daniel Mainwaring's (who previously had written INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS for Siegel) screenplay plays loose with the facts, if not the essential essence of Baby Face's story. Along the way, Baby Face and Sue join up with John Dillinger's (Leo Gordon) gang. Cedric Hardwicke is his oily best as a shady Doctor and George Stone plays a Bank Manager who Baby Face takes an unexpected kinship with. Jack Elam, Dabs Greer and Elisha Cook Jr. provide sturdy support. BABY FACE NELSON is a bit too clipped to fully deliver the goods, but, it's a more than competent B movie with an edge.