The Cubs win the World Series! The Cubs win
the World Series! At least they do in this little quaint comedy from 1933.
I bet they never guessed that in fact they would not win it again until 2016
- some 108 years after they won it in 1908 when they won it for the second
year in a row. This is a baseball film that I had never heard of even though
it has some nice authorship around it - Ring Lardner (father of Ring Lardner
Jr.) and none other than frigging George M. Cohan. Directing it is Mervyn
Leroy who spun out such classics of the time as Little Caesar, I was a Fugitive
from a Chain Gang, Gold Diggers of 1933 and so many more. It also stars one
of the top comedians of the time - Joe E. Brown. Joe E. Brown is a legend
of sorts but I admit that as far as I can recall the only other thing I have
seen him in was as the wealthy guy in Some Like it Hot who uttered the famous
line "Well, nobody's perfect" when he finds out his girl is a guy (Jack Lemmon).
In the early 1930's he was a huge star with Warner's and even had in his
contract that there had to be a baseball team on hand to play with between
shoots. But he left Warner in 1937 and his career slumped considerably afterwards.
An interesting aspect of the film - though I would assume totally accidental
- is its similarity to the great baseball film The Natural. Elmer is a great
if reluctant hitter in love with his hometown girl but goes off to play with
the Cubs and gets involved with gamblers but comes back to win the Series
with a home run. It is more a bit of nostalgia than a funny film - maybe
humor has changed since then.
