Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

GManfred Mild-mannered 'B' comedy which serves as a vehicle for Charles Butterworth's oblivious, Tom Smothers-type humor, which can be very funny (see "Love Me Tonight"). In "Baby Face Harrington" he is asked to carry a whole picture and his particular talent is stretched to the breaking point. Luckily, the movie only lasts 65 minutes. As reviewers have written, he is a boring milquetoast to everyone but his adoring wife (Una Merkel). He unwittingly becomes mistaken as a notorious criminal, with the attendant misunderstandings and pitfalls.Charles Butterworth's brand of humor is an acquired taste, and I acquired it over the years. A very funny man, this picture ends just in time. There are lots of noteworthy character actors to tide you over, and you can test your memory, as there are a lot of them.

Michael_Elliott Baby Face Harrington (1935) ** (out of 4) Raoul Walsh directed this comedy about a dorky bookkeeper (Charles Butterworth) who gets mistaken for a dangerous gangster. Una Merkel, Eugene Palette and Donald Meek co-star in this comedy, which only runs 65-minutes yet it takes at least a half an hour to get warned up but by then it's a little too late. The first half has all sorts of stupid jokes, which aren't funny but there are also long scenes where no laughs are even gone after. Once the mistaken identity happens then things pick up with Butterworth being charming in his role. It's rather strange that Walsh would take over the gangster genre from D.W. Griffith with the landmark Regeneration and then make one of the all time great gangster films in White Heat but have this stuck in the middle.

MartinHafer 1935 was an interesting year because two very similar movies came out at about the same time--THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING and BABY FACE HARRINGTON. Both are about a nice but mousey little man who is accidentally pulled into the world of crime but in the end they both end up becoming, rather accidentally, heroes. While THE WHOLE TOWN TALKING is a vastly superior film (thanks to John Ford's direction and exceptional acting by Edward G. Robinson), both are well worth your time and are funny little films.The eternally befuddled Charles Butterworth stars as an ineffectual and rather daft man. While his wife (Una Merkle) loves him, she is upset that Butterworth has so little ambition and strength--being the supreme milquetoast. However, all this changes when Butterworth accidentally robs a man in a very clever scene. When in jail, once again through a series of mistakes, he is taken to be a dangerous criminal. This is all egged on by the local newspaper who convinces everyone that Butterworth should be on the FBI's most wanted list! There's much more to the film than this, but it's cute how no matter what Butterworth does, it's misinterpreted and problem upon problem occur--making his life a disaster. Thankfully, by the end of the film, things miraculously work out (after all, it IS a movie) and Butterworth is once again welcomed home--this time as a hero! Cute, inventive and worth a look. After seeing this film, try to get a copy of THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING--both are terrific films.

John Seal Baby Face Harrington is a slight but entertaining MGM bill filler that highlights the underappreciated talents of Charles Butterworth. This time he plays a meek and not terribly bright chap who gets mixed up with stolen money and a surly gangster. There's an excellent supporting cast on hand, led by Una Merkel as his loving and long suffering wife and Eugene Pallette as the gravel-voiced (what else?) local sheriff. 62 minutes of brief and breezy light comedy for fans of 30s B films.