After winning a championship fight, light-weight boxer Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Jimmy Dolan) celebrates with booze and a blonde. An impromptu party leads to the manslaughter of a sneaky reporter out to expose the champ's clean-cut image as a sham. When even sneakier manager Lyle Talbot (as Doc) expires in a car crash, wearing Garfield's stolen watch, authorities assume Mr. Fairbanks is dead. Escaping the murder rap, Fairbanks goes undercover as "Jack Dougherty". Now a homeless tramp, Fairbanks winds up at a farm for crippled children, run by Aline MacMahon (as "Auntie" Moore) and pretty niece Loretta Young (as Peggy). The women find Fairbanks attractive. Meanwhile, retiring detective Guy Kibbee (as Phlaxer) suspects the dead boxer is alive...
Debonair Doug is not convincing in the ring, but makes up for it by putting more effort into his acting; for example, he makes the scripted moment when the name "Jack Dougherty" pops into his head believable. Partly foreshadowing Agnes Moorhead, Ms. MacMahon's "Auntie" ventures a few degrees over the top. Otherwise, the direction by Archie Mayo is engaging...
Almost stealing the film, Mr. Kibbee's suspicious detective is perfect. In a small featured role, western star John Wayne is as yet unremarkable. Young is pretty. Not credited (but in substantial roles) are farm kids David Durand (as George), Allen "Farina" Hoskins (as Sam), Mickey Rooney (as Freckles) and Anne Shirley (as Mary Lou). "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" was re-made as "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) with John Garfield and the "Dead End Kids". Young Durand (in this film, he's the kid on crutches) eventually joined the popular teenage gang, in their second incarnation as the "East Side Kids". While the revision is a better film, overall, both versions are entertaining and well produced. Those comparing should note a difference in the killer's identity.
******* The Life of Jimmy Dolan (6/3/33) Archie Mayo ~ Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Guy Kibbee, Loretta Young, Mickey Rooney
Debonair Doug is not convincing in the ring, but makes up for it by putting more effort into his acting; for example, he makes the scripted moment when the name "Jack Dougherty" pops into his head believable. Partly foreshadowing Agnes Moorhead, Ms. MacMahon's "Auntie" ventures a few degrees over the top. Otherwise, the direction by Archie Mayo is engaging...
Almost stealing the film, Mr. Kibbee's suspicious detective is perfect. In a small featured role, western star John Wayne is as yet unremarkable. Young is pretty. Not credited (but in substantial roles) are farm kids David Durand (as George), Allen "Farina" Hoskins (as Sam), Mickey Rooney (as Freckles) and Anne Shirley (as Mary Lou). "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" was re-made as "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) with John Garfield and the "Dead End Kids". Young Durand (in this film, he's the kid on crutches) eventually joined the popular teenage gang, in their second incarnation as the "East Side Kids". While the revision is a better film, overall, both versions are entertaining and well produced. Those comparing should note a difference in the killer's identity.
******* The Life of Jimmy Dolan (6/3/33) Archie Mayo ~ Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Guy Kibbee, Loretta Young, Mickey Rooney