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The Worst Film Ever

So much average

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and featuring a screenplay co-written by Abem Finkel, this crime comedy-drama was later remade with Ronald Reagan as Love is in the Air (1937), then again with George Brent in You Can't Escape Forever (1942), and finally as The House Across the Street (1949) with Wayne Morris. This one stars Paul Muni, who would win an Oscar on his fourth (of six) Best Actor nomination(s) the following year playing the title character in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935).Sam Bradshaw (Muni) is the managing editor of the newspaper run by John Graham (Berton Churchill). He'd bumped reporter Gerry Krale (Glenda Farrell) down to the "Dear Abby"-type job that no one wants when she made a mistake, falling asleep and missing a big story, some time earlier (before the film begins). The paper's lovelorn columnist uses the byline "Nellie Nelson", so Gerry's peers yell "Hi, Nellie!", ridiculing her, every time she passes through the newsroom. Hobart Cavanaugh plays "Fully" Fullerton, a reporter who is rejected every time he asks Gerry for a date. Donald Meek plays "Durky" Durkin, an office boy for the past 40 years. When two stories break at the same time, one about the disappearance of a bank executive and another about that same bank going bankrupt, the assistant editor Dawes (Douglass Dumbrille) is ready to link the two with big headlines on the front page. Sam, however, stops it saying he doesn't run that kind of story without supporting facts, besides, he says "the guy's always been on the level". Every other paper apparently does, so Sam is "called to the mat" by his boss Graham, who's just finished meeting with O'Connell (Edward Ellis). Thanks to Sam's lawyer (Frank Reicher), Graham can't fire him. So, his publisher reassigns Sam to the Nellie Nelson job.Disgruntled, Sam starts drinking and is all but finished after a couple of months of barely doing the new column. However, Gerry catches up with him at a bar and tells him he's got no guts. Out to prove her wrong, Sam starts doing the heartthrob job in earnest. During this time he meets Rosa Marinello (Dorothy Le Baire), a woman whose undertaker father has refused to give her permission to marry. After three months, Sam is called into his publisher's office again. Thinking he's about to get his old job back, Sam is shocked to learn that, because his "Nellie" column has increased the paper's circulation, Graham wants him to keep doing it. Upset, he returns to his office where Shammy (Ned Sparks), one of the paper's investigators, tells Sam he's got a lead in the disappearance of the bank executive - an address from his wife (Marjorie Gateson). Sam notices that the address Shammy gives him happens to match one that Miss Marinello gave him. John Qualen appears, uncredited, as the janitor of an empty apartment. This eventually leads the two of them to visit Mr. Marinello (George Humbert), where they trap him into revealing that there's been a phony burial, and then follow the panicked man to the "Merry Go Round" club, which happens to be owned by suspected crime boss Beau Brownell (Robert Barrat). Once inside the club, the two also see O'Connell.The whole scheme starts to unravel, with Sam bluffing his way into getting a confirmation from Brownell to what he suspects has happened, after he'd roused a drunken bank cashier (George Meeker), that Shammy had recognized, in his office. Then it's a race against time, with the newspaper men calling in their "troops" and the "gangster" his. Guess who wins and guess who then gets assigned the heartthrob column?

HI, NELLIE! is a fun film to watch but in no way could it be mistaken for a deep or high quality product. Instead, it's just simple fun--plot holes and all.Paul Muni plays a managing editor at a newspaper. However, his decision to underplay a big story is second-guessed by the owner and as a result, he is demoted to writing a "lonely hearts" column. His co-workers ridicule him unmercifully, but after initially refusing this indignity, he actually makes a success of it. However, he always is thinking about how to get his old job back, as he misses the excitement of crime and other lurid stories.The film has some very good support for Muni, with Glenda Farrell, Donald Meek, Douglass Dumbrille, Ned Sparks, Robert Barrat and others. So, while it's a relatively cheap and silly production, the supporting characters make it a lot more interesting and worth watching. However, just be prepared for an amazingly easy resolution to the mystery in this film and some jumps in logic. Good as a time-passer but far from Warner's or Muni's best.

Forced to write the Heartthrobs column, the former managing editor of a big city paper finds himself exposing a story of murder & political corruption.Fast-moving & fun, HI, NELLIE! is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Brothers was so expert at producing. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured. Here, the look & feel of the paper's busy newsroom is smack on the mark and the performances, even with a script that's too plot heavy, never fail to entertain.Consummate actor Paul Muni gets a rare chance at comedy here and pulls it off brilliantly, adding just the right amount of drama from time to time. Whether he's trashing his office in a fury, fighting with his boss or going nonchalantly into the headquarters of the enemy to collect information, Muni is never less than fascinating. He is teamed with the equally watchable Glenda Farrell, playing another one of her hard-boiled dames with a heart of gold. It is obvious from the script that their two characters were once lovers, but refreshingly no time is wasted with rekindling the flames - they are just chums, wary & respectful. Their unromantic chemistry adds much to the fun of the film.A fine cast of character actors helps move the story along. Ned Sparks plays his usual acerbic self as an investigative reporter loyal to Muni. Little Donald Meek is equally good as an aged office clerk who provides assistance on the hectic news floor for Muni & Farrell. Berton Churchill as the paper's publisher & Douglass Dumbrille as Muni's rival both score in their roles.Robert Barrat, Harold Huber & Edward Ellis all play dangerous bad guys who must be dealt with. Frank Reicher, fresh from his double stint as the captain in the KONG movies, here plays a none-to-savvy lawyer.Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited John Qualen as a tenement custodian.

Having seen Paul Muni in so many dramas, I wondered if he could pull off comedy as well. I needn't have worried. Since he's teamed with Glenda Farrell, a master of the wisecrack, he gets solid support and the looks they exchange throughout the movie are priceless. One scene that I loved was when Glenda is pretending to be Nellie Nelson so that a woman will confide in her and she's bossing Muni around like he's her office boy.The plot isn't that original. In fact, there are several versions on the same theme (star reporter demoted), but this one has the star material to give it an extra life. Ned Sparkes also adds to the fun.