Alibi Ike | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ray Enright |
Screenplay by | William Wister Haines |
Based on | "Alibi Ike" 1915 story in The Saturday Evening Post by Ring Lardner |
Produced by | Edward Chodorov |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Arthur L. Todd |
Edited by | Thomas Pratt |
Music by | Leo F. Forbstein |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Alibi Ike is a 1935 American romantic comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring Joe E. Brown, Olivia de Havilland and William Frawley. Based on the short story of the same name by Ring Lardner, first published in the Saturday Evening Post on July 31, 1915, the film is about an ace baseball player nicknamed "Alibi Ike" for his penchant for making up excuses. Lardner is said to have patterned the character after baseball player King Cole.
Alibi Ike was the most successful of Joe E. Brown's "baseball trilogy" of films, which also included Elmer, the Great and Fireman, Save My Child . It is considered one of the best baseball comedies of all time. [1] [2] Alibi Ike was the first feature film released starring Olivia de Havilland, although she made two previous films that were released later that year— The Irish in Us and the all-star Shakespeare epic A Midsummer Night's Dream , which also starred Joe E. Brown in a key role.
A print of the film is held by the Library of Congress. [3]
Frank X. Farrell (Joe E. Brown) is an ace baseball player, although he compulsively downplays his achievements, claiming he could do even better except if it weren't for factors like the weather, or a cold, or other issues beyond his control. And on occasions where he does make a mistake -- whether on or off the field -- he can't ever let it go without an often ridiculously implausible explanation. His obsessive insistence on making excuses earns him the nickname "Alibi Ike." In the course of his first season with the Chicago Cubs, Farrell falls in love with Dolly Stevens (Olivia de Havilland), sister-in-law of the team's manager. Farrell's "alibi" habit prompts Dolly to walk out on him, after which he goes into a slump—which coincides with attempts by gamblers to get Farrell to throw the World Series. [4]
Cast notes:
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all professed strong admiration for his writing, and author John O'Hara directly attributed his understanding of dialogue to him.
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. At the time of her death in 2020 at age 104, she was the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award winner and was widely considered as being the last surviving major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Her younger sister was Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine.
Ozark Ike is a newspaper comic strip about dumb but likable Ozark Ike McBatt, a youth from a rural area in the mountains. The strip was created by Rufus A. ("Ray") Gotto while he was serving in the Navy during World War II in Washington, D.C. as an illustrator for Navy instruction manuals. The strip ran from November 12, 1945, to September 14, 1958.
William Clement Frawley was an American Vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom I Love Lucy, "Bub" O'Casey in the comedy series My Three Sons from 1960-65 for its first five seasons, and the political advisor to the judge character in the film Miracle on 34th Street.
Eight Men Out is a 1988 American sports drama film based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. It was written and directed by John Sayles. The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. Much of the movie was filmed at the old Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Earthworm Tractors (1936), and Alibi Ike (1935). In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the film's famous punchline "Well, nobody's perfect."
John Elmer Carson, known as Jack Carson, was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) with Cary Grant. He appeared in such dramas as Mildred Pierce (1945), A Star is Born (1954), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). He worked for RKO and MGM, but most of his notable work was for Warner Bros.
Down to Earth is a 1947 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rita Hayworth and Larry Parks. It is a sequel to the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan, also directed by Hall. While Edward Everett Horton and James Gleason reprised their roles from the earlier film, Roland Culver replaced Claude Rains as Mr. Jordan.
Leonard Leslie "King" Cole was an American professional baseball player in the early 20th century. He started his baseball career as a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1909.
Four's a Crowd is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles. The picture was written by Casey Robinson and Sig Herzig from a story by Wallace Sullivan. This was the fourth of nine films in which Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland appeared.
The Male Animal is a 1942 American comedy-drama film produced by Warner Bros., starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie.
Raffles is a 1939 American crime comedy film starring David Niven and Olivia de Havilland, and is one of several film adaptations of an 1899 short story collection by E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman.
Walter Phillip Rehg was a reserve outfielder in Major League Baseball, playing mostly as a right fielder for four different teams between the 1912 and 1919 seasons. Listed at 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m), 160 lb., Rehg batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Summerfield, Illinois.
Footsteps in the Dark is a light-hearted 1941 mystery film, starring Errol Flynn as an amateur detective investigating a murder.
Elmer, the Great is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis.
The New Klondike is a 1926 American black-and-white silent romantic comedy sports drama film directed by Lewis Milestone for Famous Players–Lasky. The film was set against the backdrop of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, and stands as Ben Hecht's first film assignment.
Untamed is a 1940 American Technicolor adventure film directed by George Archainbaud and starring Ray Milland, Patricia Morison and Akim Tamiroff. It is based on the 1926 Sinclair Lewis novel Mantrap.
The Irish in Us is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Olivia de Havilland. Written by Earl Baldwin based on a story by Frank Orsatti, the film is about an Irish family consisting of a mother and three sons: a cop, a fireman, and a boxing promoter. Encouraged to find a real job, the boxing promoter makes one last attempt by promoting a fighter he believes will bring him a fortune. The Irish in Us was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 3, 1935. The supporting cast features Frank McHugh and J. Farrell MacDonald.
Government Girl is a 1943 American romantic-comedy film, produced and directed by Dudley Nichols and starring Olivia de Havilland and Sonny Tufts. Based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns, and written by Dudley Nichols and Budd Schulberg, the film is about a secretary working in Washington for the war administration during World War II who helps her boss navigate the complex political machinations of government in an effort to build bomber aircraft for the war effort.
It Happened in Flatbush is a 1942 American sports film directed by Ray McCarey and starring Lloyd Nolan, Carole Landis and Sara Allgood. The film is a baseball comedy inspired by the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers' pennant win.