Baby Face Harrington: A goofy case of mistaken identity

Is it worth your time?

If you like those old-school black and white comedies where everyone is running around in a panic because of a massive misunderstanding, you’ll dig Baby Face Harrington. It’s perfect for a rainy afternoon when you don't want to think too hard. If you need grit, realism, or anything resembling a logical police force, you will probably roll your eyes until they hurt.

Dennis O'Keefe is playing the kind of guy who looks like he’s never actually held a gun in his life. That’s the whole point, of course. Watching him try to look like a hardened criminal is inherently funny, mostly because he fails so miserably at it.

The absurdity of it all

The premise is classic stuff—the timid bookkeeper thrust into a world of hard-boiled thugs. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Betty Boop Limited, just without the ink and paint. There's a scene where he’s sitting in a hideout with these guys, and he looks like he’s just waiting for a bus to take him home to his wife.

His wife, Millie, decides to file for divorce almost immediately, which feels a bit cold, honestly. She doesn't even let him explain! One minute they’re living their quiet life, and the next she’s halfway out the door because the headlines say he’s a mob boss. The pacing here is blistering, almost to a fault. It feels like the director was trying to squeeze a three-hour story into sixty minutes.

• The bank scenes are so sterile they feel like a stage play.
• The gangsters are cartoonishly tough—lots of fedoras and scowls.
• I’m still not sure why the police didn't just check his bank records.

There is a weird lack of tension for a movie about a manhunt. You never really feel like Willie is in danger, even when he’s staring down the barrel of a pistol. It’s more of a farce than a thriller, really. It’s nowhere near as strange or atmospheric as Darkened Rooms, which is probably for the best. Sometimes you just want a movie to be plain silly.

The dialogue moves at a mile a minute. If you blink, you’ll miss three plot points and a dozen jokes that might not even be jokes. It’s not high art, but it has this strange, frantic pulse to it that keeps you watching. It’s not quite as memorable as the silent era gems like Mickey's Busy Day, but it gets the job done.

Ultimately—wait, I promised I wouldn't use that word. Let's just say the movie is a bit of a relic. It’s imperfect, it’s loud, and it’s undeniably charming in a way that modern movies rarely are. Just don't go in expecting a masterclass in screenwriting. Sometimes a guy with a funny name getting into trouble is enough. 🤷‍♂️