Alibi Ike is a mildly amusing baseball comedy based on Ring Lardner's character of a pitcher with an excuse for everything. It's a pretty good example of Joe E. Brown's hayseed type character at the height of his popularity. And of course because A Midsummer Night's Dream was held up in release, Alibi Ike marks the debut of Olivia DeHavilland on the silver screen.Although Olivia has little enough to do in this film which is strictly a Joe E. Brown show, she's one pretty thing here. She was only 19 when she made this film and would have to wait through another film besides this one and the Max Reinhardt extravaganza before settling into her Warner Brothers niche as crinolined heroine, yearning for Errol Flynn to win her as he did in Captain Blood.Joe E. Brown took naturally to this role, possibly because he was known as a very big baseball fan in real life. Playing his ever harried manager in Alibi Ike is William Frawley who in real life was also known as a baseball aficionado. Brown's son, Joe L. Brown didn't follow his father into show business, he became a well respected baseball executive best known as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates world championship team of 1960.It's worth seeing the film alone to see how Joe E. Brown does that exaggerated windmill windup when he pitches. Funny as all get out, but in real life, a runner with the speed of Ernie Lombardi would have stolen two bases on him. Who's Ernie Lombardi, a Hall of Fame catcher with the Cincinnati Reds during this same period who was a legend for his lack of speed. For baseball fans, and baseball film fans, make sure you don't miss this.

I came across this movie on TV and, though I'm usually not a huge fan of black and white movies, I found myself really enjoying this one! It's lighthearted and funny, and it was fun to watch a movie all about old time baseball as a big fan of modern baseball. The love story is basic, but worked in well, not overwhelming the baseball aspect of the movie. The fact that his love interest is the team manager's sister-in-law is interesting. And I liked the fact that the other players are always playing rookie pranks on him even though he is a young phenom. Definitely not a serious drama, and I don't think it would be hard to follow or "get" for someone who's not a sports fan as some of the newer baseball movies are. It's a great movie for a Sunday when your home team was rained out. I recommended this one to my baseball-loving friends.

I loved Lardner's short story and didn't really expect movie to have same punch. That said I love this movie; yeah, I'm a sucker for old movies. They didn't go on forever, had good pacing and terrific dialogue. This one fits the category. Joe E Brown is "goshdarnit" fun as Ike and just can't help himself. I've known people like this who have an excuse for everything. Yes, it's one joke but it's a funny one!

Alibi Ike is adapted by Ring Lardner from his short story about an apocryphal pitching wunderkind who never tells the truth when an alibi will do, especially about his true feelings. Lardner took some of the edge off his original wit in attempting to adapt it to the slapstick talents of Joe E. Brown and it loses its punch in the process. Brown is lively enough, however, to engender enough good will to watch the fast-moving film to the end. Frawley is a standout as the manager, and Karnes, Harvey, and Dehavilland head a splendid supporting cast. If you have any tolerance for slapstick, this is pleasant enough fluff.Yet, the most interesting thing about the movie is that the climactic scene in the movie takes place at a NIGHT game at a then-recently-built Wrigley field. For many years, until the last 80's, Wrigley was the only stadium which had no lights installed, and no scheduled night games. Apparently, I have come to learn just yesterday, that many teams, including the Cubs, experimented with temporary lighting for occasional big games at night, in the mid-30's, until Ebbets Field in Brooklyn became the first stadium with permanently installed lights in 1938. Still, it seems strange to watch a night game at Wrigley as it was in 1935. For that alone, baseball fans will find this worth watching. One final note, in real life, the Cubs went from cellar-dwellers in '34 to NL champs in '35 which is exactly what the movie reflected, even though the film was in the can by July of 1935, and there was no way that Enright and company could have known that the Cubs would win the pennant that year. Interesting. 6 of 10.