The central character in this story rather reminds me of Twain's story of "The Prince and the Pauper". In that story, a prince and a pauper changed identities for a while to see how the other lived. In the present story, Eddie Robinson's character suddenly changes from a gang leader to a monk. This transformation was partly accidental and partly voluntary. That is, the monks found Eddie near death on their doorstep, having been shot in a gangland attempted assassination, wandering through an obscure woods until reaching the monastery. That is the accidental part. He volunteered to stay on as a trial monk in a probational period. Since neither the monks nor Eddie had any money for him to be treated at a hospital, the monks took care of him as best they could. He recovered enough strength to soon become the most productive worker in the monastery. So, he was on the way to reinventing himself as a productive worker, self-supporting in most basic necessities, along with the rest of his brotherhood. Because one of his main jobs was to grow flowers for sale in the city, he decided that he should be referred to as Brother Orchid. However, he's almost thrown out, because he committed a transgression. After a defensive speech, it was decided to retain him. Although Brother Superior said the monastery never received newspapers, somehow Jimmy got a hold of one with an article about his ex?-girlfriend, Flo(Ann Southern), getting married to Clarence(Ralph Bellamy): from a western cattle ranch(I still don't understand what he is doing in the East?). Eddie knows Clarence, but is miffed that Flo would marry so soon after his reported apparent death, without a body. True, she's been strung along by him for 10 years without a marriage proposal, serving as the moll for his old gang, then waiting for 5 years for his return from a European tour to absorb some elite "class" into his personality. He should have married her and taken her along on his trip if he expected her to stand by him. As it was, his European tour was a financial disaster, returning broke after buying too many expensive artifacts and gambling away his money. He didn't seem to have any more "class" than when he started. He tried to resume his old position as chief of his old gang, but most of them weren't going to stand for that. Only Flo and Willie "the Knife" stood loyal to him. He started to raise a new gang, to be competitors of his old gang, headed by Jack(Humphrey Bogart). Flo wanted to try to get the two back together. She arranged a meeting between Eddie and Bogie in a rural tavern. Clarence was supposed to be there to help protect Eddie, in case Bogie had an unwanted surprise, but Clarence was knocked out before he got there. Eddie was "taken for a ride" by several of Bogie's men, and set to walking through the woods with a gun in his back. He got ahead and ducked into the underbrush, running to who knew where. He was wounded by a bullet or two, but managed to hide well enough, then fortuitously made his way to the monastery. When the flowers that Eddie was tending were ready for market, he saw his chance to contact Flo, by riding along in the truck to town. While Brother Superior went to sell them, he went to the most likely place for Flo to be. She fainted when she saw him, thinking him dead. He asked her why she double-crossed him setting up the nearly lethal meeting with Bogie. She replied that she didn't think Bogie would pull that stunt. He also questioned her about her imminent marriage to Clarence, saying he wanted it cancelled, as he was quitting the monastery and would be available for her to marry. Meanwhile, Brother Superior was unable to sell any flowers, because he had not paid protection money to Bogie's gang. I leave the rest of the story for you to see.Ann Southern made a beautiful moll, but her character had a weak personality. When Eddie went to Europe for 5 years, she should have demanded to he marry her then or forget about her in the future, since she had an alternative suitor not with a criminal record. Being a monk was somewhat like being in a prison. Evidently, Eddie had experienced some time in prison, as he once called Brother Superior "the warden" by mistake. So, perhaps being a monk wasn't quite as novel for him as we might think.The Warners were enthusiastic anti-Nazis. I wonder if we could equate the destructive parasitism of criminal gangs with that of the Nazis(who were essentially an extreme example of a criminal gang). The monks would then represent the average person, who performed legitimate services or made goods for sale or personal consumption. Economically, they were self sufficient, whether or not they were monks who raised much of their own food.At first, Eddie called the monks the biggest chumps he knew. Later, he revised his opinion of then to the people with the most "class" he had discovered. If we define "class" as having the most appropriate ethos, and most desirable lifestyle, Eddie changed his idea of "class" from aping the mannerisms of the wealthy and influential to serving others, presumably including God, as much as possible.

. . . BROTHER ORCHID documents a triumph of altruism without one word of religious dogma. Ex-gangster "Little John's" final encounter with the scrub-woman is straight-forward on its face, but one of the most touching ever put up on the screen. It brings to mind that bicyclist who said, "One small step for a man; one giant leap for Mankind." While Little John does not ever use steroids (or lie about it), he commits many of the other frauds to which human frailty is prone. His peccadilloes continue throughout his first sojourn at "Saint Floracian Monastery," but upon his return to the Real World, he learns that you can take a monk out of the monastery, but you cannot take the monastic teachings out of the monk. No doubt Edward G. Robinson's best role of a long career, he makes Little John's transformation credible in a way that his BROTHER ORCHID co-star, Humphrey Bogart, would envy during his annual Christmas Cry (see the pertinent IMDb "trivia" item about Bogie).

Brother Orchid is one strange movie that could have been a lot better. I've a feeling some key scenes were left on the cutting room floor and the writers could not have made their minds up about Ann Sothern's character.Pretty standard stuff for Warner Brothers at first. Edward G. Robinson is a gang leader who runs a protection racket, but he's getting bored with it and just up and quits and leaves the whole shebang to his number two guy Humphrey Bogart. He takes his bundle and tours the world in search of 'class'.Robinson's his usual tough guy, but what a fathead as well. He should have insisted on Ann Sothern going with him, did he really think she wasn't going to stray, especially with rich western rancher Ralph Bellamy panting after her. And of course Humphrey Bogart was simply going to step aside and let him resume after he told everyone he was through. As Bugs Bunny would say, what a maroon.So when Robinson puts together a new mob and starts warring on Bogart, he shouldn't have been surprised when Bogart takes him for that last ride. And when Sothern is the one who sets him up, what's there to say.That's the first half, the second half deals with a group of monks who find a half dead Robinson who wandered to their door and they nurse him back to health. Naturally he's grateful to Donald Crisp and the rest of the brothers. And Robinson gets a way to show that gratitude in the end.Someone really screwed up though with Ann Sothern's character. We're first made to think she's pulling the doublecross of all time. And then later we're supposed to think she was duped by Bogart as well. I'm still trying to figure it out. It was one incredibly bad piece of writing.Robinson and Bogart are always great when they get together. This was the last of four films they did at Warner Brothers where Robinson was the good guy. When they did their last joint film, Key Largo they had changed places in the firmament of shimmering stars. Bogey of course was the good guy in that classic.Brother Orchid is the weakest of the five films that Robinson and Bogart did together, but the fans of both men will probably like it.

I do wish when individuals watch a movie that they get the person who says the lines correct. It is not Donald Crisp that makes the comments about the watermelon to Edward G. Robinson. Donald Crisp as Brother Superior is walking the young boy out of the room after giving him $2.00 for shoes. The other two monks make the comments to Robinson about not liking watermelon and then Robinson says "I get it." Now that that is out of the way, this is an excellent movie with a cast of characters that will later go on to become major stars i.e.-Humphrey Bogar and Ralph Bellamy. There are also plenty of strong character actors in this wonderful movie such as Allen Jenkins and Cecil Kellaway.