Fireman, Save My Child (1932)

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Ray Enright (story) &
Robert Lord (story) ...

Release Date:

20 February 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Plot:

Joe Grant is an inventor, fireman and baseball player in his small home town. He gets an offer to play in a big team...

Plot Keywords:

Invention | Baseball | Romantic Misunderstanding | Baseball Pitcher | Fiancee

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Joe E. Brown	...	'Smokey' Joe Grant
Evalyn Knapp	...	Sally Toby
Lilian Bond	...	June Farnum
Guy Kibbee	...	Pop Devlin
Richard Carle	...	Dan Toby
George MacFarlane	...	St. Louis Fire Chief
Frank Shellenback	...	Pitcher
Virginia Sale	...	Miss Gallop
Curtis Benton	...	Radio Announcer

Runtime:

67 min | USA:66 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2658-R: 8 September 1936 for re-release)

Filming Locations:

Wrigley Field - 42nd Place & Avalon Blvd., Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Walter Walker is in studio records/casting call lists for this movie in the role of "Mr. Platt," but that role was played by Frederick Burton. Also in the records were Frank Coghlan Jr. in the role of "Mascot's Pal" and Andy Devine, both of whom were not seen in the film.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Officer, Save My Child (1932)

Soundtrack:

Hesitation Blues

Joe E. Brown as small town fireman cum big league pitcher

Joe E. Brown plays a small town inventor and fireman, who creates a small bomb which puts out fires. The story involves his efforts to patent it; baseball provides the means by which he earns the money to do so. It is a typical Brown comedy - a fairly involved plot, romance in the form of Evelyn Knapp and plenty of action sequences, mainly involving fire. (The opening sequence contains a fire at the local Sauerkraut Factory, which indicates the elaborate production values contained in the film.) There are problems with the film, I think, displayed in the also typical Joe E. Brown swagger and bragadoccio, (which can be very annoying) and the character's involvement with con men and a femme fatale, who take him for a good deal of his savings. This twist is strangely unresolved at the film's end. And it is frustrating to the viewer in that one wonders how anyone could be so uncaring as to ignore the fact that he's supposed to pitch in the seventh game of the World Series. It's well worth watching, though, as a well produced film with some great sequences, not typical fare for 1932.