Baby Face Nelson

Don Siegel's low budget gangster tale has a nasty uncompromising sting to it. Siegel's Direction is spare, but efficient. Mickey Rooney plays the title hood for all he's worth - a bitter thug with a chip on his undersized shoulders. Carolyn Jones is his sultry moll, Sue Nelson, who doesn't have that much cheerier a disposition. Irving Shulman and Daniel Mainwaring's (who previously had written INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS for Siegel) screenplay plays loose with the facts, if not the essential essence of Baby Face's story. Along the way, Baby Face and Sue join up with John Dillinger's (Leo Gordon) gang. Cedric Hardwicke is his oily best as a shady Doctor and George Stone plays a Bank Manager who Baby Face takes an unexpected kinship with. Jack Elam, Dabs Greer and Elisha Cook Jr. provide sturdy support. BABY FACE NELSON is a bit too clipped to fully deliver the goods, but, it's a more than competent B movie with an edge.