User reviews

I love Turner Classic Movies for programming old, less-than-classic movies like this nearly forgotten 1933 Warner Bros. chestnut. While channel surfing, I came across this one and was drawn in by the charming, natural performances of Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the children. I won't rehash the plot because it's been done in other reviews. It's astonishing to see the familiar faces, sometimes unbilled, playing supporting roles in this one. I instantly recognized Aline MacMahon, Lyle Talbot, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee (excellent) and child stars Mickey Rooney, Anne Shirley and Allen "Farina" Hoskins. And then there's John Wayne in an early non-Western role as a boxer. Rooney and Hoskins were veterans by this time, effortless scene stealers who could wring tears as easily as laughs. I wasn't familiar with child actor David Durand and he's quietly charming as a crippled boy. It's amazing how satisfying a simple, beautifully-crafted movie made for pennies compared to today's CGI-laden millon-dollar blockbusters can be. I'm just grateful that the programmers at TCM refuse to allow little treasures like "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" to gather dust in a can on a vault shelf. And this was just one movie in a day filled with other early Thirties treasures from the Hollywood assembly line. Long live TCM!

This was an entertaining film, right from the get-go, and it seemed to be divided into three segments.

Segment One was a crime story in which the leading character, "Jimmy Dolan" (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is shown as a heavyweight champion (at 170 pounds? Well, boxing stories weren't all that realistic on film for many years) who is nothing like his public image. (Hmm...sounds like something familiar, even today). Anyway, a reporter finds out Dolan is not as wholesome as he portrays himself, states he's going to blow the whistle on him and Dolan socks him in the face before he can divulge his "scoop." Unfortunately, the blow kills the man. Without going into other details to ruin it anyone who has not seen this, Dolan winds up on the lam out west in Salt Lake City.

Segment Two is a romance, human--interest story. Loretta Young and Ailine MacMahon are introduced into the film as a young woman-and-aunt who run a ranch for several disable kids who were rescued out of an institution. As things progress, Young falls for Fairbanks, and slowly takes the cynicism out of him. The kids are all pretty entertaining and among them is a very young Mickey Rooney who delivers his lines so naturally you can see why he became a big star at a young age. Anne Shirley is also among the kids.

Segment Three involves a boxing match in which Fairbanks is trying to earn money to help save the ranch for the women and kids. In that segment is a young John Wayne, with a greasy 1950s hairdo! The boxing scenes are almost laughable, but that's okay. We are more interested in what happens than how real it looks. This segment also involves Guy Kibbe, a detective who has been tracking down Fairbanks. I can't say more about him without risking spoiling the ending.

That mixture of crime, suspense, action, romance, drama, family and kids sentiment all make this 87-minute film worth your time.

THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN is a thoroughly entertaining and absorbing little film about a fighter who accidentally kills a man and is advised to go on the run to avoid prison.

It features DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR. in what is possibly one of his best early roles as the fighter who finds refuge in a country home for crippled children. He also finds romance in the form of LORETTA YOUNG, then in her early 20s and very lovely. The romantic moments between Fairbanks and Young are tender and charming, well-played by both who have good chemistry with each other.

In bit roles are MICKEY ROONEY (as one of the kids who worships the fighter), and JOHN WAYNE as an amateur boxer who needs the fight money for his wife. But the best support comes from ALINE MacMAHON as the feisty Scottish woman who bosses Fairbanks around while appreciating his manly charm as much as Loretta.

An interesting tale later remade in the '40s with John Garfield as THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL, told here with warmth and humor. If you're a fan of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. or Loretta Young, you can't afford to miss this little gem.

"The Life of Jimmy Dolan," made in 1933, was remade later as "They Made Me a Criminal." This precode version is a good film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, Guy Kibbee, Lyle Talbot, and Aline McMahon, and is notable for its early appearances by John Wayne and Mickey Rooney (who already had seven years as an actor under his belt). The underrated Fairbanks, who doesn't look like a boxer, is the champ Jimmy Dolan, who gets drunk, accidentally kills a reporter, and takes off when his manager is mistaken for him in a burning car. He ends up on a farm for sick children run by the beautiful Young, who was about 20 when this was made, and Aline MacMahon. He becomes accustomed to the life there, falls for the Young character, and when the farm needs $2,000, he considers going back into the ring.

The nice thing about precode is you're never sure how a film will end. This movie has a toughness about it but also a poignancy.

"The Life of Jimmy Dolan" joins "The Emperor's Candlesticks" and "Remember Last Night" as having longevity water somewhere on the set. Fairbanks, Jr. lived to the age of 90; Loretta Young to 87; Aline MacMahon to 92; Lyle Talbot to 94, and Mickey Rooney, approaching 90, is still with us as of this writing. So you have your "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Blood & Sand," where everyone died young, and films like this. Go figure.

Compulsively entertaining spiritual regeneration yarn with a surprising layer of sensitivity and depth to offset the mawkishness. The dapper Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is more than a mite improbable as the title character, a middleweight boxing champ, but delivers a charming and sympathetic portrait of a hard-luck cynic.

Framed for a murder and thought to be dead, an embittered Jimmy D. takes to the lonely road and winds up on a health ranch for invalid children. Run by sad-eyed earth mother Aline MacMahon and the winsome Loretta Young, and populated with the likes of such professional heart-tuggers as Mickey Rooney and Allen "Farina" Hoskins, you can bet that Jimmy's redemption is waiting around the bend. But the film is so sharply written and cunningly played that the shamelessly convenient finale still packs an emotional punch.

With Guy Kibbee as the myopic ex-detective, Lyle Talbot as the crooked manager, and a youthful John Wayne in the antithesis of his macho image as a diffident amateur boxer.

Despite the miscasting of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as prizefighter and Light Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Dolan, The Life of Jimmy Dolan makes for good entertainment. After all, a film where you can see Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Loretta Young, John Wayne, and Mickey Rooney in the same film is worth catching.

I'm a big fan of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who to me always epitomized class and elegance. And because of that, try as he might, he just doesn't come across as a pugilist. John Garfield would have faired no better taking on Fairbanks's kind of roles.

In those early days John Wayne was starring in his own B westerns, but occasionally he would support in another film. The Life of Jimmy Dolan gives you a rare glimpse of the Duke, not as the Duke. He plays an amateur fighter who is with the on-the-run Fairbanks. His scene is in the arena dressing room with Fairbanks as he's trying to psyche himself up for the upcoming bout.

Mickey Rooney plays one of the kids at the ranch run by Loretta Young and her aunt Aline McMahon. In They Made Me a Criminal the ranch was a camp for city kids, in The Life of Jimmy Dolan it is for kids who have infantile paralysis. It was originally started by Young's father who was a doctor and he's passed on, leaving her with kids and a mortgage. Of course in seeking screen properties for the Dead End Kids while they were under Warner Brothers contract, someone had the good idea to dust this one off which they already owned. The Dead End Kids are a little older than the youths here.

Loretta Young does well in her part and I'm convinced she probably helped John Wayne get the part he got. She and her sisters were friendly with the Duke and his first wife. He did a couple of films with Loretta in their salad days. They never worked together once Wayne hit it big in Stagecoach.

Even with the Code restrictions that They Made Me a Criminal had to operate under, I think it is better than The Life of Jimmy Dolan, because of the casting. But they really should be viewed side by side for comparison.

THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN (Warner Brothers, 1933), directed by Archie L. Mayo, is not so much a life story in a biographical sense as Warners' later production of THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (1937), but one about a boxer, unable to clear himself of a murder charge, hiding from the law. Taken from the play by Bertram Milhauser and Beulah Marie Dix, and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a role tailor made for contract players as James Cagney or Richard Barthelmess, the movie assigns him opposite Loretta Young for the seventh and final time. Of their frequent pairing during their Warner years (1929-1933), this not only was their most televised on commercial television (notably on WPHL, Channel 17, in Philadelphia, where I first saw this film in 1973-74) but possibly their finest screen collaboration thus far.

With more Fairbanks than Young, the film, lifting the opening underscore from the classic prison drama, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932) for its first half of the opening credits, begins with Jimmy Dolan (Fairbanks Jr.) in the boxing ring winning his fight in the seventh round, earning his title as new world champion. Dolan, with a reputation of living the clean life ("no booze, no women") is next seen in his Riverside Drive New York City apartment drunk with his equally drunken baby-talking girlfriend, Goldie West (Shirley Grey) by his manager, "Doc" Wood (Lyle Talbot), and guests, Budgie (Fifi Dorsay) and Charlie Magee (George Meeker). When Magee turns out to be a reporter with enough information to write against Dolan, Dolan socks Magee as he passes out himself on the couch. With the reporter dead from head injury in the process, "Doc" and Goldie leave Budgie to assume the blame and drive the unconscious Jimmy to his upstate training camp where they leave him at his cottage. Taking both Jimmy's watch and Goldie with him, Doc drives away, leading the couple into a fatal car accident. The next morning, Jimmy awakens to find his name in a newspaper linked to his own death and a murder charge of a reporter. After Herman Malvin (Arthur Hohl), his lawyer friend, takes his savings for attorney's fee and leaving him with $250 to his name, Jimmy, now under the guise of Jack Dougherty, avoids recognition by traveling alone and "afraid." After being chased off a freight train in Salt Lake City's Pleasant Valley, "Jack" walks long distances until stumbling upon a home for crippled children where he's taken in by its founders, Peggy (Loretta Young) and her aunt, Mrs. Moore (Aline MacMahon). As Jimmy finds a newfound life, Detective John Phlazer (Guy Kibbee), known to all as "Screwy" for a long ago incident for unwittingly sending an innocent man to his execution, believes Jimmy Dolan is very much alive. To prove his theory, he takes a month off from the force to locate Jimmy's whereabouts and bring him to justice. Things prove complicated as Jack finds Phlazer closing in on him and not wanting to arouse suspicion on Peggy.

Well done in both boxing and "man on the run" departments, THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN is as entertaining as it is underrated. In fact, it's remake, THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL (Warners, 1939) starring John Garfield, Gloria Dickson and Claude Rains in the Fairbanks, Young and Kibbee roles, through its frequent TV revivals and availability to home video and DVD, is better known. While Garfield was ideally suited in the role originated by slightly miscast Fairbanks, THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN succeeds through its interesting list of players, especially future film stars in smaller roles as Mickey Rooney, Anne Shirley, Edward Arnold and the legendary John Wayne. Wayne's two brief scenes as Smith, a married man wanting to earn extra money of $500 per round in the ring to "box the ears off" King Cobra (Sammy Stein), comes as a bigger surprise considering how Wayne has appeared in numerous leading roles, particularly westerns, since his initial starring role in THE BIG TRAIL (Fox, 1930). Not actually a special guest appearance, but does come off that way. Fairbanks' performance, on the other hand, ranks a forerunner to the future screen rebels as John Garfield, James Dean or Marlon Brando, one with little or no friends and trusting no one. Considering his association with a crooked manager (Talbot) and lawyer (Hohl) indicates his reasoning. He does, however, find friendship and loyalty amongst the women (Young and MacMahon) and the orphaned children (Rooney, Shirley, David Durand and Allan "Farina" Hoskins) who grow fond of him and goes against his philosophy ("Anyone who does anything for anybody else is a "sucker") by trying to raise $2,000 to keep the ranch from closing.

Aside from the fine chemistry between Fairbanks and the beautiful Loretta Young, Guy Kibbee as the cigar smoking detective wearing thick glasses, comes off second best. Aline MacMahon assumes another wide range of characteristic roles, this time a middle-aged woman speaking with a Scottish accent. Basically a straight dramatic story, there's one amusing moment involving Fairbanks' attempt in milking a cow, a routine right out of vaudeville later handled famously by comedians as The Three Stooges and/or Abbott and Costello. Quite typical for its time using "Beyond the Blue Horizon" underscoring for a the train station sequence.

And so goes the life of Jimmy Dolan. Never distributed to home video, this and other Warner Brothers productons can be seen whenever shown on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (*** boxing gloves)

1933's The Life of Jimmy Dolan, a fine movie, is a good example of how the Motion Picture Production code of July 1934 changed movies, since, for comparison, you have the 1939 remake, They Made Me a Criminal. The big difference is that the remake turns a tough story into sentimental claptrap, making sure that crime does not pay. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. doesn't get the credit he deserves as a star in the Warner Bros. repertory company, but he looks too skinny and upper class for a champion boxer. John Garfield is better cast for the part, especially with his nervous energy. But the 1933 picture is way more realistic and cynical. In the 1933 version of a boxer's life, everyone has hard times, including John Wayne, who gets carried out after trying to go the distance in a boxing contest between amateurs and a pro fighter. Production Code Administrator Breen wouldn't allow crime to pay at all, liked a white bread world and would have stopped Warner Bros. from re-releasing The Life of Jimmy Dolan. That was not a problem, because of the remake. The better movie about the boxer on the lam is the one made in 1933. Gritty movies like The Life of Jimmy Dolan vanished until after the demise of the Production Code in the early 1960s. What movies Hollywood would have made if not for rigid censorship for over 25 years is an unanswerable question. Warner Bros. pre-code sound movies indicate that older movies made before censorship have dated a lot better than much of the drivel released during the Breen censorship period.

Enjoyed the movie and it is obvious message.I was impressed by the clarity of the film from a technical sense.Why was the film so vivid compared with other movies from the early thirties? It must have something to do with the way they are kept in storage. Never heard"How deep is the ocean?"played with the violins quite that way.Great background for the more romantic scenes.You could see that Rooney had the stuff that made him a star.Wayne was ordinary.

The Life of Jimmy Dolan is a film about a boxer who gets into some trouble. Jimmy (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is a cocky, selfish, but famous boxer who has won himself a prestigious title in the sport. During a night of partying, he hauls off and punches a reporter, who falls and strikes his head on the fireplace, which kills him instantly. Dolan's friends are just as self-serving as he is, and they leave him passed out and penniless, set up as an intentional murderer. However, after a drunken high speed police chase, Dolan's manager and girlfriend are dead, causing police to believe that it was Dolan driving and that he was killed. This gives him a chance to run away, but an elderly cop (Guy Kibbee) is skeptical about Dolan's whereabouts.

Jimmy wanders to a farm away from the city, and telling the people there that his name is Jack, takes up residence. He soon has eyes for the beautiful Peggy (Loretta Young) who is under the watchful eye of her aunt (Aline MacMahon). The farm is a getaway for orphaned children (among them Mickey Rooney and Farina Hoskins), who quickly idolize Jack. They encourage him to participate in a local boxing match, which Jack greets skeptically.

Every actor is great in this film, especially character star Kibbee, whose character is appropriately sympathetic and menacing. Fairbanks is an excellent leading man; his good looks and charm make him lovable despite Dolan's selfish character.

This movie was remade with John Garfield and The Dead End Kids in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal. This early version is better for many reasons, namely the cast, but this version is much more sentimental and less adult thanks to the choice in children. The Dead End Kids add a signature spin on the film, which enhances it greatly, but The Life of Jimmy Dolan is better overall.

Life of Jimmy Dolan, The (1933)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Original version of the film which would be remade in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal with John Garfield and Claude Rains. In this version, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays the boxer who takes off after accidentally killing a man. He winds up on a farm for sick children where he soon falls for one of the women (Loretta Young) working there. When the farm is about to be lost due to taxes, the boxer must risk his freedom by fighting again. This is an extremely good movie but I think I marginally prefer the remake since I feel Garfield and Rains were a tad bit stronger plus that film had The Dead End Kids who added their own brand of humor to the film. Even with that said, there's a lot to enjoy here including a strong performance by Fairbanks and I'd say this is the best I've seen him in the few movies I've watched of his. Young is as charming as ever and adds a lot of warmth to the film and Guy Kibbee is good in the role of the detective looking for Fairbanks. Lyle Talbot, Mickey Rooney and John Wayne both have small roles here as well. What really hurts the film is the actual character being played by Fairbanks. He's such a mean spirited jerk to everyone that it's hard to really care about him in the end.

Although ostensibly a boxing picture, it's more of a movie about the human spirit - about how there's good in all of us. Director Archie Mayo puts a lot of effort into this rising it above his usual production line style and making this a very entertaining piece of drama.

That Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Is this film's boxer not James Cagney says a lot of Fairbanks' acting skills. He doesn't look like your typical boxer but because he's so convincing you can totally believe he is.

Aline MacMahon also does a grand job playing a middle aged spinster - excellent work from the make-up department and excellent acting too. Loretta Young as always is faultless and although she's a bit too good to be true, again she's perfect as the young inexperienced woman living miles away from anyone else in an isolated farm who gets Fairbanks' testosterone filled virile manliness thrust into her quiet life. There is some boxing - it's not RAGING BULL standard but it's fine but this film is really about how the goodness in any of us prevails. It's all quite uplifting!

Comedy moment of the decade however is hidden in this otherwise very serious film. It's about 20 minutes in when two policemen attempt to extinguish a vehicle fire using what looks like cake icing guns. Did the props department not deliver the right stuff to set that morning? This could have been a scene from Will Hay's WHERE'S THAT FIRE.

After winning a championship fight, light-weight boxer Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Jimmy Dolan) celebrates with booze and a blonde. An impromptu party leads to the manslaughter of a sneaky reporter out to expose the champ's clean-cut image as a sham. When even sneakier manager Lyle Talbot (as Doc) expires in a car crash, wearing Garfield's stolen watch, authorities assume Mr. Fairbanks is dead. Escaping the murder rap, Fairbanks goes undercover as "Jack Dougherty". Now a homeless tramp, Fairbanks winds up at a farm for crippled children, run by Aline MacMahon (as "Auntie" Moore) and pretty niece Loretta Young (as Peggy). The women find Fairbanks attractive. Meanwhile, retiring detective Guy Kibbee (as Phlaxer) suspects the dead boxer is alive...

Debonair Doug is not convincing in the ring, but makes up for it by putting more effort into his acting; for example, he makes the scripted moment when the name "Jack Dougherty" pops into his head believable. Partly foreshadowing Agnes Moorhead, Ms. MacMahon's "Auntie" ventures a few degrees over the top. Otherwise, the direction by Archie Mayo is engaging...

Almost stealing the film, Mr. Kibbee's suspicious detective is perfect. In a small featured role, western star John Wayne is as yet unremarkable. Young is pretty. Not credited (but in substantial roles) are farm kids David Durand (as George), Allen "Farina" Hoskins (as Sam), Mickey Rooney (as Freckles) and Anne Shirley (as Mary Lou). "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" was re-made as "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) with John Garfield and the "Dead End Kids". Young Durand (in this film, he's the kid on crutches) eventually joined the popular teenage gang, in their second incarnation as the "East Side Kids". While the revision is a better film, overall, both versions are entertaining and well produced. Those comparing should note a difference in the killer's identity.

******* The Life of Jimmy Dolan (6/3/33) Archie Mayo ~ Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Guy Kibbee, Loretta Young, Mickey Rooney

Jimmy Dolan (Douglas Fairbank Jr.) is the new light heavyweight champ and claims to be clean living. He has an endorsement deal with a health company, but he does otherwise in his private life. He gets drunk with a group of friends. Unbeknownst to him, reporter Charles Magee has joined the group and threatens to expose him. Jimmy kills him with one drunken punch. After a car crash, he's presumed dead. While starving, he stumbles upon a charity farm run by Peggy (Loretta Young) for a group of children. Meanwhile, police detective Phlaxer is unconvinced of his death and continues his search.

This is a pre-Code drama based on a play and later remade into They Made Me a Criminal. I really like the premise and the overall story. The combination of Douglas Fairbank Jr. And Loretta Young is nice. Maybe they could get to this pairing a little sooner. Maybe he could be injured in the car crash and she nurses him back to health. All in all, it's a good story.

Isn't it funny when you figure out a movie's a remake? When I was watching The Life of Jimmy Dolan, I sensed it was familiar. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays a successful southpaw boxer who claims to have a squeaky-clean after-hours image for his fans. When asked if he's going to party after the fight by a reporter, he grins and says he doesn't drink but instead will be hanging out with his mother. When he's shown drinking with his arm around a blonde floozy in the next scene, I realized I'd seen it before. They Made Me a Criminal, starring John Garfield, is the 1939 remake!

I didn't like the John Garfield version and actually turned it off after half an hour, because the prominently featured Dead End kids were too irritating. So the rest of The Life of Jimmy Dolan was a nice surprise for me. After an accidental fatal beating at the after-party, Doug Jr. passes out, and his best friend runs off with his girl, his car, and his watch. They get in a car crash and explode, and the news reports Doug Jr.'s death instead. If he comes forward and says he's alive, he'll be arrested for murder, so his only option is to stay out of the limelight and start a new life. He hides out in an out-of-the-way farmhouse and falls in love with Loretta Young.

If you watch this movie, which is infinitely better than its remake, you'll see a very young, very handsome John Wayne for about ten minutes as a boxer preparing for a fight. You'd never believe he'd become one of the most popular movie stars of all time after seeing him in this, but he certainly is cute.

This was a surprisingly good movie. I expected to turn it off, but I ended up with tears in my eyes in the final scene. Doug Jr. gives a very strong, emotional performance, making you wonder why his career fizzled out. He does everything the character needs him to do, and since the movie was made in 1933, it's understandable that a little of his silent movie acting style still lingers. Guy Kibbee costars as an ambitious journalist who doesn't believe the famous boxer was killed in the car crash, and he's given a couple of great scenes to sink his teeth into. Check this one out if you've never seen Doug Jr. in a talkie. The ending will stick with you for a long time.

An American romantic drama; A story about a light-heavyweight boxing champion who has cultivated a wholesome image for himself, which isn't entirely true. Tragic circumstances cause him to change his ways. Based on the play by Bertram Millhauser and Beulah Marie, this is a sentimental film with a theme on the lost-man-saved-by-good-woman story. It has good pace and enough to amuse despite a corny storyline. The production values are good with some good photography and a scale worthy of a main feature. Douglas Fairbanks Jr is handsome as the cynical prize fighter reassessing his life, and Loretta Young shines brightly.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr is a prizefighter. He accidentally kills a man at a party, and goes on the run, winding up at a farm run by Aline MacMahon and Loretta Young where they take care of crippled children.

The set-up of this movie is very similar to BORN TO FIGHT (1936) which I reviewed last month. It's instructive to consider why this is a near-classic, while the other movie is a tired B movie at best. The prime reason is, of course, the budget. This movie cost Warner Brothers just over $200,000 to produce, while BTF was a Poverty Row production which, if the producers spent $30,000 on it, was a generous budget. While people at Warner Brothers were more generously paid than their Gower Gulch equivalents, they also turned out a lusher product, with longer rehearsals and far more retakes. Even the score here is superior, quoting "Beyond The Blue Horizon" and "How Deep Is The Ocean?" Certainly the story here is a much fuller one, with not only the solution to Fairbanks problem, but his moral redemption.

With Guy Kibbee, Edward Arnold, Mickey Rooney, Anne Shirley, and Allen 'Farina' Hoskins.