DEATH ON THE DIAMOND
(director: Edward Sedgwick; screenwriters: from the book by Cortland Fitzsimmons/Harvey F. Thew, Joe Sherman, Ralph Spence; cinematographer: Milton Krasner; editor: Frank Sullivan; music: William Axt; cast: Robert Young (Larry Kelly), Madge Evans (Frances Clark, owner’s daughter), Nat Pendleton (Truck Hogan, catcher), Ted Healy (“Crawfish” O’Toole, umpire), David Landau (Manager/Owner Pop Clark), C. Henry Gordon (Joe Karns, gambler), Paul Kelly (Jimmie Downey, reporter), Robert Livingston (Frank Higgins, Cardinal pitcher), Willard Robinson (Cato), Edward Brophy (Police Sgt. Grogan), Mickey Rooney (Mickey, batboy), Joe Sauers (Spencer, ballplayer), John Hyams (Ainsley), Walter Brennan (Hot Dog Vendor), DeWitt Jennings (Patterson, groundskeeper); Runtime: 69; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Lucien Hubbard; MGM/Warner Archive; 1934-in B/W)
“An incredulous murder mystery revolving around a fictional baseball story.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Edward Sedgwick (“Spite Marriage”/”West Point”) directs an incredulous murder mystery revolving around a fictional baseball story. It’s based on the novel by Cortland Fitzsimmons and is scripted by Harvey F. Thew, Joe Sherman, and Ralph Spence. It features snappy dialogue, a comical routine between a wise-ass catcher (Nat Pendleton) and a feisty umpire (Ted Healy) that the catcher says is blind, and it leaves us with the message that gamblers are scum trying to ruin the national past-time.
The St. Louis Cardinals are a losing MLB team. The owner feels he must win the pennant to save his franchise, so he makes a large investment by buying good players. The best of them is when he acquires for a hefty price the rights to ace rookie pitcher Larry Kelly (Robert Young) from the Texas League. The cute team secretary, Frances Clark (Madge Evans), the daughter of owner/manager Pop Clark (David Landau), begins a romantic relationship with Larry.
The odds are 20 to 1 the Cardinals will lose, but are surprisingly making a run at winning the pennant. The gambler Joe Karns (C. Henry Gordon) could lose his shirt if the Cards win, so he sabotages the team, and hires ex-players kicked out of baseball for taking bribes and gambling to do desperate criminal acts to try and stop the Cards from winning. Karns even tries to bribe Larry to throw games, but he refuses and throws a no-hitter instead. As a result the thugs puncture his tire with a gun shot, causing him to be injured in a car crash.
What criminal acts that follow are more deadly, as the good hitter Dunk Spencer (Joe Sauers) is fatally shot in the heart by a sniper while on 2nd base. Next the solid experienced pitcher Higgins (Robert Livingston) is found strangled to death in the locker-room, and then the catcher Hogan (Nat Pendleton) dies eating a frank with poisoned mustard.
This unique baseball film is not plausible. It mixes comic relief, an underwhelming underdog baseball story, a dull romance and a crazy story about the ex-player and groundskeeper, a deranged Patterson (DeWitt Jennings), caught trying to shoot Kelly while he’s pitching in a deciding game where the pennant is at stake. The crackpot says he wanted to be the manager after Clark went broke. In the end, St. Louis wins the pennant. Thereby Frances and Kelly hug, and Pop smiles.
REVIEWED ON 6/14/2024 GRADE: C