Hi, Nellie!

Dir. Mervyn LeRoy 75 Minutes

USA 1934

Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks, Robert Barrat, Berton Churchill, Kathryn Sergava, Hobart Cavanaugh

***/***** Interesting going through the Muni films in sequence and coming across this lighter, newspaper yarn about Brad, a managing editor who runs into trouble with his boss and is demoted to the "Nellie Nelson" love column (a role teased by everyone by shouting the exclamation of the title!). While Brad does take the work seriously (becoming a highly syndicated feature), he returns to figuring out the case behind the story that put him there in an effort to get his position back. Hi, Nellie! feels like a bit of a break for stars Muni and Glenda Farrell and director Mervyn LeRoy reuniting following the heavy I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang, and it is a fun to see Muni relax a bit and duke it out with Farrell. The picture is consistently entertaining if a bit slight upon reflection, but has a nice balance of fast-paced, newspaper comic banter (with a nice grasp on its supporting players of others in the office) and mystery to keep things engaging. On the whole, it is a relaxing, if slight, affair, but interesting to see a different side of Muni as his career continued to develop. ​October 10th, 2019