Mr Dynamite (1941).
IMDb meta-data is 1 hour and 3 minutes, rated 6.5 by 39 cinematizens.
Genre: Mystery.
Verdict: Too many change-ups.
Mr D is the ace of the pitching staff of the World Series team in town to see how the Bums will beat themselves this time. He walks the streets of New York City alone and enters Baghdad Way (aka Coney Island) , a fictional and exotic part of the Big Worm where all nations mix and the streets are lined with sideshows because there is no main event.
Two young baseball fans recognise Mr D, and he obliges at a throwing booth where he meets Her. She is hiding there in plain sight from evil saboteurs led by a kindly, crippled spinster later called Achilles. (I kid you not.)
Pointless back and forth occurs as the clock slows to Dali time. The whole is less than the sum of parts. Lloyd bubbles with energy as Mr D. Irene Hervey as Her gives a good performance of someone frightened, confused, and determined. J. Carrol Naish is on the money as the Professor (Emeritus) who is crazy like a fox. And Ann Gillis as Joey (Josephine) the baseball nut steals the show. She made her first film when she was seven and her last was Space Odyssey: 2001 (1968).
Despite the players, the whole thing dragged and dragged. There was a nice twist toward the end with Achilles but even that was undercooked.
There is no baseball in it, though it ends with a charming scene as Mr Dynamite pitches a game for Joey. I started to say it ‘regrettably’ that there was no baseball in it, but when I think of the hash made of baseball in other movies, perhaps that was for the best. Though how the ace of the staff visiting from distant St Louis for the World Series could wander the streets alone, smoking, was a mystery to me. No friends, no roommate, no manager, no curfew, no nothing to interfere with his gallivanting around day and night.