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Butch Minds the Baby (Mayfair; Universal) is a pleasant little venture into Broadwayland, whose aborigines boast a bizarre language and a set of morals all their own. Considerably less inspired than Damon Runyon's original short story about a safecracker who has to mind baby, it manages to capture some of the rich Runyon flavor without going goo-goo.
Butch is big Broderick Crawford, a sentimental, kindhearted felon back from his third Sing Sing holiday, and on his best behavior, because a fourth offense would put him there for life. Baby is Michael Barnitz, 13 months, who ogles the burly burglar into minding him and his widowed mother (Virginia Bruce).
While mother is away working, Butch is forced to crack a safe for a pair of old pals who have forgotten how ("Frankly, Butch, that box is terrifying us a great deal more than somewhat"). It is a funny sequence. Baby fondles the nitroglycerin, the boys take time out to warm his milk, and everything comes off happily.
Nice talk: Butch, hoping to establish a fund for baby by playing a 50-to-1 shot, pleads with a big-time bookie to handle his bet. Asked whether he has "cash money" he exhibits his bank roll, a $5 bill. Says the disgusted bookie: "Five bucks is not cash money, it is bubble gum!"
Rio Rita (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was a bright-&-shining operetta when Florenz Ziegfeld first whipped it together in the brave days of 1927. Its first cineversion (1929) was more or less faithful to the original. This time there is little left but the title, to cover the so-so clowning of overworked Abbott & Costello.
The title tune and The Ranger's Song are still there, and hero (John Carroll) and heroine (Kathryn Grayson) trill them true, deep in the heart of Texas. But there are Nazis present, and their border espionage sours the proceedings.
Rootin', shootin' pals Abbott & Costello provide about two reels' worth of good slapstickery. Fatso Costello puts bombs in Nazi pockets, converses hilariously with a dog which has swallowed a radio, for the most part stands around with hands in pockets wondering what to do next. Apparently both Producer Pandro Berman and Director Sylvan Simon were in the same predicament.
CURRENT & CHOICE
This Is Blitz (Canadian documentary of blitz warfare, its cause and cure; TIME, April 13).
The Gold Rush (Revival of the Chaplin comedy, with narrative and music; TIME, April 6).
The Remarkable Andrew (Brian Donlevy, William Holden; TIME, March 30).
The Male Animal (Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland; TIME, March 23).