'The Gladiator', by Philip Wylie, was a serious science-fiction novel about a man who is scientifically enhanced with superhuman powers. Although a minor novel, Wylie's book is extremely significant because it inspired two teenagers from Cleveland named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to create their comic-book character Superman. The 1938 movie 'The Gladiator' (released barely two months after Superman's comic-book debut) is ostensibly based on Wylie's deadpan novel, but the original premise has been drastically rewritten as a comedy vehicle for Joe E. Brown. Given the strange decision to play this story for laughs, Brown is an excellent choice for the role.
Joe E. Brown had a great deal in common with Buster Keaton, beyond the fact that they both had a drinking problem which led to both of them (consecutively) falling into the clutches of the same woman: a detox-ward nurse named Mae Scrivens. Keaton and Brown were both Midwesterners who performed professionally from early childhood. Both were small men who looked like weaklings, but both were actually acrobats with prodigious physical strength. On screen, Joe E. Brown often played ineffectual men ... so the effect was startling when he would suddenly execute a cartwheel or some other acrobatic stunt. In vaudeville, Brown worked with the professional wrestler Man Mountain Dean in a stage act in which little Joe E. would lift the huge Man Mountain over his head with only one hand. This stunt was absolutely genuine, with nothing faked. Brown repeats it in this movie, with Man Mountain Dean playing himself ... but because this is a movie, audiences will assume there must be some sort of trickery going on.
The biggest difference between Keaton and Brown on screen is that Keaton was resolutely unsentimental, whereas Joe E. Brown was usually much TOO sentimental. In a blatant bid for audience sympathy, Joe E. starts this movie in a hospital ward, where he is telling bedtime stories to little crippled boys! Soon afterwards he is sent on an errand which requires him to enter a cinema ... but the movie house is holding Bank Night, and Joe E. accidentally wins $1,500. (Nowadays nobody knows what Bank Night is.) Apparently $1,500 is enough money in 1938 to buy a college education, so Joe E. straightaway enrols in college ... hoping to get an education so he can earn lots of money and adopt crippled orphan Dickie Moore. (Full disclosure: I interviewed the grown-up Moore several years ago, while he was running a publicity agency in New York City. He's a fine man and is very embarrassed by some of his child-actor performances.)
On campus, Joe E. meets a crazy scientist (played by the brilliant character actor Lucien Littlefield, who also played the mad scientist in Laurel and Hardy's 'Dirty Work'). Littlefield has invented a super-serum, which he injects into a monkey, causing the monkey to act like a gorilla. While Joe E. is asleep, Littlefield jabs him with the super-soup.
Joe E. wakes up with super-powers, and with no idea how he got them. When a college student wakes up with super-powers that could be used for the benefit of all humanity, of course he has to try out for Varsity. Soon Joe E. is the big man on campus, winning letters in every known sport. Bland actress June Travis plays a pretty co-ed who dislikes Joe E. but is persuaded to pretend to like him for the good of the team. (Later, of course, her phony feelings become genuine...)
SLIGHT SPOILERS NOW. There are some funny sequences in which the befuddled Joe E. shows off his newfound super-strength, and Joe E. Brown's genuine athleticism (in a seemingly unathletic body) is shown to fine advantage here. The funniest moment comes during a wrestling match with Man Mountain Dean, when Joe E.'s super-strength suddenly wears off at the worst possible moment.
'The Gladiator' is a good film, not a great one, and I'll rate it 6 out of 10. Watching this movie, I wish that somebody had done a straight version of Philip Wylie's original novel, which made some intelligent observations. This movie replaces Wylie's themes with easy slapstick and cheap sentiment.
Joe E. Brown had a great deal in common with Buster Keaton, beyond the fact that they both had a drinking problem which led to both of them (consecutively) falling into the clutches of the same woman: a detox-ward nurse named Mae Scrivens. Keaton and Brown were both Midwesterners who performed professionally from early childhood. Both were small men who looked like weaklings, but both were actually acrobats with prodigious physical strength. On screen, Joe E. Brown often played ineffectual men ... so the effect was startling when he would suddenly execute a cartwheel or some other acrobatic stunt. In vaudeville, Brown worked with the professional wrestler Man Mountain Dean in a stage act in which little Joe E. would lift the huge Man Mountain over his head with only one hand. This stunt was absolutely genuine, with nothing faked. Brown repeats it in this movie, with Man Mountain Dean playing himself ... but because this is a movie, audiences will assume there must be some sort of trickery going on.
The biggest difference between Keaton and Brown on screen is that Keaton was resolutely unsentimental, whereas Joe E. Brown was usually much TOO sentimental. In a blatant bid for audience sympathy, Joe E. starts this movie in a hospital ward, where he is telling bedtime stories to little crippled boys! Soon afterwards he is sent on an errand which requires him to enter a cinema ... but the movie house is holding Bank Night, and Joe E. accidentally wins $1,500. (Nowadays nobody knows what Bank Night is.) Apparently $1,500 is enough money in 1938 to buy a college education, so Joe E. straightaway enrols in college ... hoping to get an education so he can earn lots of money and adopt crippled orphan Dickie Moore. (Full disclosure: I interviewed the grown-up Moore several years ago, while he was running a publicity agency in New York City. He's a fine man and is very embarrassed by some of his child-actor performances.)
On campus, Joe E. meets a crazy scientist (played by the brilliant character actor Lucien Littlefield, who also played the mad scientist in Laurel and Hardy's 'Dirty Work'). Littlefield has invented a super-serum, which he injects into a monkey, causing the monkey to act like a gorilla. While Joe E. is asleep, Littlefield jabs him with the super-soup.
Joe E. wakes up with super-powers, and with no idea how he got them. When a college student wakes up with super-powers that could be used for the benefit of all humanity, of course he has to try out for Varsity. Soon Joe E. is the big man on campus, winning letters in every known sport. Bland actress June Travis plays a pretty co-ed who dislikes Joe E. but is persuaded to pretend to like him for the good of the team. (Later, of course, her phony feelings become genuine...)
SLIGHT SPOILERS NOW. There are some funny sequences in which the befuddled Joe E. shows off his newfound super-strength, and Joe E. Brown's genuine athleticism (in a seemingly unathletic body) is shown to fine advantage here. The funniest moment comes during a wrestling match with Man Mountain Dean, when Joe E.'s super-strength suddenly wears off at the worst possible moment.
'The Gladiator' is a good film, not a great one, and I'll rate it 6 out of 10. Watching this movie, I wish that somebody had done a straight version of Philip Wylie's original novel, which made some intelligent observations. This movie replaces Wylie's themes with easy slapstick and cheap sentiment.
