Movie Time: "The Babe Ruth Story" (1948)

For older movies, we left off with "The Story of Mankind," known as a flop and baseball movies with the biography "The Pride of the Yankees."

Bringing both of these themes together, we hit on 1948's "The Babe Ruth Story" starring William Bendix as the great slugger.

Now, I'm not going to say it's a good movie, but I think it's better than its reputation, mainly because it's misunderstood.

A "problem" I see with most movies that old is that modern audiences try to view it through a modern lens, which doesn't always work. 

A 1940s biography of a beloved public feature is not going to show the subject in a negative light, especially if it's made with the cooperation of the subject (who was gravely ill at the time).

Babe Ruth had plenty of issues, but other than him acting like a big kid, you won't see any of them here.

And, hey, was Lou Gehrig as perfect as he was portrayed in "The Pride of the Yankees" anyway?

Sports movies also sometimes have a double whammy in that baseball fans might watch a movie like this but very few, if any, other movies from the 1940s, so they really have no context.

I also come across modern audiences slamming "The Babe Ruth Story" for the casting of William Bendix, based solely on him (a few years later) starring in "The Life of Riley" TV series, oblivious to the fact that he was a versatile Academy Award nominated actor who happened also to be good at comedy.

It's cute and convenient to say it's an insult to the Babe to have him played by a sitcom actor, but in 1948 he was a film actor who had a side hustle on a popular radio show.

I actually think Bill Bendix does a good job with what he's given to work with and I felt like I was watching Babe Ruth at times.

Claire Trevor is good as Babe's wife (really his second, but the movies ignores his first!) and Charles Bickford provides some much needed gravitas as Brother Matthias, Babe's mentor.

The problem with the movie is really the script, which is pure hagiography (to dig out a fifty cent word!).

The trailer tells you about all you need to know:

So, it's not a good movie on the whole, but it's not the worst thing ever and if you're a fan of baseball, old movies and/or Bill Bendix, it's a fun watch.

But "Kill the Umpire" is way better!