Hide-Out

1934 • NR • Series • Catalog pick

City slicker Lucky Wilson (Robert Montgomery) likes to play fast and loose with the ladies and the law, but when the cops crack down on a protection racket in which he took part, his luck finally runs out. Wounded and on the lam, Lucky retreats to the wilds of rural Connecticut, where he is taken in by the Millers, a kindly family of farmers. Initially anxious to recover and return to the rackets and the Big Apple, Lucky extends his stay due to the charms of the Miller's daughter, Pauline (Maureen O'Sullivan). With the Millers unaware of his criminal ways, Lucky plays the rube while romancing Pauline, and his rehabilitation shifts from the physical to the spiritual. W.S. Van Dyke ably directs the proceedings, navigating beyond the confines of a crime picture and romantic melodrama thanks to crack comic dialogue and a terrific supporting ensemble that includes Edward Arnold, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing and a young Mickey Rooney.