Hi, Nellie! Reviews

Tired blood already, this was the second of five times around for this story and Muni's first comedy (it was his sixth picture). United Artists had released a similar picture the year before, with Lee Tracy in the lead, called ADVICE TO THE LOVELORN. It was remade as LOVE IS ON THE AIR, YOU CAN'T ESCAPE FOREVER, and THE HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET--and there are probably plans to make it again somewhere, unless we have something to do with it. Nathanael West did it best with his novel Miss Lonelyhearts, although the movie based on West's book, starring Montgomery Clift, never realized the potential of the subject. In HI, NELLIE! Muni is the editor of a big city newspaper who has a fight with his publisher and is lowered to the rank of "lonelyhearts" columnist, a job everyone hates and he particularly despises. This is tepid stuff, and Muni approaches comedy like a pitbull. Wait till the sun shines, Nellie.