Elmer, the Great is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis.

[2] Elmer Kane (Joe E. Brown) is a rookie ballplayer with the Chicago Cubs whose ego is matched only by his appetite.

Still, he is so valuable a player that the Cubs management hides the letters from his hometown sweetheart Nellie (Patricia Ellis), so that Elmer won't bolt the team and head for home.

Elmer brawls with the gambler and lands in jail, where he learns of a particularly cruel practical joke that had previously been played on him.

Based on the 1928 Broadway play by Ring Lardner and George M. Cohan, Elmer, the Great betrays its stage origins in its static early scenes, before building to a climax during a rain-soaked ball game.