Radio humorist
Bob Burns plays the title role in Alias the Deacon. Based on a stage play by John B. Hymer and LeRoy Clements (previously filmed in 1927 with Jean Hersholt), the story concerns a philosophical drifter named Deke Caswell (Burns) who is mistaken for the new deacon of a small town. A gambler by nature, Caswell decides to continue the clerical pose so that he can divest the locals of their hard-earned dollars. Instead, he turns honest, eventually solving all of the town's problems. A subplot concerns the "scandalous" (but wholly innocent) relationship between truck driver Johnny Sloan (
Dennis O'Keefe) and hitchhiker Phyllis (
Peggy Moran). This being a Universal film of the early 1940s, it was all but mandatory for
Mischa Auer to show up in an incongrous but amusing supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide