oscaralbert Review of Breakdowns of 1938

Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)

"I just had a baby in the Ladies' Room . . . "

[5/10 · 19 February 2015]

. . . is the best ad-libbed line uttered by misspeaking Warner Bros. cast members in BREAKDOWNS OF 1939 (which I'm reviewing here in 1938 because the person who entered the data for the annual BREAKDOWNS OF 1936, 1937, and 1938 apparently had their own breakdown when it was time for them to do 1939!). The newly-delivered mom\actress quoted above is responding to her male co-star's query, perhaps from their actual film script, "What's this emergency all about?" Otherwise, an animated "Porky Pig" stammering "Son of a B-B-B-B-itch" 12 or 13 times (as a "breather" frequently inserted between the monotonous, repetitive cursing of the live action actor Flubbers) is about the only other humorous aspect present in BREAKDOWNS OF 1939. Decades after the fact, it's interesting to see recognizable stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis all tongue-tied. A few of the slips come from movies still available to watch now, including DARK VICTORY with Bogart and Ms. Davis, as well as Edward G. Robinson's THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE (which also co-starred Bogart). Apparently, the cast of EACH DAWN I DIE never missed or messed on a line reading, as nothing from that flick is included here. Ironically, Warner Bros. home video slapped this on its 2006 DVD release of that 1939 film.