The Breath of a Nation (1919) User Reviews

This would have played a lot better back in 1919.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 25 May 2020]

This cartoon was very well made and timely for 1919. However, it's also one that had aged poorly...and today is more a curiosity than anything else.

The story begins on the day Prohibition begins in 1919. At that moment, Judge Rummy's wife throws away his huge stash of liquor and informs him he's going with her to a temperance lecture. On his way there, the judge happens to go by Silkhat Haarry's Soda shop....and there is SOMETHING in his drink that is causing everyone to behave rather strangely!

The big joke here are folks drinking and becoming intoxicated (or something)....big laughs for 1919 but no especially funny today. Also unfunny is the gay joke as well as the ending...which just felt a big flat. Overall, a film more for silent film buffs and historians than anyone else.

A Cute Little Animation

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 14 September 2005]

Set during the Prohibition, a wife finds her husband has been drinking and sends him off to be the subject matter of a lecture on the evils of alcohol.

It's generally cute, with some strange movements. I was shown it as an example of a surrealist work, which kind of makes sense with one guy who turns into multiple people and all walk into the bar/soda lounge thing. Also, I didn't know the use of "fruit" to denote homosexuality was around back then. Learn something new everyday! Overall, however, it paints a rather odd picture of alcoholism, and some of the set-ups don't really make sense. It's an amusing little skit, but it's not really that particularly fascinating in very many respects. I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.

--PolarisDiB

Will Offend Some, But This Is Pretty Funny Early Animation

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 26 December 2007]

Educational Films Corporation of America put this "one act comedy" animated short out, right in time to coincide with the beginning of Prohibition.....the exact beginning. Hence, you see a calendar early on with June 30th on it with a beer stein. Then, on July 1 it changes to a raspberry float. That's the theme of the film: a place advertising all these fruit drinks that are really alcoholic in content. You even seen an exaggerated gay guy go in, order a "fruit" drink and then change into some super-macho he-man!

It's an animated movie and well-done, fun to watch, except - as in the above case and perhaps a few more - it will offend some people. It all starts with the typical bully 200-pound woman chastising her little husband (Jiggs and Maggie types) who is lush. She show him a poster advertising an upcoming lecture at Sodapop Hall by Prof. Witherbones about "The Horrors Of Drink" and tells him to be there at 3 p.m.

It's across the street from the Sodapop Hall where we see all the action taking place, at Silk Hat Harry's "soda" shoppe. It's there we see a lot of sight gags of how these supposedly- innocent drinks affect the customers. I wonder if that is how the writers pictured Prohibition was going to be?

At any rate, it is very entertaining and worth a watch for both comedy and historical value. The title is a great play-on-words of a famous film that come out a couple of years earlier: "The Birth Of A Nation."

Offbeat Animated Feature With Some Historical Interest

[Snow Leopard · 28 March 2005]

This offbeat animated feature is at times amusing in itself, and it also has some definite historical interest. Directed by a young Gregory La Cava, it features the contemporary comic strip characters Judge Rummy and Silk Hat Harry in a satirical story about Prohibition, which was just about to go into effect when the film was released.

The story features the reactions of the Judge, his wife, Harry, and others to the new ban on alcohol. It has a few good gags, and the animation is solid for its time. The story is uncomplicated, but it moves quickly and it has a couple of amusing moments.

What is most interesting about this film is its perspectives on the new law and on the society of its day. This particular feature was filmed before anyone knew just how Prohibition would turn out, and so it has a viewpoint unaffected by subsequent developments. Most of its implied commentary (on the law and on various types of persons) should probably not be taken too seriously, since the main thrust seems simply to be a demonstration of the general social anxiety produced by such a wide-ranging change.