Breakdowns of 1941

Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)

*** (out of 4)

This (at the time) unreleased short was mainly shown at Warner company parties at the end of the year for a few laughs but thankfully several of them have become available over the past few years. What we basically have are gag reels with various big players messing up their lines or in some cases messing up sets. The films we see stuff from are THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT with Bogart, TORRID ZONE with Cagney, FOUR MOTHERS and THE SEA WOLF with Edward G. Robinson. Those who don't like the cuss word G.D. will certainly want to skip over this film as I'm going to guess it's said at least three dozen times, which must be a recorded considering how short the actual film is. There's no doubt that many film buffs are going to be amused by seeing some of these screen legends mess up their lines and lose their tempers. One of the best moments happen early on in a scene from TORRID ZONE where Cagney goes to slam on a door on someone but accidentally pushes his hand all the way through the door. We also have some very funny bits between Cagney and Pat O'Brien as their flub their lines and then poke fun at one another. The scenes with Bogart show the actor appearing extremely upset with himself and we even get a few funny bits with James Stewart and John Garfield.

This is found on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of The Maltese Falcon, even though it, as far as I can tell, doesn't contain anything from that particular film. It is a 13-minute blooper reel, apparently all of them from movies from 1941. I can't claim to have watched... well, any of the ones they show clips from. This opens and closes with the familiar(or a version of it at least) theme from the animated shorts also produced in this period(Looney Tunes?). I don't know what that nasty egg thing that shows up three times in this is about. I'd say about half of the outtakes are funny(a couple of them are simply strange, or maybe you need to have seen the picture they're from to understand), and it's somehow pleasant to see that it looked about the same when they messed up their lines or something happened with a prop 60 years ago as it does today. There are numerous big names from back then in this, so if you've watched anything famous from back then that hit the silver screen, was American and live-action, you'll most likely recognize at least some of them. A lot of the time, they swear moderately when a take is botched. That is the only offensive thing in this. I recommend this to anyone who likes to watch stuff like this. 8/10

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Warners Brothers would yearly sweep up clips of all those fluffed takes and produce a little in-house movie showing the magnificent actors of the era blowing take after take and cursing in annoyance, interspersed with a deliberately-produced clip of Porky Pig as a carpenter hitting his thumb with a hammer and grunting "Son of a b-b-b-b-b-b-". The result, usually for the studio holiday party, would then go back into the vault. But recently a couple of them have surfaced as extras to DVD releases.

It's very funny to watch actors in high-minded roles suddenly break down and start cussing a blue streak. Look out for this and others as they show up. And if you have a chance, see if you can find the DVD issue of Columbia's OUR MAN GODFREY with dapper, debonair William Powell blowing up, followed by Eugene Palette blowing up. But they can't compare with demure Carole Lombard's command of profane language!