BROTHER RAT AND A BABY

US, 1940, 87 minutes, Black and white.
Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Arthur Treacher, Moroni Olsen.
Directed by Ray Enright.

Brother Rat and a Baby is a sequel to the 1939 film Brother Rat, focusing on three buddies at a military school. The three buddies, Wayne Morris, Eddie Albert and Ronald Reagan, are the focus of this film. The military are scouting for a new coach – and Eddie Albert’s character applies. The other two are up to all kinds of schemes to promote him for the role. And there are some rivalries.

There are also the three women in their lives, Priscilla Lane as a girlfriend, Jane Bryan as the wife – who has the baby, Jane Wyman, bespectacled (with a tipsy scene) with Ronald Reagan – who had met in the previous film and married in real life.

The focus is on the baby, a precocious baby who has all kinds of tantrums and smiles. There are all kinds of mix-ups, people occupying houses, the military discovering the truth, attempts to explain away all the mishaps. Ultimately, the baby is put on board a plane – and goes to South America, with consequent publicity for the characters, the teams – and the sport.

This is a film to see only if one is interested in Warner Bros films of the 1930s and 40s, the stars and how they performed in those times – and a glimpse at an American perspective of how the world should be. Direction is by Ray Enright, prolific director of this kind of comedy and drama at Warner Bros at the period.