Review of Breakdowns of 1941

. . . and outtake reels from the 1930s and 1940s, there is SO LITTLE to chortle about in BREAKDOWNS OF 1940 that the studio may have tried to cover up its survival (which is why I'm reviewing it under BREAKDOWNS OF 1941--if I didn't, that would let the Terrorists win). Amazingly enough, BREAKDOWNS OF 1940 slipped out of the bag and onto Warner Home Video's CITY FOR CONQUEST disc which was released in 2006. No doubt anything said that was actually funny in a spontaneous way on the Warner lots in 1940 could not pass muster with the censors of the day, and be included here. There are no F-bombs or even S-words here--just a few D-words and B-words. Ad libs must have been frowned upon, because more than half of the attempts here to make humorous lemonade from script lemons leave the would-be Jokester at a loss for any words at all. Most year's BREAKDOWNS include a running joke sight gag, and 1940's (an actor failing to muscle his way through a prop doorway) is one of the lamest. The best piece of slap-stick comes toward the end, as a morbidly obese actress mounts a horse. (No AHAD certificate of approval would have been available here.) The other notable aspect of this 11-minute, 51.8-second short is that Pat O'Brien seems to be in at least half of Warner Bros.' 1940 offerings. Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, George Raft, Ronald Reagan, and Ann Sheridan are among highlights rounding out the list of usual suspects also seen here.