User Reviews

The original 1938 version dealt with the escapades of the Virginia military cadets. Now, they have graduated in this 1940 version and they're still up to their necks in all sorts of chicanery.

With the exception of Henry O'Neill, all the main players of the original version repeated their roles 2 years later.

Perhaps, since we got used to what they carried on at the military academy, we have become immune to their antics in the sequel.

Jane Wyman, with those thick glasses, showed she had some comic ability, especially in her drunk scene.

This picture again belongs to Wayne Morris,as the scheming guy who involves Ronald Reagan and Eddie Albert into a variety of messy situations.

Moroni Olsen, who replaced Henry O'Neill, in this version, is good but O'Neill displayed more of an authoritative figure in the prequel.

U.K. release title: BABY BE GOOD.

Copyright 13 January 1940 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. A Warner Bros-First National Picture. New York opening at the Roxy: 26 January 1940. U.S. release: 13 January 1940. Australian release: 14 March 1940. 8,060 feet, 89½ minutes.

COMMENT: Despite a lot of frantic talk and a bit of far-fetched activity, this small-budget sequel to Brother Rat will discourage all but the originals' most fervent admirers. Everything about this movie is distinctly second-rate: the script is a bore, the acting charmless, the direction relentlessly routine.

OTHER VIEWS: The popularity of Brother Rat called for a sequel, but the result was a considerable disappointment to the public. The boyish escapades that seemed amusing in uniform became merely childish and silly in civilian clothes.

• Tony Thomas in The Films of Ronald Reagan.

Basically an unnecessary sequel to "Brother Rat", focusing on the three couples from the first film (Wayne Morris and Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert and Jane Bryan, and Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman), out in civilian society so they are playing by other rules, mainly struggles to make ends meet financially. Morris and Lane are dealing with her domineering grandmother (Jessie Busley), while Albert and Bryan face financial issues over parenthood. Wyman and Reagan are basically in support, but she gets some good scenes as her character finds the enjoyment of champagne, and the results of too much of it.

The best moment is the still bespectacled Wyman getting tipsy, something her stern "Falcon Crest" matriarch would look down on, and Wyman is an expert funny lady. But the play wasn't really meant to continue on like the "Four Daughters" sequels, and in the case of the Wayne Morris character, he seems to be completely different than in the first film. Peter B. Good, as the baby Commencement (how's he going to face that in a few years when he goes to school?), is basically "Happy" from "Boy Meets Girl", doing nothing to deserve such high billing. Arthur Treacher is the same, yet still funny, as the typically droll butler. Just your standard domestic comedy and outside of seeing a future president and his first wife, nothing historical motion picture wise.

Ray Enright directs this movie evocative of comedy in the early 40s. Three buddies graduate from the Virgina Military Institute and one, Bing(Eddie Albert), has already put in his application to return as a coach at the academy. His fun loving pals insist on assisting him; to get some needed recognition they put the would-be coach's baby aboard a plane leaving the country. This in hopes of the publicity gaining Bing the job he wants. Also in the cast are: Pricilla Lane, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan and Arthur Treacher. My favorite scene is the cute Wyman getting tipsy. Albert comes across pretty obnoxious to me. Nonetheless, a fun film to watch.