Love Before Breakfast (1936)

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Faith Baldwin (novel)
Herbert Fields (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 March 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Secretary | Beautiful Woman | Mother Daughter Relationship | Party | Sailboat

Cast

Carole Lombard	...	Kay Colby
Preston Foster	...	Scott Miller
Cesar Romero	...	Bill Wadsworth
Janet Beecher	...	Mrs. Colby
Betty Lawford	...	Countess Jane Campanella
Richard Carle	...	'Brinky' Brinkerhoff
Forrester Harvey	...	Chief Steward
Joyce Compton	...	Mary Lee
Bert Roach	...	The Host (scenes deleted)
Diana Gibson	...	The Secretary (as Diane Gibson)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2006) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Lester Dorr (Attendant), Earl Eby (Entertainer) and Robert McKenzie are in studio records/casting call lists as actors in this movie but they never appeared. Eby may have been the pianist at Dubin's, but he is never shown. Bert Roach is listed as "The Host" in the onscreen credits and may possibly be seen in long-shot in one of the party scenes, but for all practical purposes he was deleted from the final print. Some of the other actors can be briefly seen but have no lines. There may have been extensive editing, since it is listed in studio records as an 8-reel production, but only runs 70 minutes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Old Gray Mare

Has potential but no magic.

My main disappointment with this film is the choice of leading man. Indeed Preston Foster was primarily a straight actor and unaccustomed to romantic comedy. I simply do not see why Carole Lombard's character, Kay Colby would have the slightest temptation to fall in love with Foster's character, Scott Miller, a pushy, egotistical, wiseacre. Perhaps the moral of the tale is that if a man, no matter how obnoxious, pursues a woman long enough, she will give in. The film seems to start out in the middle of the story. No background is given to explain Kay Colby's relationship with either men. And then before you know it one of them is exiled to Japan and disappears from the middle third of the picture.

Now the film does pick up as it goes along and entertains sufficiently with snappy dialog and boisterous incidents. The "storm at sea" scene is particularly satisfying. Perhaps due to the fact that Carole did all her own stunts, taking all the punishment herself and sparing her stand-in. However, the ending is much too abrupt. All the conflict is resolved in the last few seconds of the movie. The characters are not allowed to play out their feelings for us on screen. Perhaps it has all gone on inside their heads, but alas we have missed it. Overall this film is worth seeing once for Lombard fans, but it does not endear and fades quickly from memory.

The popularity of "Love Before Breakfast" was helped at the time from the success of Carole's previous film which was still in theaters, "Hands Across the Table". This film would signal her rise to fame and was a precursor to five straight hits in a row over the next two years.