Brother Rat

1938 film by William Keighley

October 29, 1938 (1938-10-29)

Running time

89 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Brother Rat is a 1938 American comedy drama film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley, and starring Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert (in his film debut), Jane Wyman, and Wayne Morris.

The film is an adaptation of the successful Broadway play of the same name written by two former VMI cadets, John Monks, Jr. and Fred Finklehoffe, which ran for 577 performances between December 1936 and April 1938. Albert and supporting actor William Tracy reprised their roles from the stage productions.^[1]

After the film's production, Reagan married Wyman in 1940.^[2] The title refers to the term used for cadets in their first year at the Institute. Scenes of the film were shot on site in Lexington on the institute's historic parade ground, and the baseball game scene was filmed at Alumni Memorial Field.

Plot

At the Virginia Military Institute, roommates Billy Randolph (Wayne Morris), Dan Crawford (Ronald Reagan) and Bing Edwards (Eddie Albert) are three good-natured troublemakers who are trying to clean up their act in the weeks leading up to graduation. Still, try as they might, they cannot seem to stop breaking the rules, which include sneaking girlfriends on campus, and pawning the college's valuable sword to get money to bet on a baseball game. When the secretly married Edwards learns his wife (Jane Bryan) is pregnant, his preoccupation leads to events that really send everything out of order.

Cast

Ronald Reagan as Dan Crawford
Priscilla Lane as Joyce Winfree
Eddie Albert as Bing Edwards
Jane Wyman as Claire Adams
Wayne Morris as Billy Randolph
Johnnie Davis as A. Furman Towsend, Jr.
Jane Bryan as Kate Rice
Henry O'Neill as Colonel Ramm
Gordon Oliver as Capt. 'Lacedrawers' Rogers
Larry Williams as Harley Harrington
William Tracy as Misto Bottome
Jessie Busley as Mrs. Brooks
Olin Howland as Slim
Louise Beavers as Jenny
Isabel Withers as Nurse
Sam Komie as Cadet
Billy Smith as Cadet
Allan Cavan as Superintendent (uncredited)
Jerry Cecil as Cadet (uncredited)
Don DeFore as Baseball Catcher (uncredited)
Jerry Fletcher as Cadet With a Sweet Briar Girl (uncredited)
Mildred Gover as Colonel Ramm's Maid (uncredited)
Fred Hamilton as Newsreel Scott (uncredited)
Dutch Hendrian as Baseball Coach (uncredited)
Howard Leeds as Cadet (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas as Ballfield Doctor (uncredited)
Hugh McArthur as Cadet (uncredited)
George O'Hanlon as Orderly (uncredited)
William T. Orr as Member of the Guard (uncredited)
Mark Roberts as Tripod Andrews (uncredited)

Reception

Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called the film "an excellent transcription of the play, loyal to all its screenable material and matching the playwrights' lively humors in the added scenes."^[3] "None of the factors that made the play a success has been lost ... Albert gives a splendid performance," reported Variety.^[4] Film Daily wrote that Keighley gave the film "warm, sympathetic direction and has injected many human touches," and called Eddie Albert "a definite screen 'find'."^[5] Harrison's Reports declared it "A delightful comedy" with "excellent" performances.^[6] John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "a serviceable time-filler."^[7]

A sequel, Brother Rat and a Baby, with several of the same main actors, was released in 1940.

In 1952, Warner Brothers remade it as a Technicolor musical, About Face, with Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken and in his first film, Joel Grey.

References

^ Brother Rat, Playbill Vault, retrieved 9 January 2015.
^ Helfer, Andrew (author), Steve Buccatello (artist), and Joe Station (artist). Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography. Hill and Wang. 23.
^ The New York Times Film Reviews, Volume 2: 1932-1938. New York: The New York Times & Arno Press. 1970. p. 1544.
^ "Film Reviews". Variety. New York: Variety, Inc. October 19, 1938. p. 12.
^ "Reviews of the New Films". Film Daily. New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.: 7 October 17, 1938.
^ "Brother Rat". Harrison's Reports. New York: Harrison's Reports, Inc.: 70 October 22, 1938.
^ Mosher, John (November 5, 1938). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. New York: F-R Publishing Corp. p. 74.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brother Rat.

Brother Rat at IMDb
Brother Rat at the TCM Movie Database
Brother Rat at AllMovie
Brother Rat at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Review of Brother Rat at TVGuide.com
Brother Rat and a Baby (sequel, 1940) at Internet Movie Database

Films directed by William Keighley

The Match King (1932)
Ladies They Talk About (1933)
Easy to Love (1934)
Journal of a Crime (1934)
Big Hearted Herbert (1934)
Kansas City Princess (1934)
Dr. Monica (1934)
Babbitt (1934)
The Right to Live (1935)
G Men (1935)
Mary Jane's Pa (1935)
Special Agent (1935)
Stars Over Broadway (1935)
The Singing Kid (1936)
Bullets or Ballots (1936)
The Green Pastures (1936)
God's Country and the Woman (1937)
The Prince and the Pauper (1937)
Varsity Show (1937)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Valley of the Giants (1938)
Secrets of an Actress (1938)
Brother Rat (1938)
Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939)
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
The Fighting 69th (1940)
Torrid Zone (1940)
No Time for Comedy (1940)
Four Mothers (1941)
The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
George Washington Slept Here (1942)
Target for Today (1944)
Honeymoon (1947)
The Street with No Name (1948)
Rocky Mountain (1950)
Close to My Heart (1951)
The Master of Ballantrae (1953)

v t e VMI Keydets baseball
Venues	Old Patchin Field (1960s–1987) Patchin Field (1988–2006) Gray–Minor Stadium (2007–present)
Culture & lore	Brother Rat Brother Rat and a Baby
Seasons	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

v t e VMI Keydets basketball
Venues	Cormack Field House (1930s–1981) Cameron Hall (1981–present)
Culture & lore	All-Military Classic Brother Rat Brother Rat and a Baby
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25