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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Brat remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
You should probably watch The Brat if you have a soft spot for those early 1930s movies where everyone talks like they just drank five cups of coffee. It’s great for anyone who likes a 'fish out of water' story that doesn't take itself too seriously.
If you hate high-pitched yelling or plots that wrap up way too fast, you'll probably find this one annoying. But for the rest of us, it’s a weirdly charming relic.
So, there is this novelist named Alan who thinks he’s very deep. He goes to a night court to find 'real life' inspiration and finds a girl called The Brat getting sentenced for basically being poor and rowdy.
He decides to bring her back to his massive mansion to study her. It's a bit creepy if you think about it too hard, but the movie plays it off as a grand experiment.
His family is not happy about it. His mother looks like she’s smelling something bad the entire time the girl is in the room.
Sally O'Neil plays the girl, and man, she is a lot. She bounces around the furniture and talks at a volume that probably blew out the microphones back in 1931.
I actually liked her energy, even if it’s a bit much. She feels like a real person dropped into a dollhouse full of bored mannequins.
There is this one scene where she’s eating a sandwich and she just looks so genuinely hungry. It’s a tiny thing, but it made me like her more than the writer guy who just watches her with a notebook.
The writer, Alan Dinehart, is okay, but he’s kind of a stiff. He spends most of the movie looking confused that his 'subject' has actual feelings.
The brother, Steve, is way more interesting. He’s played by Frank Albertson, and he actually seems to have fun with the girl instead of just analyzing her like a bug under a glass.
There is a fencing scene that feels like it belongs in a different movie. It goes on for a bit, and you can tell they just wanted to show off that the actors could actually fence.
The house itself is huge and feels empty. It makes the Brat's loud voice echo in a way that’s probably unintentional but works for the story.
It’s directed by John Ford, but don’t expect a big Western. This is very much a stage play that got turned into a movie, so most of it happens in just a few rooms.
The pacing is a bit bumpy. Some scenes feel like they're missing a few seconds at the start or end.
I noticed a few moments where the actors seem to be waiting for their cue. It gives the whole thing a slightly unpolished feel that I actually prefer over the super-slick movies from a few years later like The Sign of the Cross.
It reminds me a bit of Alias Jimmy Valentine in how it handles that transition from silent-style acting to talking.
Some of the jokes are actually funny. Like when the family tries to teach her how to behave and she just makes fun of them.
The ending is very rushed. One minute everyone is fighting, and the next minute, everything is perfectly fine and people are in love.
It’s not a deep movie. It doesn't have much to say about class or society that hasn't been said better elsewhere.
But it’s got spirit. It feels like the people making it were having a good time, even if they weren't sure if the audience would get it.
I think I enjoyed the background characters more than the leads. The butler has some great reactions to the chaos.
If you're bored on a Sunday, give it a look. It’s short, it’s loud, and it’s got a heart of gold under all that 1930s grit.
It’s definitely better than some of the drier stuff from that era, like maybe A Misfit Earl which can be a bit of a slog.
Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s just a nice little story about a girl who refuses to be a research project. And honestly, that's enough.
IMDb 7
1919
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