When's Your Birthday?

When's Your Birthday is one of a series of low budget comedies that Joe E. Brown did after leaving the comfort and trappings of Warner Brothers. Though the production values leave a lot to be desire, Brown is still pretty funny as the astrological driven idiot who when the planets and stars are favorable can't seem to do anything wrong.

Of course when they're not everything seems to happen to him. It's sort of like Danny Kaye in The Court Jester when he's under that hypnotic spell.

We first meet Brown as a pug fighter who's fighting just so he can earn enough money to become a Doctor of Astrology. It's a surprise to me too that doctorates are given out in this subject. But it turns out he's good at it. Give him a horse's birthday and he can handicap a winner. That's a desirable talent though in the end Brown returns to the fight game. How does it end? For reference see the Cagney-O'Brien film, The Irish In Us from Brown's former studio to find out.

Joe E. Brown gets some good support from Marian Marsh as his sweetheart and Edgar Kennedy as his prospective father-in-law. See how Kennedy gets taken like Lou Costello with predictable results. Ward Bond has a small role as a cop and gamblers Frank Jenks and Minor Watson who see a gold mine in Brown are also good.

Too bad this one didn't have good major studio production values, it would be a classic today.