Off the Record

Name: Off the Record
Genre: Drama
Released: 1939-01-21
Duration: 1 h 2 min
Rating: 5.9
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell, Bobby Jordan

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

221

YOUR RATING

Joan Blondell, Pat O'Brien, and Bobby Jordan in Off the Record (1939)

Drama

Two newspaper reporters, Thomas "Breezy" Elliott and Jane Morgan, inadvertently send a boy named Mickey Fallon to reform school after they write an expose of the illegal slot-machine racket ... Read allTwo newspaper reporters, Thomas "Breezy" Elliott and Jane Morgan, inadvertently send a boy named Mickey Fallon to reform school after they write an expose of the illegal slot-machine racket the boy was a spotter for. Guilt-ridden, Jane convinces Breezy that they should marry in o... Read allTwo newspaper reporters, Thomas "Breezy" Elliott and Jane Morgan, inadvertently send a boy named Mickey Fallon to reform school after they write an expose of the illegal slot-machine racket the boy was a spotter for. Guilt-ridden, Jane convinces Breezy that they should marry in order to adopt Mickey so they can get him out of reform school.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

221

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos8

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The setting is suggested as New York City in the very beginning by a few notes of the song "The Sidewalks of New York". In the double exposure of newspaper headlines/marble games (pinball) being destroyed by sledgehammers, the destruction depicts true events. Pinball machines were declared illegal and destroyed in New York City at that time. They remained illegal there until 1976.

Goofs
Set in New York, the train shown taking Jane to the Elvira State School is a Southern Pacific train.

Quotes
Thomas 'Breezy' Elliott: Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I don't mean to hurt you all the time, honestly. I'm daffy about you. I want to marry you. I want you to quit this newspaper racket. Nobody ever reads your column anyway.
Jane Morgan: Flossie out front does!
Thomas 'Breezy' Elliott: Oh, so, Flossie reads it. That's 1 out of a circulation of 1,951,351. That makes you better than a million to one per cent and that's certainly a great record.

Crazy credits
The title card and credits are all headlines and stories appearing in a newspaper.

Connections
Referenced in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)

User reviews9

Review

Featured review

6/10

Reporters adopt an orphan

Pat O'Brien and Joan Blondell play a pair of reporters in Off The Record who take in young Bobby Jordan after his guardian and brother Alan Baxter is picked up o a gambling rap. In fact Baxter is taking a fall for an Arnold Rothstein type of character Morgan Conway. It leaves Jordan in a state orphan asylum for which he blames the reporters.

Eventually as they do in all these city tough kid films made back in the day Jordan does soften especially after they find something that interests him.

Some plot elements from Boystown are found here. Bobby Jordan who usually is in the pack in support of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall in those East Side Kid/Bowery Boys films for maybe the only time in his career Jordan is the main protagonist in a movie. He does well, just like Mickey Rooney in Boys Town.

O'Brien and Blondell play their typical characters as well. Their fans should be pleased.