oscaralbert Review of Break of Hearts

Break of Hearts (1935)

This is the flick that taught America the difference between a "high-end hoofer" . . .

[7/10 · 8 March 2018]

. . . and a "high-end hooker" (which turns out to be five spots on the alphabet for the second-to-last letter). About an hour into this 80-minute BREAK OF HEARTS musical expose, drunken hot-shot orchestra conductor "Franz" offers all the guys in his "Cosmopolitan Symphony" a crack at knowing his wife "Constance" in the "Biblical Sense." Since the opening credits proclaim that BREAK OF HEARTS is the 801st U.S. film to receive the Merciful Papal Award of Approval (or MPAA #801), we can assume that Connie's hourly rental rate is one of the tidbits of information cut out of its final edit. Of course, Connie is also sloshed when she rattles on about her freebie forays into the World of Adultery for Franz's benefit, an indication that sex and booze go together like "love and marriage" in the Eyes of Rome. Unfortunately, viewers never learn which sin is mortal and which is merely venal: Ending Prohibition, or Fooling Around. Perhaps this Catechismic Ambiguity is what's keeping the AFI from burning BREAK OF HEARTS onto one of its Gold DVDs for distribution to the rest of our Galaxy.