Waiting for Baby (Short 1941)

Waiting for Baby: Directed by Leslie M. Roush. With Robert Benchley, Charles Kemper. Mr. Benchley examines the pressures faced by expectant fathers.

“Waiting for Baby (1941) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e** 1/2 (out of 4)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a pretty funny Robert Benchley short that once again finds himself behind the desk telling the audience the story. During the story Benchley turns into Joe Doakes, the poor man who constantly finds everything going wrong. This time out he shows up at work only to be given a message that his wife has been rushed to the hospital. Once there he must join the other fathers as they wait in the expecting room where the tension is high and growing higher each minute. Three years earlier Benchley made HOW TO RAISE A BABY, which was a pretty good entry in the u0026quot;How to…u0026quot; series and this here would make a good companion piece with that. I really thought the film hit the majority of the right marks as it makes fun of fathers for all their stress and does so in a good fashion. There are quite a few funny moments but one of the best deals with a jerk of a father who keeps going off on the other fathers in the room. Another funny moment happens when Doakes thinks itu0026#39;s his turn but it turns out the nurse calls him out of the room for something else. The final gag is extremely funny but I wonu0026#39;t ruin it for those who havenu0026#39;t seen the film. Once again Benchley does a nice job with the role of Doakes as that nervous twitch he has perfectly comes across in this role.”