Fluentiama
Perfect cast and a good story
SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
Stephan Hammond
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
mark.waltz
An old vaudeville gag has a wife hiding her lover in her closet as her husband comes home unexpectedly, and when he goes to the closet, the lover claims he's waiting for a streetcar as one arrives in the nick of time. This is nothing more than an almost plotless musical comedy about an American theatrical producer (Jack Benny) in London who accepts the invitation of a neglected wife (Binnie Barnes) to come to her country estate for the weekend to make her husband (Edward Arnold) jealous. He's already upset because the musical comedy star he's in love with (Dorothy Lamour) loves somebody else (Phil Harris). Then there's "Rochester", aka Eddie Anderson, Benny's wise-cracking but loyal valet who gives Mr. Benny as good as it takes. Toss in Betty Grable in a pointless role as a chorus girl and you've got the ingredients for a comical pie where sadly the fruit has been left out.Some lavish production numbers are interspersed, but other than the luxurious art decco look, they are not really all that memorable. The best scenes of course involve Benny and Rochester's interactions, especially a huge meal where the dateless Benny refuses to allow Rochester to partake of it until he is dumped by Lamour and turned down by Grable and her chorus girl friends who would rather spend an evening with their Aunt Tilly than with Jack. The rapporteur between Benny and Robinson might often seem subservient from Rochester's point of view, but it becomes very clear that Benny would be absolutely lost without him and that Rochester is greatly aware of that. Isabel Jeans ("Gigi") and Monty Woolley ("The Man Who Came to Dinner") have inconsequential supporting parts as members of Barnes' and Arnold's social set, with Jeans very comical in her over the top French accent as the instigator of Barnes' deception. Barnes is urbane and sophisticated, and Arnold his usually gregarious self, very funny in a scene where Barnes brags about her lunch with Benny as he basically responds, "That's nice, dear". Of course, when all becomes clear to him, it's a different story, and Arnold spends much of the rest of the film trying to shoot Benny for messing with his wife. Unlike other comics of the time, it appears to me that Benny simply tried to repeat the success of what he was doing on radio, not really thinking that audiences at the movies wanted something more solid than gags and a couple of decent songs. It isn't bad, but I wouldn't call Benny a threat at Paramount to anything his good friend Bob Hope had been doing already.
jhboswell
I found this movie enjoyable, with great performances from some great people. There is no pretense of high art, or even an attempt at it; but mostly, I believe, intended as a vehicle for the great radio star Jack Benny. Typical late-Depression fare: and very important So don't expect too much, and you'll be pleased.
irishfou
without getting into all the downer reviews, I watched this movie and delighted in the characters...Jack Benney was funny, Phil Harris was great, Dottie Lamour was THE girl of 1939, she is alluring, exotic, classy, and sings like an angel. Betty Grable is gorgeous and Edward Arnold and Monty Wooley do superb supporting comedy characters. The show becomes very memorable when they show the stage acts. The singing is terrific and Eddie Anderson (Rochester) is the true highlight. He is on of the greatest hoofers I have ever seen, he is graceful and modern. The chorus lines were full of great routines and beauty. I bought the movie and I'd buy it again. I could easily give it a 10 but it didn't have enough Lamour.
Arthur Hausner
This film was a big nostalgia trip for me, having listened to Jack Benny's radio program in the late 30's and also having watched his program later when it transferred to television. His films were often silly, but knowing his personality and those of the rest of the radio cast made them enjoyable. This film fits that mold, as he brought with him Eddie Anderson and Phil Harris, two of the show's regulars. Benny and Anderson had great rapport that transferred to the screen beautifully. Anderson's character on the show and in this film was as Benny's wise-cracking valet, Rochester, and the name was so well-known that he's billed here in the opening credits simply as "Rochester," although the end credits lists him as Eddie Anderson. I was amazed at his versatility when he does two jazzed up dances in the film, which alone makes the film worth watching. The plot has Benny as an actor and producer in London, trying to make time with his star, Dorothy Lamour, by wooing Lady Binnie Barnes to get Lamour jealous, while Barnes uses Benny to get her husband, Edward Arnold, jealous and more attentive. That scheme was suggested by French friend Isabel Jeans, who does the same thing, since her husband, Monty Woolley, is likewise inattentive. The funniest sequence of the movie has Arnold and Woolley each seeing Benny kiss the other man's wife and keeping mum about it. But when the truth comes out, both are out to kill Benny.The movie is sprinkled with musical numbers throughout, with Lamour, Harris and Betty Grable providing nice vocals for relatively forgettable songs, The Pina Troupe doing some acrobatics and the Merriel Abbott Dancers dancing, all to the music of Matty Malneck's orchestra. When you hear Benny butcher the song "Love in Bloom" on his violin, you should know that it was a running gag on his show to appreciate the humor. Isabel Jeans and Eddie Anderson are both standouts, with the rest of the supporting cast in good form. This is not a great movie, but it is certainly an enjoyable one.
