Man About Town

This is among the worst films ever made by Paramount. It's supposed to be a comedy/musical. But there are no laughs (not even a smile), and the music and the musical numbers are fourth rate. Viewers old enough to have enjoyed the Jack Benny shows on radio and television will find this 1939 movie a great disappointment.

There seems to have been a severe lack of intelligence throughout. The script is inept, Rochester is featured far beyond his talents, Dorothy Lamour and Betty Grable are wasted, and Edward Arnold and Monty Woolley were given embarrassing parts. The racial jabs at Rochester are extraordinarily offensive.

So, The Horn Blows at Midnight was not Jack Benny's worst film.

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.

I watched Jack Benny on television as child and enjoyed him, but I have only become a real fan in the last five years. I've re-watched all of television, heard most of his radio shows (I've listened from 1932-1951, I have six more years to go) and watched all of his available movies. Benny often denigrated his acting and movie career on the radio and television shows, but that was part of his act. In fact, I haven't found any movie that he was in that was bad, and most of them, like this one is well-made and fulled with charm. Even the much lambasted "the Horn Blows at Midnight" is a quite watchable comedy which has a twenty minute finale that is as wacky and surreal as anything that the Marx Brothers or Mel Brooks ever did. Anyways, this film is a smorgasbord of delights. Eddie Anderson, Monty Wooly, Binnie Barnes, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Grable, Edward Arnold, and Phil Harris are all delightful. Unfortunately, because the film is only 1 hour and 25 minutes, each of them just get 10 or 15 minutes of screen time and that is a little disappointing. It is like a variety show where each act just does a couple of numbers and you really want to see more. The movie is the only sex farce/comedy that Benny did. Benny was surprisingly handsome and debonair looking for a comedian. Those who just saw him on television (1950-1965) were watching him in his late 50s and 60s, after he had been married for 20 years to the wonderful Mary Livingston. Here he is still 45 years old and quite handsome. While a sex comedy, it is restricted by the Hayes Code to just a few kisses and suggestions of adultery. Benny and the beautiful women around him still make it work. By the way, note that Phil Silvers used Benny's hilarious acrobatic scene at the end of this film in "A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).

I have always been a big fan of Jack Benny.I was looking forward to watching this film but what a letdown.It was desperately unfunny.There was absolutely no chemistry between him and his co stars.The musical numbers were poor and badly staged.The plot seemed to be a feeble rip off of A Damsel In Distress.Who thought that Edward Arnold was suitable casting as an English aristocrat?Jack Benny was very good in situation comedy but not really at physical comedy.The acrobat sequence is an embarrassment.Lamour is lacking any spark,maybe she was at her best in a sarong.The whole mess limps along to an ending that makes no sense at all.So as has been said elsewhere this makes "The Horn Blows at midnight"seem like a minor classic.

This is a pretty weak effort from Benny and the team. Jack and Rochester try but the material is so unfunny that they don't get very far. Rochester's two dance numbers are the highlights - and Benny's attempt at being a member of an acrobatic troupe is very funny. The rest is pretty dull with some bad casting (Edward Arnold as an English Lord?) and really bad musical numbers. Benny's show would never have made it to Hoboken, let alone London - the songs are just awful. No wonder there are only about twenty in the audience - I guess they were saving on extras. Dorothy Lamour looks bored, but Betty Grable provides a bit of life in a small but memorable role. Also good is E.E. Clive as a butler. And what a fizzer of an ending - it doesn't even make sense.