Man About Town (1939)

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.

A Jack Benny vehicle, this film is very watchable even after all these years. Jack Benny, though not as funny as he's supposed to be here, does his job well. One feels like putting an arm over his shoulders watching him being so kind with no success to win Dorothy Lamour.Now, Dorothy Lamour...how can someone NOT like her? She's beautiful, exotic looking but at the same time very down-to-earth. She also possesses a beautiful contralto singing voice and has a great acting talent. Her part was supposed to be Betty Grable's at the time, but well, it went to her. So be it...she's great.The beautiful Betty Grable, unfortunately, is not seen very much here. She has a short song, though, but so short you don't even have time to realize she's on the screen displaying her shapely legs and sparkling personality! A SHAME! Watch for Eddie Anderson! He's the real star in this film and immediately steals the show completely! He's funny, totally into his character and so likable. And he does 2 solo dancing numbers.As for the plot, well, it is messy. It seems the producer wanted to put as many actors as he could in one same movie and had many parts written on the corner of a table at the last minute to put them in the movie. The result is not, therefore, always effective. But, even with this fault, the movie stays very watchable and sports a classy looks.See it.

There is a persistent rumor that Jack Benny only made one good film in his career: Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE. Actually, the radio and television comedy star did make other comedies that were worth watching - most notably CHARLIE'S AUNT , IT'S IN THE BAG and LOVE THY NEIGHBOR (both with Benny's radio feud partner Fred Allan), and GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE (with Anne Sheridan and Charles Coburn - a kind of dry run for Cary Grant and Myrna Loy's MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAMHOUSE). But he certainly made one or two serious misfires: BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN and THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT (the last one even Benny realized was awful).MAN ABOUT TOWN was typical of the rut that Benny frequently fell into. Because of his radio personality, the movies rarely thought of experimenting with him in a variety of roles. Different aspects of his cheap tightwad and his narcissistic would-be great lover popped up in many of his films, even his best ones. In MAN ABOUT TOWN he is a musical comedy star and producer in London, playing opposite Dorothy Lamour (whom he is in love with). But she is tired of his finding excuses not to marry her, so she is cold shouldering him. Benny tries to get her back in line by showing too much attention to Binnie Barnes, an English aristocrat. Barnes, upon the advise of Isobel Elsom, reciprocates to make her husband, Edward Arnold, jealous. As is pointed out in another of the reviews, Elsom is determined to reignite her husband's (Monte Wooley) jealousy the same way. Benny is not upset by this development - besides making Lamour smolder (as he hopes) he is getting a lot of publicity for his new show (which has a final musical number where Benny is a potentate with a harem).Arnold and Wooley both are certain that each other is the cuckold here, but when they both realize that both of their wives have been seemingly carrying on with Benny, they both decide to rid the world of him. So while on stage in that final number, Benny sees both men standing side by side with murder in their eyes, and makes a fair shambles of his show's finale. Lamour and Benny's faithful valet/factotum Eddie Anderson save his bacon.It is amusing at points, and besides "Rochester" it is of interest to Benny and old radio fans to see his first "juvenile" singer, Phil Harris, in the film too. But it is little more than a mild amusement. See it once, and that is all there is to it. Amusing but not a film for the ages.

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.