Charley's Aunt (1941) Seeing the star-studded comedy epic
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World a few weeks ago has resparked my love of classic comedy. I didn't discover Jack Benny until later in life, but I couldn't be a bigger fan of his work. He's one of the few older generation of comedians that makes me laugh as loud as any thing being produced today. I've had this film on my Netflix queue for a while, and finally just moved it up to the top spot so I could get a little Jack Benny fix. The basic selling point of this movie is: Jack Benny in drag. That's all I needed, I was sold!
Charley's Aunt is actually a stage play translated to the silver screen. It's a wacky, madcap farce where every ridiculous situation results in more ridiculous situations. Jack Benny doesn't play his "Jack Benny" character here, but he's still great a little out of his element carrying a full length motion picture. I couldn't do justice trying to relate the storyline to you...
here's a random page with a summary and more on the movie.
Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959) I've never really been a fan of The Three Stooges. I've seen a few of their shorts, but I just never really got it. They have a credited appearance in
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and I was looking forward to giving them another look - however they only appear for one very brief moment in the movie and they don't do anything. (However, just the sight of them got a huge laugh in the theatre.) So, I went hunting for some more Three Stooges to get a taste of their work now that I'm a sophisticated patron of classic comedy. Turner Classic Movies ran this sci-fi themed big screen outing during a day of space travel films on the anniversary of the Moon Landing. Nobody goes to the moon in
Have Rocket, instead the three clumsy janitors end up accidentally launching themselves into space and head to Venus. Once on Venus, the boys meet...who else?...a talking unicorn. After a rollicking song with the unicorn, the Stooges find themselves trapped in a giant bird cage by a robot wearing three pairs of dish washing gloves. Larry, Moe and Curley end up getting back to Earth, just in time to be honored as heroes at a swanky party where Curley winds up having a giant spring attached to his rear end and casing a pie fight to break out. As you can guess from that summary, I rather enjoyed this fine film. I still don't get the physical humor of Moe smacking and hitting his two friends all the time, but the Three Stooges have a comic timing and charm just like Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello and all the other great comedians of cinema's early years.
Stormy Weather (1943) I rented this because Netflix has Eddie "Rochester" Anderson listed in the cast. Anderson played Jack Benny's valet, Rochester, on Benny's radio and television program as well as a few films. (He also appears in
Mad, Mad, World). Sadly, he's not actually in
Stormy Weather, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this musical comedy. This lightweight film is loosely based on the life of dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. I had been familiar with Robinson through clips in various documentaries over the years so it was nice to actually see one of his films. He's an amazing dancer and a great entertainer with a captivating screen presence and one pair of amazing feet! Another one of my favorite old school entertainers, Cab Calloway, shows up half way through the picture and brings down the dump with several fantastic musical numbers. This was also my introduction to Fats Waller, a popular jazz pianist of the time who wrote (and performs here) the standard
Ain't Misbehavin. I'm looking forward to discovering more of Fats Waller's work. This film does include a few of the ugly stereotypical images that were part of the landscape of Hollywood during that era. According to a 1943 review of the film in the
New York Times 20th Century Fox advertised the film as "a cavalcade of Negro entertainment" while the Times itself said the movie featured "an abundance of the show world's leading colored talent". Unbelievable today that those words would be in print, but it shows the mindset of the country back in those days.
Charley's Aunt (1941) Seeing the star-studded comedy epic It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World a few weeks ago has resparked my love of classic comedy. I didn't discover Jack Benny until later in life, but I couldn't be a bigger fan of his work. He's one of the few older generation of comedians that makes me laugh as loud as any thing being produced today. I've had this film on my Netflix queue for a while, and finally just moved it up to the top spot so I could get a little Jack Benny fix. The basic selling point of this movie is: Jack Benny in drag. That's all I needed, I was sold! Charley's Aunt is actually a stage play translated to the silver screen. It's a wacky, madcap farce where every ridiculous situation results in more ridiculous situations. Jack Benny doesn't play his "Jack Benny" character here, but he's still great a little out of his element carrying a full length motion picture. I couldn't do justice trying to relate the storyline to you...here's a random page with a summary and more on the movie.
Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959) I've never really been a fan of The Three Stooges. I've seen a few of their shorts, but I just never really got it. They have a credited appearance in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and I was looking forward to giving them another look - however they only appear for one very brief moment in the movie and they don't do anything. (However, just the sight of them got a huge laugh in the theatre.) So, I went hunting for some more Three Stooges to get a taste of their work now that I'm a sophisticated patron of classic comedy. Turner Classic Movies ran this sci-fi themed big screen outing during a day of space travel films on the anniversary of the Moon Landing. Nobody goes to the moon in Have Rocket, instead the three clumsy janitors end up accidentally launching themselves into space and head to Venus. Once on Venus, the boys meet...who else?...a talking unicorn. After a rollicking song with the unicorn, the Stooges find themselves trapped in a giant bird cage by a robot wearing three pairs of dish washing gloves. Larry, Moe and Curley end up getting back to Earth, just in time to be honored as heroes at a swanky party where Curley winds up having a giant spring attached to his rear end and casing a pie fight to break out. As you can guess from that summary, I rather enjoyed this fine film. I still don't get the physical humor of Moe smacking and hitting his two friends all the time, but the Three Stooges have a comic timing and charm just like Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello and all the other great comedians of cinema's early years.
Stormy Weather (1943) I rented this because Netflix has Eddie "Rochester" Anderson listed in the cast. Anderson played Jack Benny's valet, Rochester, on Benny's radio and television program as well as a few films. (He also appears in Mad, Mad, World). Sadly, he's not actually in Stormy Weather, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this musical comedy. This lightweight film is loosely based on the life of dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. I had been familiar with Robinson through clips in various documentaries over the years so it was nice to actually see one of his films. He's an amazing dancer and a great entertainer with a captivating screen presence and one pair of amazing feet! Another one of my favorite old school entertainers, Cab Calloway, shows up half way through the picture and brings down the dump with several fantastic musical numbers. This was also my introduction to Fats Waller, a popular jazz pianist of the time who wrote (and performs here) the standard Ain't Misbehavin. I'm looking forward to discovering more of Fats Waller's work. This film does include a few of the ugly stereotypical images that were part of the landscape of Hollywood during that era. According to a 1943 review of the film in the New York Times 20th Century Fox advertised the film as "a cavalcade of Negro entertainment" while the Times itself said the movie featured "an abundance of the show world's leading colored talent". Unbelievable today that those words would be in print, but it shows the mindset of the country back in those days.
1 comment:
Jack Benny is amazing. I keep trying to make Jack Benny references at work, but most people here haven't even HEARD of him.
I can understand if you've never seen his movies or TV show, but, really?! You've never even heard the name "Jack Benny?"
...Did you at least see his Warner Bros. cartoon, little infant?
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