SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

slothropgr Most cross-dressing films ("Crying Game" excepted) require a fundamental stretch of the imagination--that Dustin Hoffman, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon (and Tom Hanks for that matter) can all be accepted as women with only a wig, a dress and a falsetto voice. Hoffman took the disguise farther since "Tootsie" was a much milder farce, and almost succeeded, but still there was that voice. Jack Benny in drag requires far more of a stretch than the rest, as he is easily the uuuugliest cross-dresser ever. Wearing only a bad wig and a Mother Hubbard over rolled-up pants (from which much humor derives), he could well have been used as the model for J. Thaddeus Toad's female get-up in Disney's "Wind in the Willows." What makes it funnier is, he's the most reluctant female impersonator of all, and not above mixing it up in most manly fashion with the fellow students who have coerced him into this masquerade. You can get the plot from several other reviews. What's weird is that the two gorgeous ingénues in the flick (one of them Anne Baxter, long before Eve and Nefertiri) spend a lot of time necking with this supposed old lady, and not reluctantly. WE know "she's" a man but THEY don't, yet there they sit smooching it up with "her" and enjoying it. Kinky-winky, as Paul (center square) Lynde used to say. Fortunately for those who find all this a bit too odd even for farce there's the wavishing Kay Fwancis, wavishing indeed, as the title character and reason for all this foolishness, and along with Laird Cregar (playing it straight for once) the calm center of the storm. Quite funny even if some of it is unswallowable.

MartinHafer A couple reviewers have commented that this film is not available, though it is now available on DVD. Unfortunately, some of Jack Benny's other films (such as THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD) are not.Jack Benny plays perhaps the oldest college student ever filmed. At 47 years of age, casting this comedian seemed like an awfully big stretch. Through a series of mistakes, Benny pretends to be a rich widow in order to avoid being kicked out of college. Unfortunately, this ruse snowballs when two men fall for "her" and the real lady widow appears on the scene! CHARLEY'S AUNT is a film that is based on a play produced in 1892 and has been filmed on several occasions. This is the second American sound version and it is quite polished and clever (with an excellent supporting cast)--though the film also shows a bit of its age. While funny, it also seemed rather old fashioned and familiar--perhaps too familiar--with much similarity to many other films involving a man dressing up as a lady. Perhaps in 1941 it was a hit, but today it just seemed very reminiscent of too many other films, such as SOME LIKE IT HOT and TOOTSIE--both of which are better films. One of the main reasons is not just the script but Benny seemed miscast due to his age AND he just didn't look or sound like a lady. Dustin Hoffman and Jack Lemmon definitely seemed more suited for their parts.Still, despite these shortcomings, it's a pleasant time-passer and a film that is hard to hate.

blanche-2 Jack Benny is "Charley's Aunt," in this 1941 film version of the famous play, one of several film re-creations that exist. Benny plays Fancourt Babberly, a somewhat older student at a British university in the late 1800s who, through a series of complications, winds up playing Donna Lucia of Brazil, the aunt of another student, Charley, because Charley and his friend Jack need a chaperone in order to have the dates they've planned. The late-arriving aunt is actually portrayed by the lovely Kay Francis, and wait until you catch the look on her face when she sees what's been impersonating her. As ridiculous looking as Fancourt looks in his drag attire, he manages to win the hearts of both the ward of one of the young women and the father of Jack Chesney, who pursue him relentlessly. Fancourt, meanwhile, finds the real Donna Lucia quite a strudel.There's nothing like a man in drag for laughs, and when the man is Jack Benny, watch out! Benny, famous for his long takes, is delightful here, and what makes him even funnier is that every once in a while, he says one word or another with a British pronunciation in the middle of a sentence where he's using his typical American accent. It had to be on purpose.The DVD of the film has a short publicity reel shown in theaters called "Three of a Kind," which has Benny in the 20th Century Fox commissary trying to explain his role to Tyrone Power and Randolph Scott as a bellhop asks his approval on a girdle, a dress and shoes. It's very good.Jack Benny was a wonderful actor and comedian with a great, dry, sometimes exasperated delivery. He made audiences laugh for years. Thanks to the existence of his radio shows and movies, he's still doing it.

jht176 1941 was the season for two comedies starring the inimitable Jack Benny with Charley's Aunt released in 1941 and the filming of Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not To Be starring Benny and Carol Lombard in what was unfortunately her last film which was released early in 1942.Both are great ensemble films, and both stand the test of time. I find it difficult to say which of Benny's two characterizations I find the better; so, I must group them together as proof that Jack Benny was one of film's best but also one of its most under-appreciated comic actors.Benny is Charley's aunt just as he is Joseph Tura in To Be or Not To Be. Yes, some of Benny's persona with its slow takes that was a mainstay of his TV persona for so many years is evident in both films but, I might add, in entirely different ways and definitely in keeping wit the two roles.Benny is not just Benny but a great actor who has managed to assume the character of the two roles.Charley's Aunt continues to be performed and continues to be filmed; nevertheless, I recommend any film buff and any troupe planning on presenting Charley's Aunt to watch the Jack Benny version again and then again.