SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 7 July 1939 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 28 June 1939. U.S. release: 7 July 1939. Australian release: 30 September 1939. Sydney opening at the Prince Edward (as the top half of a double bill with Robert Florey's "B", The Magnificent Fraud) where the movie failed so miserably it was replaced in the middle of its third week by Death of a Champion. 9 reels. 85 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An American producer is in love with the leading lady of the show he is staging in London. Unfortunately, his love is not reciprocated. He decides to make her jealous by romancing other women.COMMENT: Lavishly produced, beautifully mounted musical displaying the superlative ability of comedians Jack Benny (who is in every scene of the movie but one) and Rochester to overcome the restraints of an indifferent, old-hat plot cooked up by Morrie Ryskind (a gag-writer for the Marx Brothers). Benny and Anderson manage to keep the fur flying magnificently right through a series of long, long openings until the first musical number finally comes along. It's the most tuneful in the movie, "That Sentimental Sandwich", and nicely rendered by Lamour with a bit of skilful assistance from Harris and Rochester. Those deservedly popular crowd-pleasers Monty Woolley, Edward Arnold and Binnie Barnes (and E.E. Clive) then come on to bolster the comic endeavors of our heroes until the next stand-out interlude, "Fidgety Joe", somewhat tepidly sung by Betty Grable (also with a bit of strong assistance from the omnipresent Phil Harris) and most vibrantly danced by the delightfully gifted Rochester.The Merriel Abbott Dancers are wisely saved for a spectacular musical climax where they disport themselves in colorful costumes through the melodic "Strange Enchantment" (sung by Lamour), whilst Rochester shuffles up a storm in another standing-ovation solo spot. The pin-wheeling Merriel Abbotts then return for "Bluebirds in the Moonlight", whilst Benny encores with the Pina acrobats in a tangled routine of mishaps which Danny Kaye later reprised in Knock on Wood.Although just about everyone hated it, I found this entry a delightful show, featuring great stars and some great support players including Cecil Kellaway and Charles Coleman, directed with panache by Mark Sandrich and lustrously photographed by that master of black-and-white texture, Ted Tetzlaff. In my opinion, the Paramount gloss was never finer. And the Edith Head costumes are wonderfully slinky. Lamour never looked more glamorous.

ellaf 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.

David Atfield 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.

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.