Spoiler-lite. In an attempt to save his hotel from foreclosure, Jack Benny (named Bowster but essentially the same character as his famous public persona) recruits a bunch of college kids to put on a big show, and he acquires funding for his scheme from a daffy, Greek-obsessed socialite (Mary Boland) who holds the hotel's deed and is led to believe that the kids are going to be paired up to create a perfect "super-race." Gracie "Calliope" Allen is the loony daughter of a eugenics professor charged with pairing off the couples but the kids themselves have their own ideas about whom they should be coupling with...
The big attractions here are radio stars and real-life friends Benny, Burns and Allen in their second and final movie pairing (though they continued to appear together on radio and television over the next few decades). Benny, forever preoccupied with the song "Love in Bloom," isn't as sharp as in his radio/TV shows (or even the notorious "The Horn Blows at Midnight"), but he still has plenty of funny moments. Gracie's as loopy as ever (taking the measurements of every man she encounters in hopes of finding her perfect Apollo - and continuously misreading the tape measure as "32") and George is appropriately flummoxed. It's a full half hour before George and Gracie enter the picture (in a horse-drawn chariot driven by Gracie) but in terms of comedy, they fare much better than Benny.
The movie's other subplots revolve around the romances of Leif Erickson/Marsha Hunt and Johnny Downs/Eleanore Whitney, as well as the the butch Martha Raye, whose mother has raised her to remain virginal. Erickson and Hunt get most of the screen time, but it's Raye who steals the show, singing, dancing and fending off the advances of various men -- most notably comedian Ben Blue, the hotel's electrician, who becomes smitten with her. There's a lot of stuff going on in this zany, zippy comedy!
The music, primarily penned by the guys behind Benny's theme song, also deserves mentioning because there's not a weak link in the chain. "(Enchanted) I Adore You" and "The Sweetheart Waltz" are both beautiful love songs for Erickson and Hunt's characters. "Rhyme for Love" is a gibberish-filled little ditty for Downs and Whitney that one could literally tap their toes to; and Martha Raye sings the showstoppers "So What?" and "Who's That Knocking at My Heart?"
Another reviewer could only focus on the self-perceived negative, and I feel the need to address that. Eugenics, a scientific hypothesis that the genetic makeup of mankind could be improved, has since been inextricably linked in public consciousness to Adolph Hitler (who went a step beyond by eliminating undesirables). In absolutely no way does this film endorse Nazism; as a matter of fact, it portrays everyone with a belief in eugenics as a few pancakes short of a full stack. Additionally, the movie ends with the kids performing a minstrel show. Minstrel shows had been around for a century at that point and were famous for performers appearing in blackface - but once again, it wasn't until decades later that blackface was deemed racially insensitive. Viewing the film in historical context, it wasn't intended to be offensive and quite frankly, it's pretty impressive - one moment Martha Raye's in blackface and suddenly they change the lighting filters and she's white, then b(l)ack again. It's actually a shame that they did the blackface bit because it incites discomfort in modern audiences (myself included) and that's unquestionably why the film spent so many years out of circulation.
With 7 writers (4 credited), the film feels a bit disjointed, doubtlessly a lot of footage hit the cutting room floor (a thoroughly WTF color lobby card features Benny submerged in water trying to hitch a boat ride from Hunt) and the ending is completely abrupt (with Benny directly addressing the audience to wrap up the story). In the end, it's not exactly a lost gem but there are a lot of fun gags and great performances, and I'm delighted that TCM has recently unearthed this kooky rarity!
The big attractions here are radio stars and real-life friends Benny, Burns and Allen in their second and final movie pairing (though they continued to appear together on radio and television over the next few decades). Benny, forever preoccupied with the song "Love in Bloom," isn't as sharp as in his radio/TV shows (or even the notorious "The Horn Blows at Midnight"), but he still has plenty of funny moments. Gracie's as loopy as ever (taking the measurements of every man she encounters in hopes of finding her perfect Apollo - and continuously misreading the tape measure as "32") and George is appropriately flummoxed. It's a full half hour before George and Gracie enter the picture (in a horse-drawn chariot driven by Gracie) but in terms of comedy, they fare much better than Benny.
The movie's other subplots revolve around the romances of Leif Erickson/Marsha Hunt and Johnny Downs/Eleanore Whitney, as well as the the butch Martha Raye, whose mother has raised her to remain virginal. Erickson and Hunt get most of the screen time, but it's Raye who steals the show, singing, dancing and fending off the advances of various men -- most notably comedian Ben Blue, the hotel's electrician, who becomes smitten with her. There's a lot of stuff going on in this zany, zippy comedy!
The music, primarily penned by the guys behind Benny's theme song, also deserves mentioning because there's not a weak link in the chain. "(Enchanted) I Adore You" and "The Sweetheart Waltz" are both beautiful love songs for Erickson and Hunt's characters. "Rhyme for Love" is a gibberish-filled little ditty for Downs and Whitney that one could literally tap their toes to; and Martha Raye sings the showstoppers "So What?" and "Who's That Knocking at My Heart?"
Another reviewer could only focus on the self-perceived negative, and I feel the need to address that. Eugenics, a scientific hypothesis that the genetic makeup of mankind could be improved, has since been inextricably linked in public consciousness to Adolph Hitler (who went a step beyond by eliminating undesirables). In absolutely no way does this film endorse Nazism; as a matter of fact, it portrays everyone with a belief in eugenics as a few pancakes short of a full stack. Additionally, the movie ends with the kids performing a minstrel show. Minstrel shows had been around for a century at that point and were famous for performers appearing in blackface - but once again, it wasn't until decades later that blackface was deemed racially insensitive. Viewing the film in historical context, it wasn't intended to be offensive and quite frankly, it's pretty impressive - one moment Martha Raye's in blackface and suddenly they change the lighting filters and she's white, then b(l)ack again. It's actually a shame that they did the blackface bit because it incites discomfort in modern audiences (myself included) and that's unquestionably why the film spent so many years out of circulation.
With 7 writers (4 credited), the film feels a bit disjointed, doubtlessly a lot of footage hit the cutting room floor (a thoroughly WTF color lobby card features Benny submerged in water trying to hitch a boat ride from Hunt) and the ending is completely abrupt (with Benny directly addressing the audience to wrap up the story). In the end, it's not exactly a lost gem but there are a lot of fun gags and great performances, and I'm delighted that TCM has recently unearthed this kooky rarity!