Man About Town (1939) User Reviews

Jack Benny and Rochester in an enjoyable and nostalgic comedy despite a silly plot.

[Art-22 · 6/10 · 27 December 1998]

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.

Light Comedy, Fine Fluff

[jhboswell · 8/10 · 4 June 2018]

I found this movie enjoyable, with great performances from some great people. There is no pretense of high art, or even an attempt at it; but mostly, I believe, intended as a vehicle for the great radio star Jack Benny. Typical late-Depression fare: and very important

So don't expect too much, and you'll be pleased.

Man About Town was a fine first screen teaming of radio's comedy pair of Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

[tavm · 8/10 · 23 February 2019]

For much of the '30s, Eddie Anderson had appeared in many films as either a brief extra or somewhat of a supporting character. Then. a few years back before this movie, he became a regular on Jack Benny's radio show as his butler Rochester. In many previous pictures, Anderson had been credited as his own name but because of his fame on the radio program being announced as his character by Don Wilson, he's credited as Rochester in the opening credits though as his own name as playing Rochester by the end credits. For the rest of the Paramount films, it's his character name he's credited as. It's also to the benefit of working for Benny that Eddie has more screen time than previously including performing a couple of dance spots. And as on radio, he and Jack have great chemistry on screen. They're usually the best part of this movie which also has Benny's other co-star from his radio show, Phil Harris, doing his own wisecracking and conducting his band and singing a tune as do also Betty Grable-pre-stardom-wise-and leading lady Dorothy Lamour. I'll stop there and just say I liked the comedy plot about mistaken identity concerning who the Benny character is involved with romantically and many of the troupe dancers that were being showcased here. So that's a recommendation of Man About Town.

Pleasant Fluff - but little else.

[theowinthrop · 6/10 · 5 October 2006]

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.

Lamour never looked more glamorous.

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 4 June 2018]

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.

Weak comedy with forgettable songs.

[David-240 · 5/10 · 19 December 1999]

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.

very very delightful comedy and musical

[irishfou · 9/10 · 2 July 2011]

without getting into all the downer reviews, I watched this movie and delighted in the characters...Jack Benney was funny, Phil Harris was great, Dottie Lamour was THE girl of 1939, she is alluring, exotic, classy, and sings like an angel. Betty Grable is gorgeous and Edward Arnold and Monty Wooley do superb supporting comedy characters. The show becomes very memorable when they show the stage acts. The singing is terrific and Eddie Anderson (Rochester) is the true highlight. He is on of the greatest hoofers I have ever seen, he is graceful and modern. The chorus lines were full of great routines and beauty. I bought the movie and I'd buy it again. I could easily give it a 10 but it didn't have enough Lamour.

what a disappointment

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 26 November 2007]

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.

Another Excellent and Charming Comedy With Jack Benny

[jayraskin1 · 9/10 · 18 October 2019]

I watched Jack Benny on television as child and enjoyed him, but I have only become a real fan in the last five years. I've re-watched all of television, heard most of his radio shows (I've listened from 1932-1951, I have six more years to go) and watched all of his available movies. Benny often denigrated his acting and movie career on the radio and television shows, but that was part of his act. In fact, I haven't found any movie that he was in that was bad, and most of them, like this one is well-made and fulled with charm. Even the much lambasted "the Horn Blows at Midnight" is a quite watchable comedy which has a twenty minute finale that is as wacky and surreal as anything that the Marx Brothers or Mel Brooks ever did. Anyways, this film is a smorgasbord of delights. Eddie Anderson, Monty Wooly, Binnie Barnes, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Grable, Edward Arnold, and Phil Harris are all delightful. Unfortunately, because the film is only 1 hour and 25 minutes, each of them just get 10 or 15 minutes of screen time and that is a little disappointing. It is like a variety show where each act just does a couple of numbers and you really want to see more. The movie is the only sex farce/comedy that Benny did. Benny was surprisingly handsome and debonair looking for a comedian. Those who just saw him on television (1950-1965) were watching him in his late 50s and 60s, after he had been married for 20 years to the wonderful Mary Livingston. Here he is still 45 years old and quite handsome. While a sex comedy, it is restricted by the Hayes Code to just a few kisses and suggestions of adultery. Benny and the beautiful women around him still make it work. By the way, note that Phil Silvers used Benny's hilarious acrobatic scene at the end of this film in "A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).

Tasteless and dull

[aberlour36 · 1/10 · 5 November 2006]

This is among the worst films ever made by Paramount. It's supposed to be a comedy/musical. But there are no laughs (not even a smile), and the music and the musical numbers are fourth rate. Viewers old enough to have enjoyed the Jack Benny shows on radio and television will find this 1939 movie a great disappointment.

There seems to have been a severe lack of intelligence throughout. The script is inept, Rochester is featured far beyond his talents, Dorothy Lamour and Betty Grable are wasted, and Edward Arnold and Monty Woolley were given embarrassing parts. The racial jabs at Rochester are extraordinarily offensive.

So, The Horn Blows at Midnight was not Jack Benny's worst film.

Messy but classy sympathetic little comedy

[ellaf · 8/10 · 22 December 2006]

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.

One long little sketch about nothing.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 17 August 2018]

An old vaudeville gag has a wife hiding her lover in her closet as her husband comes home unexpectedly, and when he goes to the closet, the lover claims he's waiting for a streetcar as one arrives in the nick of time. This is nothing more than an almost plotless musical comedy about an American theatrical producer (Jack Benny) in London who accepts the invitation of a neglected wife (Binnie Barnes) to come to her country estate for the weekend to make her husband (Edward Arnold) jealous. He's already upset because the musical comedy star he's in love with (Dorothy Lamour) loves somebody else (Phil Harris). Then there's "Rochester", aka Eddie Anderson, Benny's wise-cracking but loyal valet who gives Mr. Benny as good as it takes. Toss in Betty Grable in a pointless role as a chorus girl and you've got the ingredients for a comical pie where sadly the fruit has been left out.

Some lavish production numbers are interspersed, but other than the luxurious art decco look, they are not really all that memorable. The best scenes of course involve Benny and Rochester's interactions, especially a huge meal where the dateless Benny refuses to allow Rochester to partake of it until he is dumped by Lamour and turned down by Grable and her chorus girl friends who would rather spend an evening with their Aunt Tilly than with Jack. The rapporteur between Benny and Robinson might often seem subservient from Rochester's point of view, but it becomes very clear that Benny would be absolutely lost without him and that Rochester is greatly aware of that.

Isabel Jeans ("Gigi") and Monty Woolley ("The Man Who Came to Dinner") have inconsequential supporting parts as members of Barnes' and Arnold's social set, with Jeans very comical in her over the top French accent as the instigator of Barnes' deception. Barnes is urbane and sophisticated, and Arnold his usually gregarious self, very funny in a scene where Barnes brags about her lunch with Benny as he basically responds, "That's nice, dear". Of course, when all becomes clear to him, it's a different story, and Arnold spends much of the rest of the film trying to shoot Benny for messing with his wife. Unlike other comics of the time, it appears to me that Benny simply tried to repeat the success of what he was doing on radio, not really thinking that audiences at the movies wanted something more solid than gags and a couple of decent songs. It isn't bad, but I wouldn't call Benny a threat at Paramount to anything his good friend Bob Hope had been doing already.

A very funny farce in foggy London

[SimonJack · 9/10 · 1 May 2024]

"Man About Town" is a very funny comedy with a wonderful cast of top actors of the day. The plot is a familiar one used in a few other good comedies. A woman is ignored by her husband who is all work and no play. So, to rekindle his interest in her she feigns interest in another man to try to make the hubby jealous and come around. Only, this film multiplies that by two women, and a double reverse with one man, who wants to attract a woman he is in love with. Neither of the last two are married.

This isn't anything like love triangles or quadrangles. It's a jungle gym of geometric figures that may make some howl with laughter while others shake their head in disbelief - or confusion. Still, the plot doesn't lay supposed amorous affairs on too heavily or overboard. So it comes off smoothly - except for some wrinkled faces and egos of the characters.

At the heart of this delicious farce is Jack Benny as Bob Temple. The film works so well because Temple is a real nice guy, a show producer, and decent fellow. He's in love with his leading lady, but she thinks they wouldn't hit it off because of their differences - ergo, his too kind, too polite, too nice and too decent persona.. Had Temple been a playboy or late night partier, the film would have lost much of its allure. Insteasd, the situations that unfold are very, very funny.

Well, I won't say how this develops and unfolds. With Benny in this wonderful farce are his long-time radio accomplices, Rochester and Phil Harris. Harris plays Ted Nash and Eddie Anderson plays Rochester. Anderson was one of the earliest., best and long-lasting African-American comedian. Here, his Rochester matches his boss, Bob Temple's snipes and quips jab for jab. And Rochester has a very good and funny song and dance scene. The other prominent players of the day are Edward Arnold as Sir John Arlington< Monty Woolley as Henri Dubois, and Dorothy Lamour as Temple's leading lady and flame, Diana Wilson. And, Binnie Barnes plays Lady Arlington, Isabel Jeans is Madame Dubois, and E. E. Clive is Hotchkiss, the Arlington's butler. Betty Grable has a small part as Susan Hayes.

The setting for the film is London - that is, foggy London as the opening scene shows. In those early years of movies, producers always seemed to play up London's fog, so many Americans thought of it as foggy most of the time. That's where Bob Temple has brought his show.

I would like to find a better copy of this film than the rough quality of the DVD I bought, because this is a great comedy for a keeper to play for family and friends, and to watch again from time to time - on a foggy or rainy day,. Or just when one needs some laughs.

Well, here are some favorite lines from this film.

Bob Temple, "I'm afraid you don't know much about women, Rochester." Rochester, "Well, I only know the difference between 'I can go for you' and 'How are you?'"

Bob Temple, "Get my hat and coat. And it's the last time I sign a butler to a seven-year contract."

Temple, "Why, they told me inside that the fog had lifted." Hotel Doorman, "Only up to the ankles, sir." Temple, "Oh."

Doorman, "It's about a mile, sir, straight ahead." Temple, "Oh, then all I have to do is follow my nose - if I can find it."

Temple, "Pardon me which way is the railroad station?" Englsh Bobby, "Straight ahead, sir, about thee miles." Temple, "Three miles? How'd they ever move it in this fog?"

Diana Wilson, "Money isn't everything, Rochester. You must have heard that before." Rochester, "Oh, I've heard it before, but I still ain't convinced."

Diana, "I've got half a notion to kiss you." Bob Temple, puckering his iips, "Well, I've got the other half."

Diana, "Oh, but we'd never make a go of it. I'm silly and romantic, and you're so solid and respectable." Bob, "Oh, but uh, Diana, I don't have to be so respectable." Diana, "Bob, you couldn't be anything else but."

Ted Nash, "Let him alone. Any girl is safe with Bob."

Bob, "Rochester, who told you to order all of this?" Rochester, "You did, boss." Bob, "Since when are you taking orders from me?"

Bob, "I'll show her I can be just as big a cad as anybody else."

Bob, "Rochester, you're now looking at a broken down Romeo, as of last night."

Bob Temple, to Lady Arington, "You see, I'm solid and respectable, and you're probably hungry."

Sir John Arlington, "Am I making your nervous?" Bob Temple, "Oh, no, no, no. I'm just trying to get the cup off of the saucer, you know."

Jack Benny and company in the U.K.

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 15 October 2023]

Sometimes a film will just entertain an audience, nothing else. No heavy-handed social messages, no need to make specific points about society. Just entertain. Paramount's MAN ABOUT TOWN with Jack Benny is one such film. It puts the popular comedian alongside some skilled studio contract players, and it reunites him with some of the more well-known personalities from his long-running radio program. In this case, bandleader Phil Harris as well as Benny's sidekick and occasional foil Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, who both transfer over to the big screen from radio.

I wouldn't say this film is laugh out loud funny, but there are some rather amusing bits. Every now and then Mr. Benny can't resist revisiting a joke that didn't work too well the first time, or redoing a gag that is probably past its expiration date. In short, not everything that Jack Benny considers funny is actually funny to the audience, but once a gag is finally finished and we return to the story and Jack's hilarious facial reactions resume, things quickly get back on track.

The story for this 84 minute farce involves Benny playing an American entertainer named Temple, who is basically a fictionalized version of Benny himself. He's in London with his troupe of performers about to put on a show that involves some swing music and sexy gals.

The musical numbers vary in length, and they present the ladies in glamorous shots. Some of the revue numbers expose a lot of female flesh and present some rather risqué ideas, which seem like they belong in a precode that Hollywood would have made several years earlier.

The film's director is Mark Sandrich, having recently moved over to Paramount from RKO where he made five musical comedies with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Sandrich has the right understanding for this type of fluffy material, particularly when it comes to staging musical segments for lead actress Dorothy Lamour and supporting actress Betty Grable. Miss Grable would soon headed over to 20th Century Fox and major stardom. As for Mr. Sandrich, he'd spend the rest of his motion picture directing career at Paramount; these productions rival anything MGM director Vincente Minnelli did in the genre.

Supporting cast members include some of the finest character actors and actresses of this era. Edward Arnold is a larger than life aristocratic businessman negotiating a contract with a French businessman (Monty Woolley). Their wives feel neglected and use Benny's hapless character to make them jealous one weekend at a country estate. One of the wives is played by Binnie Barnes, who has good rapport with Benny. We also have E. E. Clive as a sour-faced British butler and Cecil Kellaway in an uncredited part as a headwaiter. Really and truly, the cream of the crop.

But the biggest scene stealer, of course, is Eddie Anderson as Rochester. He had only been with Benny's radio show for two years and was already quite a fan favorite. Incidentally, this was the first time the Rochester character appeared on screen with Jack Benny. There'd be a few other movie collaborations. It's obvious Benny admired Anderson's talents, since Anderson is given two very memorable musical numbers of his own.

Rochester's first number involves some intricate footwork that seems like a precursor to Michael Jackson's moonwalk. The second number has him dressed in a Middle Eastern costume doing a routine in which he ends up moving around on the floor, which feels like an early form of breakdancing. When Rochester isn't singing and dancing, his comedy shtick is paving the way for later comedians like Flip Wilson. Lots of talent on display in this movie, which is a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half of your time.