Man About Town Film Review

A sweet very innocuous comedy like they used to make. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to the viewer. I found it amiably amusing with a fine cast. Like so many of the comedies of the time it is all based on misunderstandings that pile up on each other like a group of clowns on a skating rink. It is directed by Mark Sandrich with his usual light touch. Sandrich doesn't get much play any more, but he directed five of the Astaire-Rogers musicals as well as Holiday Inn and So Proudly We Hail. His early death at 44 from a heart attack put a sad end to a fine career. He directed two films with Jack Benny - Buck Benny Rides Again and this one. Basically, it feels like he just lets Benny be Benny. Benny was already a huge star but mainly on the radio with his The Jack Benny Program that ran for 23 years. His shtick was ingrained - parsimonious, a horrible violin player, poking fun at Rochester and his famous slow reaction shots. He has a few beauts in this film. He is good here but he allows Rochester to steal the show.

Eddie Rochester Anderson. Benny's much beloved sidekick for decades through radio, movies and TV. His gravelly voice, vaudeville training and bantering with Benny (usually getting the better of him) was classic. What made it special for the time was that he was black. I can't think of anything else like their working together for so many years. He made an appearance on Benny's show and Benny just took to him and kept bringing him back till he became a regular. It was as his butler admittedly but as equals when joking back and forth. He gets to do two musical numbers in this and one of him doing a few fancy steps is terrific. And he is just one of the talents - throw in Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold, Binnie Barnes, Monty Wooley, Phil Harris, Betty Grable and E.E. Clive and you have a full house of talent. Literally a full house as they all end up in one.

Benny has brought a musical revue over to London and is madly in love with the star played by Lamour. Among the chorus girls is Betty Grable who gets a song. She was just about to hit it out of the ballpark with a series of hits - Million Dollar Legs, Down Argentine Way, Tin Pan Alley and Moon Over Miami. In one cute moment she blackmails Benny into agreeing to let her dance in the show. "But you can't dance". "I know". Grable always said she was at best a fair dancer with nice legs. Lamour doesn't return the sentiments and so Benny schemes to make her jealous by playing up to another female. She turns out to be a Lady and unknown to him married to a financial kingpin. She is played by Binnie Barnes with a face so sharp, I think it could cut through cheese. They all end up at Arnold's country house where he and his partner (Woolley) think Benny is trying to seduce their wives and Benny pretends to be in love with Grable. A lot of nonsense but Rochester is around for levity and it being a musical revue, there are a bunch of so-so musical numbers.