Buck Benny Rides Again
                                                                                                         
Director: Mark Sandrich
Year: 1940
Rating: 6.0
This is a convivial pleasant film from Jack Benny – a few amusing set pieces and a bunch of songs – two of them large stage numbers. It is the sort of old-fashioned film in which Jack Benny plays Jack Benny, Andy Devine plays Andy Devine, Dennis Day plays Dennis Day, Phil Harris plays Phil Harris, Mary Livingston (her voice) plays Mary Livingston, Don Wilson plays Don Wilson and of course Rochester plays Rochester. All regulars on Benny’s radio show.  Benny is very generous to the other actors, in particular to Rochester who gets two musical numbers and most of the laughs. That is the lovely thing about Benny – he sets up those around him. And makes fun of himself.



This is a little strange in that he plays himself but pursues a woman and yet in real life he was married to Livingston. Clearly, not in this fictional world. He is immediately smitten when Rochester crashes into a taxi and the passenger is Joan (Ellen Drew). He borrows Rochester’s car which is much nicer than his and again crashes into the taxi. Then he messes up her audition as one of a trio of singing sisters (Virginia Dale and Lillian Cornwell). He sends Rochester to their apartment – for three unemployed sisters it is a fairly swank one with a maid – but the sisters are out and he makes a bulls-eye for the black maid. They have a musical number which is fine. Benny waits below for the all clear sign in the pouring rain. It never comes. She is Theresa Harris – one of those sad situations back then – enormously talented and attractive – studied acting and music at UCLA – and then spent most of her career playing maids and usually uncredited. I saw a few clips of her singing and she is amazing. it may not seem like much now but back in 1940 giving two blacks this much quality time was very rare.



Anyways Benny gets talked into going to Nevada by Phil Harris and is taunted by Fred Allen (who had his own popular radio show at the time) that he is a greenhorn. Which he is. When the trio show up to perform at the ritzy hotel Benny persuades Andy Devine to pretend that he is the owner of his ranch, It is all pretty silly as Benny tries the old trick of paying people to pretend to fight with him but they turn out to be real thieves (Ward Bond, Morris Ankrum). That sort of thing. Whenever it slows down a musical number will pop up. Low key and very amiable. Directed by Mark Sandrich who did all those Astaire-Rogers films. Good for a rainy day in Bangkok.