Charley's Aunt (1941)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Umpteen film versions of the classic farce have been filmed, and this one (along with the rarely seen musical version) ranks as the most famous. Jack Benny is about as British as I am, but he delightfully parodies the eccentricities of his fellow Oxford residents, mincing deliciously when he is forced to dress up as Whistler's Mother to be a chaperon for his roommates and their lady friends. Pretending to be one of their aunts, he is unprepared for the real aunt's arrival, she being totally amused by his identity theft and the fact that the faker couldn't be any more different than she is. She's the lovely Kay Francis, and he looks like something that would turn a cucumber into a pickle without the use of vinegar.It's surprising to see Richard Haydn in a straight romantic role considering his comic character parts in films like "Sitting Pretty" and "The Sound of Music". Joined by the handsome James Ellison, they are excellent comic agitators to Benny's blackmailed female impersonator. Anne Baxter and Arleen Whelan are appropriately giddy young girls mostly utilized as window dressing, but oh, what a view... Francis turns a small role (approximately 20 minutes on screen) into a nice return to "A" films after being neglected in her last years at Warner Brothers and reminds how charming she was in light hearted roles. Eccentric portrayals by Edmund Gwenn (hysterically chasing Benny), Reginald Owen and Laird Cregar (having to get blitzed to romance Benny's female character) are excellently bumbling and filled with droll humor.I should mention the British version made around the same time called "Charley's Big-Hearted Aunt" with Arthur Askey which is not as well known in the States but very funny in a different way with some twists not used in the other versions.

My wife and I tried to watch this thing last night and we didn't get any further than 40 minutes into it. This thing was painfully unfunny. I have been listening to mp3s of the old Jack Benny radio program during my daily commute for the past few months and the man was brilliant on the radio. That show is classic and the man was great on it. So, that's why I rented Charly's Aunt--to see some of that brilliance on the screen. Well, I think Benny was trying, but there was just nothing working right in this slow, stagy, talky, stiff, loud attempt at farce. The distractingly bad English accents from the mainly American cast aside, there simply wasn't a single laugh in the 40 minutes I was able to get through. And I usually LOVE the old classic B&W comedies. I could see where they were trying to go with a few of the jokes, but the timing of the performances were so off that even those weak attempts were crushed. And the director never seemed to know when to stop a scene or where to put the camera either. The movie was so lamely incoherent that I spent most of my time trying to figure out what the people who made it even thought was supposed to be funny. Rent one of the classic farces like Arsenic and Old Lace, or one of Howard Hawk's screwball comedies, or even one of the Old Bob Hope comedies from the 40s and you'll see how it's supposed to be done. The people who gave this more than one star saw a different film than I did!

A couple reviewers have commented that this film is not available, though it is now available on DVD. Unfortunately, some of Jack Benny's other films (such as THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD) are not.Jack Benny plays perhaps the oldest college student ever filmed. At 47 years of age, casting this comedian seemed like an awfully big stretch. Through a series of mistakes, Benny pretends to be a rich widow in order to avoid being kicked out of college. Unfortunately, this ruse snowballs when two men fall for "her" and the real lady widow appears on the scene! CHARLEY'S AUNT is a film that is based on a play produced in 1892 and has been filmed on several occasions. This is the second American sound version and it is quite polished and clever (with an excellent supporting cast)--though the film also shows a bit of its age. While funny, it also seemed rather old fashioned and familiar--perhaps too familiar--with much similarity to many other films involving a man dressing up as a lady. Perhaps in 1941 it was a hit, but today it just seemed very reminiscent of too many other films, such as SOME LIKE IT HOT and TOOTSIE--both of which are better films. One of the main reasons is not just the script but Benny seemed miscast due to his age AND he just didn't look or sound like a lady. Dustin Hoffman and Jack Lemmon definitely seemed more suited for their parts.Still, despite these shortcomings, it's a pleasant time-passer and a film that is hard to hate.

Jack Benny is "Charley's Aunt," in this 1941 film version of the famous play, one of several film re-creations that exist. Benny plays Fancourt Babberly, a somewhat older student at a British university in the late 1800s who, through a series of complications, winds up playing Donna Lucia of Brazil, the aunt of another student, Charley, because Charley and his friend Jack need a chaperone in order to have the dates they've planned. The late-arriving aunt is actually portrayed by the lovely Kay Francis, and wait until you catch the look on her face when she sees what's been impersonating her. As ridiculous looking as Fancourt looks in his drag attire, he manages to win the hearts of both the ward of one of the young women and the father of Jack Chesney, who pursue him relentlessly. Fancourt, meanwhile, finds the real Donna Lucia quite a strudel.There's nothing like a man in drag for laughs, and when the man is Jack Benny, watch out! Benny, famous for his long takes, is delightful here, and what makes him even funnier is that every once in a while, he says one word or another with a British pronunciation in the middle of a sentence where he's using his typical American accent. It had to be on purpose.The DVD of the film has a short publicity reel shown in theaters called "Three of a Kind," which has Benny in the 20th Century Fox commissary trying to explain his role to Tyrone Power and Randolph Scott as a bellhop asks his approval on a girdle, a dress and shoes. It's very good.Jack Benny was a wonderful actor and comedian with a great, dry, sometimes exasperated delivery. He made audiences laugh for years. Thanks to the existence of his radio shows and movies, he's still doing it.