Cleaver Farce That Still Can Amuse

Posted by Gerald Parker on Oct 16th 2019

I usually avoid Jack Benny's films. His "shticks" can become wearisome pretty quickly. However, some of those movies deserve and outing now and then, and this is one of them. I bought it mainly hoping for a lot of music and, especially, dancing, managed decently enough, and there is some of that kind of hooting and hoofing in the film, although not nearly so much as I had hoped for.

Jack Benny and his pals are pretty funny at the "dude ranch" playing it up being cowboys. However, when real danger appears, they only escape, as one would expect, thanks to some weird turns of circumstance.

The film is in excellent shape in this restoration, the b&w imaging clear and full of vigourous detail, well lit. It is sad that so many reissues of this sort underplay the excellent camera work of originals, but this one, at least, is among those which suffer little from dimming over the years or at the expense of poor copies or bad editing.

If you really LIKE Jack Benny more than I do, this film is all the more recommendable.