The Rounder

Taped a few movies from early in the AM and this film appeared between the two movies. I was surprised to see Jack Benny,( Mr.Bartlett),"To Be or Not to Be",'42, who was very very young, and appearing as a drunk. Benny performed this comical role to perfection, but you have to also consider it was filmed in the 1930's and Jack was trying to become a comic actor in Hollywood which never worked out very well for him on the Big Screen! Mr. Bartlett encounters a very sexy woman who has been stood up by her lover. Dorothy Sebastian,(Ethel Dalton),"The Big Gamble",'69, encounters Mr. Bartlett in her apartment which was very naughty in those days! Great entertaining Classic Film with great Actors from the past!

Here is a rare gem: an early short of Jack Benny. He is supposed to be playing a drunk, a very popular convention of the day, but underplays as ever--no W. C. Fields-type here. His gift is his glib talk, finely honed on the vaudeville stage, and he makes the most of it here. Obviously missing a live audience, which so energized him for later radio and television triumphs, nevertheless he shows complete confidence in the material and in his performance and star quality. Don't expect any fancy movie-making: there are very minimal camera angles and settings. Actually, don't expect very much at all! But, it's a treat to see the young Benny Kubelsky, and to think how funny he became.

"The Rounder" is a very early short with Jack Benny. Like many early talking comedies, this one is very talky and static--mostly because studios really didn't know what to do with stage comics. Also, because of the primitive sound equipment, folks often stood around in these films. In light of this, while "The Rounder" is not a particularly great film, it stacks up reasonably well with similar early talking shorts from other comics like Bob Hope, George Jessel, Smith & Dale and the like.

It begins with a drunk* (Benny) trying to climb into the window of his house, as he cannot find his key. However, it turns out NOT to be his place and the woman inside offers him a bizarre proposition--she'll pay him to pretend to be her husband in public! Where all this goes, you'll just have to see it for yourself.

*Benny's drunk imitation is one of the worst in film history, as he didn't look or sound the least bit drunk. Not an auspicious performance, that's for sure!

A drunk Jack Benny climbs into the wrong window. Dorothy Sebastian wants a husband to serve as an escort in public. She offers Jack the job at a handsome salary.

It's an amusing short, and Jack Benny already has his trademark delivery, honed by years on the vaudeville circuit. It's not much more, because Jack Benny, as we remember him, is not just the performer. He was a collaboration between his skilled writers, his great comic timing and rapport with his audience, his director, and his supporting cast for the character Benny played for so many years on the radio and television, to work with. Here it's just Benny the performer, and while the situation he takes part is absurd, it's not fine-tuned to his abilities and the audience's expectation.

The story is that the best laugh Benny ever got was on his radio show. Mel Blanc, playing a thief, announced "Your money or your life!" This was followed by silence, during which the audience's laughter grew and grew, until Blanc repeated his demand. Benny interrupted him with "I'm thinking!" This was the confluence of all the collaborations I noted above. They could not occur here.

Drunken Mr. Bartlett (Jack Benny) is climbing up a ladder into his bedroom. A police officer catches him, but he's convinced by Bartlett. It turns out that it's not his bedroom after all. Socialite Ethel Dalton is having a tiff with her boyfriend. She vows to marry the next man she meets and that's when Bartlett reveals himself.

It's an early talkie comedy for vaudevillain Jack Benny. He would become a radio star a couple of years after this. Most of this takes place in one room. It's done like a leisurely stage play. The timing is not quite there. It feels slow and hesitant. The weakness in the sound is also detrimental to the comedy. It's early yet. The ending is abrupt. It doesn't allow the last joke to breathe.