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This perennial chestnut by Brandon Thomas has been wowing audiences ever since it opened in London in 1882. Charley's Aunt has had numerous stage revivals and more screen versions than most people can remember. When Jack Benny took it on in 1941, nearly 60 years after the London opening, the movie turned into one of his biggest hits. Now, nearly 65 years since the movie opened, it remains one of the funniest, most good-natured and most antic farce comedies around.

Benny plays Babbs Babberley -- Lord Fancourt Babberley -- an aging student at Oxford in the year 1890. His two friends, Jack Chesney (James Ellison) and Charley Wyckham (Richard Hayden), are keen to marry, respectively, Kitty Verdun (Arleen Whelan) and Amy Spettigue (Anne Baxter). The girls are beautiful and sweet, and as shallow as tea saucers. But old skinflint Stephen Spettigue (Edmund Gwen), Kitty's ward and Amy's uncle, will have none of it. He will lose his income from Kitty's fortune when she marries. Then there is Jack's father, Sir Francis Chesney (Laird Cregar), who has inherited a title which has more debts attached than income. When the girls come to call on the two boys in their rooms at Oxford, it is essential that they have a chaperone. For reasons too complicated to explain, the chaperone, who was to be Charley's aunt, Donna Lucia (Kay Francis) from Brazil, has been delayed (but will shortly show up incognito). The boys blackmail their good friend Babbs to dress up as Donna Lucia and be the required chaperone. Ah, but then old Spettigue learns of Donna Lucia's wealth and decides to do some wooing of his own. Even Sir Francis, reluctantly conceding that an advantageous marriage would help the Chesney exchequer, decides to pursue Donna Lucia. And poor Babbs, now got up in a Victorian gown with corset, wig and fan, must fend them all off...over tea, in the garden, at dinner, by a garden pool, while trying to secretly smoke a cigar, while furtively trying to shave.

Will Jack win Kitty? Will Charley win Amy? Will old Spettigue receive a comeuppance? Most importantly, perhaps, will Babbs wind up marrying Sir Francis or the real Donna Lucia?

Benny plays Babbs with gusto and great timing, and spends most of his time in a dress. It's definitely a Jack Benny movie, but the play itself is so inherently ridiculous and funny, and so good-natured about every bit of stuffy Victorian manners and proper Victorian behavior, that it still works now as great light entertainment...just as the movie worked originally in 1941 and the play has worked for 125 years. I saw a regional production of Charley's Aunt some years ago; it really is a fast and funny farce, and depends heavily on the skill of the actor playing Charley's aunt. The movie, like the play, is funny and silly, and it does no harm.

In addition to Jack Benny, two actors stand out for me. Edmund Gwen as Spettigue provides a classic lesson in how to play farce; utterly serious with the kind of timing that comes from experience. For those who know of Gwen primarily as an avuncular and kindly old Santa Claus, his Spettigue should be a welcome relief. And then there is Laird Cregar, an immensely gifted actor. Cregar was only 25 when he played Jack Chesney's father. The actor who played his son was 31. Cregar was a big man -- 6'3" and 300 pounds -- who disliked the idea of being type-cast as a bad-guy; he longed to be a lead actor. He went on an unsupervised crash diet, quickly shed 100 pounds and shortly after, at 28, died of a heart attack. He made his first movie in 1940 and was dead four years later. He could be so vivid and accomplished on screen that critics still speculate on what he might have accomplished. The movies he was in may not all have been first-rate, but he tended to focus attention whenever he appeared. Two movies which were as good as his talent, in my opinion, are Heaven Can Wait (1943) and I Wake Up Screaming (1941). The Lodger (1944) also stands up well, as I remember it. And although Blood and Sand (1940) is something of a melodramatic stew-pot, Cregar stands out.

And perhaps one of these days the Frank Loesser estate, which I understand owns the rights, will release the 1952 movie Where's Charley?. The problem seems to be that the film, just as the stage production, is generally recognized as Ray Bolger's Where's Charley?, not Frank Loesser's Where's Charley?. Where's Charley was Frank Loesser's first Broadway show, produced in 1948. It featured career-defining performances for Ray Bolger as Charley Wyckham (who plays his own aunt) and Allyn Ann McLerie as Amy. There are some fine Loesser songs, including Once in Love with Amy and My Darling, My Darling. The movie may have its faults but it should be made available.

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.

This is the type of classic movie that should be released on DVD as soon as possible! Fans of turn-of-the-century style English Farce will want to add it to their collection. Jack Benny is superb as is the rest of the cast of this black and white classic that must be seen to be appreciated. 20th Century Fox, PLEASE add this movie to your collection of classic films.

During his life Jack Benny often joked about the poor quality of many of his films, but "Charley's Aunt" doesn't deserve such criticism. This "drag" comedy never drags!

Benny's humor, perhaps a bit subdued for today's audiences, nevertheless shines in "Charley's Aunt." It doesn't hurt that he's in drag for a good part of the movie...A man in a dress can always be counted on for a few laughs!

But the basic story is amusing in itself, with Benny (broadly!) impersonating a maiden aunt and chaperoning for his buddies and their girlfriends. Naturally, there are a couple of older gentlemen who take a fancy to the "aunt" adding more complications to the story.

"Charle's Aunt" is rarely shown on television, but worth a look if you happen to stumble upon it.

Once one accepts the archaically broad comedy conventions at play, this is a very funny film adaptation of the celebrated cross-dressing farce (Joshua Logan's contemporaneous stage version had starred Jose' Ferrer!). Legendary comedian Jack Benny stars as a British lord and longtime Oxford student(!) who is forced by his best friends (James Ellison and a debuting Richard Haydn) to pose as the latter's wealthy Brazilian aunt in order to act as chaperon when meeting their girlfriends. Initially, the uncle (Edmund Gwenn) of one of the girls (a thankless role for Anne Baxter) is contrary to their union but soon changes his tune when he realizes whom Haydn is related to; however, he has to contend with the amorous rivalry of Ellison's own penniless father (Laird Cregar – who, at 25, was younger than his on screen son but, nevertheless, convincingly plays a 51-year old roué)! The fine cast is rounded up by Kay Francis (quite lovely as Charley's real aunt), Reginald Owen (amusing as the hapless Dean) and Claud Allister (hilariously appearing at the start as one of two unperturbed gentlemen spectators at an accident-prone cricket match). Not everything works, alas: Gwenn's character arch from stern guardian to undignified fortune hunter is as hard to take as the bland romance between Baxter and Haydn but, ultimately, Jack Benny's frenzied comic antics triumph over such hurdles.

An interesting extra on the CHARLEY'S AUNT DVD is this fun promotional short which is very rare for films of its era. It finds star Jack Benny taking time off for lunch at the Fox studio mess hall, when he runs first into Tyrone Power and then Randolph Scott. Naturally, they all start talking about their current action-packed projects – with Power enthusiastic about his latest romantic flagwaver A YANK IN THE R.A.F. (1941) and Scott ditto about the Technicolored Western BELLE STARR (1941). However, Benny makes things up in an effort to avoid discussing his current gender-bending role…though he's not helped by the fact that, from time to time, a bellboy turns up with various parts of his feminine outfit seeking the star's approval! When he eventually confesses, it's Power and Scott's turn to sulk as they bemoan their typecasting as rugged action stars and admit to craving juicy parts such as Benny always gets; indeed, for the latter (and the audience's) benefit, they provide background detail about the "Charley's Aunt" play – including the fact that it's one of the most popular (and hilarious) pieces ever written.

I saw this movie about 25 years ago and have never seen it since. I've asked around about it for years, and nobody knows anything about it. Video stores don't carry it, and, of course, the young people who work in these stores have never heard ot it. It stars Jack Benny in what, I believe, is his greatest and funniest movie role. It has stood out in my mind for all these years as a truly hilarious movie, and, when I ran across it in IMDb, I wanted to be sure to add my favorable opinion to the list of comments.

I loved the movie, but like the subscribee above, I haven't seen it in 20 years or so. It's not available on video in any country and I've checked every specialty video line--- no-one has it. The good news is that I'm told someone saw a copy on ebay this week. It's not there now, but if there's one out there, there must be more. Check ebay through October. It's Jack's film best after "To Be or Not to Be" in my opinion and better than "Horn" or "George Washington Slept

Here" (3rd place?) Anyway, If I find one, I'll cheer

Since Brandon Thomas's play Charley's Aunt debuted on the London stage its popularity is unabated to this day. Somewhere in this world there's a stock company doing this material and some actor regaling his audience with the image of that cigar smoking matronly aunt in drag.

For an English play this 1941 version boasts a mixed cast of Americans and English players that 20th Century Fox assembled. Purists would surely object to this mixed cast. But Darryl Zanuck in casting Jack Benny in the lead had guaranteed box office with one of the most popular radio stars around.

James Ellison and Richard Haydn are trying to make time with a pair of young girls visiting Oxford played by Anne Baxter and Arleen Whelan. They kind of blackmail their roommate Jack Benny into donning the drag he will be using for one of the Oxford theater society plays into being Haydn's long lost aunt from Brazil.

Trouble is that the long lost aunt has at the same time turned up in the United Kingdom. Kay Francis for reasons of her own has decided to visit her nephew Richard Haydn at Oxford. After this the story becomes hilariously confusing as both Edmund Gwenn as Baxter's guardian and Laird Cregar as Ellison's father become quite taken with Benny in drag. Think of Joe E. Brown in Some Like It Hot.

Gwenn is an old miser who enjoys a rich income being the guardian of Baxter and her fortune. As for Cregar in real life he was three years younger than Ellison his son. But Cregar was a classically trained character actor could play a variety of parts. Back in the day Charles Laughton whose career Cregar's was starting to resemble said that the censor's could never censor the gleam in his eyes. Cregar had an exponential gleam in this and other parts. Sadly he would die within a few years.

Probably an English production would capture the entire essence of Charley's Aunt. But the British were never blessed to claim Jack Benny as one of their own.

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.

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!

The premises of the movie has been covered in detail, so I won't go into that. The movie starts well, at it of course includes the student's honour aspect. One shouldn't wonder why Bab's didn't point out the actual culprit, and prefer to take the blame on himself, this at least in my hostel days were THE way of life. The movie after promising start, drags just a bit, and especially the two friends seem too callous and selfish, well, not worth being called a friend. They had their problems, but were not ready to adjust, to at least once in a while address to some of the genuine problems of Babs.

Incidentally, Babs any way would have been sheep-herding in New Zealand, had he antagonised his uncle's major client, Mrs Smythe. In fact, Charlie & Co, in their self-centred view, didn't even try to adjust Bab's responsibilities.

But the movie came back to track, once Mr Smythe, kay Francis came to screen. I have seen quite a few of her movies, and liked her, but due to her serious and histrionics (most of them in soap or semi-soap). But after watching this, I have to wonder why her screwball capability was never utilised by Holly? She had as radiant a personality as Rosalind and hogged the screen like her, and watching this one, there is no doubt of her possible success in that field. Why did they miss it ? The points are all for Benny and Kay, the personalities of the four (other) love-birds would be in fact a drag on these two's points. Thankfully they didn't stay for long on screen.

Lousy copy on CD from ebay that wouldn't play all the way through but from what I could see it looked funny. I've seen the 1930 version starring Charlie Ruggles so I already knew the story.

Jack Benny masquerades as Charley's aunt and gets involved in several scrapes while a student at Oxford. Good cast with Jack Benny in one of his best roles. Kay Francis as the real aunt. James Ellison and Richard Haydn as the school friends, Anne Baxter and Arleen Whelan as the girls. Laird Cregar and Edmund Gwenn vie for Benny's hand. Reginald Owen is a professor.

Best scene (I could see) had Cregar teasing Benny with a bottle of champagne and spilling it on a table. Benny (in old lady clothes) leaps onto the table to lick up the booze.....

Oh well.....

The first few scenes of this version of "Charley's Aunt" almost made me not watch the rest of it. Thankfully, things picked up a bit once Jack Benny put on the dress! Sure enough, after doing a little reading about the original play, I found out that those very scenes were in fact different than the original story!

Most of the casting is good, though Benny seems a bit out of place, as does James Ellison. The fake British accents were a bit too much, and thankfully seemed to be forgotten part way through filming. But Benny does an admiral job as Aunt Donna Lucia, especially with the sight gags. Laird Cregar was actually under 30, younger than the man he was playing the father of! The three female leads look stunning in their costumes.

Get past the beginning, and you end up with a fun little movie with some good sight gags.

what a riot this film is,once it gets going.the first 30 minutes are just the setup.from that point on,it's gas.Benny is hysterical in drag.i laughed my but off at his hi-jinks.i even had tears in my eyes at times.this is surely a classic.if not,it should be.Jack Benny of course takes centre stage here,but the supporting performances are very good,as well.it's based on a very successful stage play,but it translates well to the screen.it's also been made into a movie at least once before.if you're a Jack Benny fan,you can't afford to miss this gem.even if you're not a fan of Jack Benny,or don't even know who he is,you should catch this film for the great writing and the slapstick.and it's a good introduction to Benny.for me,Charley's Aunt is a 9/10

I have also looked for a video of this for years and found it recently at the Forgotten Films web site. (Unfortunately, as of 2008 they seem to have gone out of business) The quality of the print is only fair. It is recorded at EP speed, but clear enough to enjoy the fun. Benny is very droll and Kay Francis looks like she's having a lot of fun. Edmund Gwenn turns in an almost madcap performance as well. Also look for Anne Baxter playing the ingénue. I think this is funnier than the Charlie Ruggles version, though the latter comes pretty close. I recommend the video only with the caveat mentioned above - at least it's a way to view the film. It's about time Fox Movie Channel or TCM finally aired this little stage gem on television, and whoever has the rights to it cleans it up and makes it available .

Although Jack Benny is known today more for his radio and television work, the comedian did appear in a number of films during his career. He claimed his personal favorite movie was where he played a cross-dressing older woman in September 1941's "Charley's Aunt." The film marked Jack's first picture not built around his radio background, according to TV Guide. "This was his first role of any consequence other than his previous tailor-made parts with radio jokes flying thick and fast around his well-known persona," claimed the TV publication.

"Charlie's Aunt" was adapted from the Brandon Thomas 1892 play of the same name and was one of several film versions beginning in 1915, with this Jack Benny movie the best known. According to film reviewer Jeremy Arnold, the 1941 picture benefited from what worked on the screen of its predecessors. "The story's amusing comic twists and contrasts had been well worked out over so many previous incarnations," noted Arnold. "It contains frequently hilarious physical comedy, clever dialogue and some comic fadeouts reminiscent even of a Marx Brothers movie. A kissing scene between Benny and the two ladies, as their beaus watch helplessly, is side-splittingly funny."

"Charley's Aunt," has been continuously revived in thousands of community theatre productions, and contains a rather complex plot: Babbs Babberly (Benny) is about to get booted out of Oxford unless he can get his two roomies to vouch for him in an illegal bell-ringing incident. One of them, Charley (Richard Haydn), is expected to have his aunt (Kay Frances), whom he's never seen before, arrive at the college to be the chaperone for him and Jack (James Ellison) and their two girlfriends, Amy (Anne Baxter) and Kitty (Arleen Whelan). While the real aunt takes a side trip to London, the roomies plot to have Babbs dress as Charlie's aunt and impersonate her, resulting in two older men interested in the wealthy relative. Film reviewer Alex Udvary notes, "Because Babbs is dressed as a woman, the movie plays around with themes of gender and sexuality." Even though there are occasional girl-on-aunt kissing, "the movie is mostly a commentary on Victorian morals."

"Charley's Aunt" was the third movie for Anne Baxter, 18. The future Oscar-winning Michigan City, Indiana-born Baxter was the granddaughter of architect Frank Lloyd Wright (her remains are buried on his Wisconsin estate.). After seeing Helen Hayes on the stage, ten-year-old Anne knew she wanted to be an actress, and as early as 13 she appeared on Broadway. Her film debut was in 1940's '20 Mule Team,' fourth-billed behind Wallace Beery. She won an Oscar in 1946's "Razor's Edge" and was nominated for Best Actress in the Academy Awards Best Picture winner 1950 "All About Eve."

Benny, whose entertainment career continued to be focused on radio beginning in 1932 and lasting through 1955, saw his roles as lead screen characters fade away after 1945. Television, however, proved to be a popular forum for Jack in 1949 as his presence rose with the public.

1941 was the season for two comedies starring the inimitable Jack Benny with Charley's Aunt released in 1941 and the filming of Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not To Be starring Benny and Carol Lombard in what was unfortunately her last film which was released early in 1942.

Both are great ensemble films, and both stand the test of time. I find it difficult to say which of Benny's two characterizations I find the better; so, I must group them together as proof that Jack Benny was one of film's best but also one of its most under-appreciated comic actors.

Benny is Charley's aunt just as he is Joseph Tura in To Be or Not To Be. Yes, some of Benny's persona with its slow takes that was a mainstay of his TV persona for so many years is evident in both films but, I might add, in entirely different ways and definitely in keeping wit the two roles.

Benny is not just Benny but a great actor who has managed to assume the character of the two roles.

Charley's Aunt continues to be performed and continues to be filmed; nevertheless, I recommend any film buff and any troupe planning on presenting Charley's Aunt to watch the Jack Benny version again and then again.