The Rounder

Was surprised to see Jack Benny as a young man and showing more energy and vitality than in his later years on his TV show. On TV he is more stationary and lethargic, although still funny. Here his droll sense of humor is more effective as he strides easily around the set and flops into a chair, for example. His is not the comedy of the Marx Bros. or Laurel and Hardy - he is subtle and you listen to him more than watch what he does. I thought he was very funny and entertaining in this short, which has been given short shrift by previous reviewers.

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!

The Rounder is an extra on the DVD "To Be or Not to Be". After watching the main feature I decided to see what this extra was about. Jack Benny was out of character as we know him today but as I watched I became drawn in by the very bizarre story line. Jack plays a sophisticated man who has been out late drinking and enters the wrong home in his tipsy state. He encounters a woman who has also just returned from an evening at a club with her boyfriend that ended up in her breaking up with him. The interaction between Jack and the woman is priceless. It has a number of good laughs as well as a somewhat surreal feel to it. Highly recommended.

"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.