How to Behave

Two men in a sewer get into an argument over how a gentleman is supposed to behave in various situations. So they phone up famous etiquette specialist Robert Benchley. He proceeds to explain in a manner that confuses even him.

Robert, humorist, Algonquin Hotel habituee, who wrote A TALE OF TWO CITIES before being buried at Westminster Abbey (as he noted in one of his autobiographical sketches) had been doing this sort of routine since he was at Harvard, helping to produce the Lampoon. He carried the act to Broadway, and in 1929 began to appear in sketches of a similar nature, explaining simple things in a bewildering manner. His HOW TO SLEEP won an Oscar in 1935. This one is typically great fun.

Sewer workers discuss proper manners (naturally). They call etiquette columnist Robert Benchley and ask him. As he answers, we are shown examples of proper etiquette with amusing vignettes where everything that can go wrong does. Benchley is funny talking over himself and getting frustrated and the like. Several funny lines ("Maybe they've all been murdered in bed?"). One of the better Benchley shorts I've seen.

How to Behave (1936)

** (out of 4)

Decent entry in Robert Benchley's "How to..." series. This time out a couple workers begin to argue about certain ways to behave so they call up Benchley who educates them on the proper way to do various things including if one should stand when a woman walks up to their table and if you should let a guest in your house sleep as long as they like. The more Benchley shorts I see the more I realize how hit and miss he is with me. I've seen quite a few shorts from Benchley over the years and I find some of them good while others are downright bad without anything good in them. This one here falls somewhere in the middle as we get a couple decent laughs but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder if this movie was put together through deleted scenes from other shorts. The reason I say that is that the film starts off telling us how we should behave yet it then turns to one long sequence with Benchley sleeping at a friends house, waking up and deciding not to wake others when he doesn't realize that he's the one who has slept late. That portion of the short runs so long you have to wonder if it was originally meant to be the entire story here. Either way, there just aren't enough laughs to call this a good movie but fans of the star will want to check it out.

Two workmen in a manhole discuss etiquette if a woman falls in. They call newspaper etiquette columnist Mr. Benchley to settle the dispute. He recounts various situations to the men. Robert Benchley is a humorist during his day. Non-physical comedy do not always transport well through time. I can see the ideas he's pushing but he's not a great performer. In the modern sense, he has a range between the persnickety banker to the frustrated high school principal.

This MGM-Benchley short was the follow-up to the Academy Award Winning "How to Sleep". While the first film had a unifying theme, this film is a group of unrelated scenes that are lazily tied together with the theme "How to Behave". This short was early in the Benchley series and the right formula for the Benchley one-reeler hadn't been perfected yet. The shorts do get better as the series developed. Benchley is at his best addressing the audience in an embarrassed way. These one-reelers are the best opportunity to see what Benchley was all about. In features, he seems to get lost in supporting roles and his droll comedy is often overshadowed by the feature. These shorts are pure undiluted Benchley. This short is not bad, but I hope it is not the viewer's first exposure to Benchley.