The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)

Wonderful character development!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Copyright 28 April 1945 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 20 April 1945. U.S. release: 28 April 1945. Because the studio thought its commercial prospects were so poor, the film was never released in the U.K., one of the few major Hollywood studio "A" features to be voluntarily denied a British release in the 1940s. Australian release: 22 November 1945. 7,144 feet. 79 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A good-natured but not overbright angel is despatched to Earth to sound the Last Trump.VIEWER'S GUIDE: The film could be accused of irreverence and certainly its conclusion is morally up in the air. Dolores Moran is perhaps too vampish for family viewing.COMMENT: This highly amusing entry in Hollywood's visiting angels cycle puts the lie to claims that action director Raoul Walsh was out of his element with comedy. Not only is Walsh's timing perfect but every laugh, every wisecrack and comeback, every double take, every bit of lunatic slapstick is forcefully yet deftly put across with maximum audience impact. Of course on the technical side Walsh was helped no end by his astute film editor Irene Morra who cuts away or dissolves from the action at precisely the right second, not allowing any scene to drag or end on too high a punctuation of slow burns and/or expressions of surprise. Photographer Sid Hickox is also a major contributor to the film's success, as is art director Hugh Reticker. The costumes designed by Milo Anderson are really stunning (especially a gown that Dolores Moran models for the finale), while the elaborately contrived, stupendous special effects are absolutely out of this world.Jack Benny is a riot as the none-too-bright angel who yet has some neat lines in snappy comebacks. His run-ins with slow-minded, self-important cop James Burke and fallen angels (with twitching spasms) Allyn Joslyn and John Alexander are especially comical. Alexis Smith is suitably statuesque as the harpist who sets her mind to advancing Benny's career, though she is outclassed in the glamor stakes by Dolores Moran who has one of the best roles of her life here. Reginald Gardiner is also perfectly cast, as is Guy Kibbee and Make Mazurki - to single out but two names from a brilliant roster of support players.Walsh has stated that he enjoyed making this movie, and had a stimulating rapport with producer Mark Hellinger ("an intelligent man") and photographer Sid Hickox. Unfortunately it was not successful on first release, either with critics or public, although it has now amassed a considerable cult following. Contemporary audiences doubtless found the movie too unusual, too barbed, too lunatic, perhaps even too irreverent.

This movie has its good moments, and its uninteresting stretches. Mostly, it is hampered by a weak script that has too many uninteresting scenes.That said, there are some good moments, because there are some fine comedians in this movie. When they get half a chance to shine, they do so.Perhaps the best part of the movie is the silliest part, near the end, where you end up with almost all the characters hanging from the top of a skyscraper yelling and screaming. It goes on too long - this movie needed a better editor - but it's funny on occasion. As is the scene that follows, when Jack Benny is poured and repoured by a giant coffee pot. Again, that also goes on too long, but it's funny for awhile.There is no point in going out of your way to see this. It isn't worth the effort. But if it's on TV and you're looking for something to do, it's probably better than just taking a nap.

A trumpeter (Jack Benny) dreams he's an angel sent to Earth to blow his trumpet at midnight to signal the end of the world. Two other angels already living on Earth try to stop him because they like Earth just the way it is. Jack Benny is a treat to watch. While "To Be or Not to Be" is the better film, this is arguably a better showcase for Benny's comedic talents. This is also one of Alexis Smith's best roles. She was a lesser leading lady in the '40s and, for my taste, a bit on the stiff side. She loosens up here, though. Fun support from Guy Kibbee, Allyn Joslyn, Franklin Pangborn, John Alexander, and Reginald Garner. Oh, and lovely Dolores Moran -- have mercy! Well directed by Raoul Walsh with some particularly impressive Heaven scenes. A notorious flop at the box office, Jack Benny frequently made fun of the failure of this movie on his radio show. Back when my job required me to travel a lot, I listened to old episodes of Benny's show on satellite radio. It was a great show and his mentions of this movie made me anxious to see if it's really as bad as claimed. Surprisingly, it isn't bad at all. It's actually very funny and creative. The screwball climax is perfect.

Comedian Jack Benny spent the second half of his long career poking fun at this film, disparaging it at every opportunity and mocking his performance in it. For the longest time I believed this was just a joke and that the film wasn't nearly as bad as Jack made it out to be. Oh boy, was I wrong. THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT is possibly the most ill-advised project Benny ever signed up for, and I say that as a die-hard Benny fan and proud owner of every episode of his radio show.He plays Athaneal, third trumpet player in a radio orchestra, who falls asleep during a broadcast and dreams that he's an angel sent to Earth to blow the last trumpet, signaling the end of the world, at exactly midnight. But a couple of fallen angels, who'd previously failed to do the job, are determined to stop him. Confusion ensues as the inept Athaneal attempts to complete his mission, oblivious to the deceitful wiles of his opponents. Given the premise, the fine supporting cast (Reginald Gardner, Franklin Pangborn, Alexis Smith, Margaret Dumont,Guy Kibbee, Mike Mazurki) and veteran director Raoul Walsh at the helm, this should have been a surefire hit. So why does the entire project fall flat on its face? There's several reasons. The script is terrible,the supporting cast is wasted and the comedy is lame in the extreme. Neither of the credited screenplay writers demonstrate the slightest talent for writing comedy above a fifth grade level, and it's directed with a complete absence of style. An overwhelming sense of desperation pervades every scene involving bits of business that might very - very - loosely be termed comedy, and the story's climax is so crudely constructed as to be downright embarrassing. On their own these failings cripple the film, but what really sabotages any chance of success for THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT is the casting or - more accurately - the miscasting of Jack Benny. By 1945 Benny's character was firmly established in the American psyche thanks to his long running and immensely popular radio show. As far as the public was concerned Benny was vain, penny pinching, petty, frequently exasperated and eternally 39 years old. He was a consummate comedian who didn't tell jokes but allowed himself more often than not to be the butt of jokes set up by the talented cast of characters he surrounded himself with on his weekly show. He could get a bigger laugh out of his patented pause than any punchline, and he was - despite his many apparent character flaws - universally loved by radio audiences.THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT takes advantage of exactly none of these traits, choosing instead to have Benny play a thinly sketched character who looks like Jack Benny but doesn't resemble him at all. There's nothing in the part of Athaneal that contemporary audiences could identify with, and nothing in this new Benny character that's funny enough to elicit a laugh either. Why have him be a trumpeter when he was universally known as a (very bad) violin player is a mystery. The sum total of these misjudgments is a film that's a major disappointment.I'm not surprised that Benny mocked it for the rest of his days. What else could he do? He had to have recognised it was an incredible career misstep and one which he was lucky to recover from because he didn't depend on films to sustain his popularity. Had his radio show writers been similarly dumb enough to tamper with a winning formula we probably wouldn't remember him today as one of the greats of American comedy.Check out more of my reviews at http://thefilmivejustseen.blogspot.com/