Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/12/2007 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21919 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 82 minutes

Amazon.com
Nothing says comedy like a man in a dress, and Charley's Aunt is the archetypal man-in-a-dress comedy. In desperate need of a chaperone so they can woo their sweethearts, two college lads named Jack and Charley persuade their friend Fancourt (Jack Benny, one of the all-time great radio and television comics) to masquerade as Charley's aunt from Brazil, who had failed to arrive. Of course, the aunt also shows up (and is also in disguise), but not before Benny has had ample opportunity to run amok in petticoats while being chased by fortune-hunting beaus. Though the story's social milieu is woefully dated--the need for a chaperone is just the beginning--the movie has a number of classic comic bits that remain funny. Charley's Aunt doesn't suit Benny's dry style of humor as perfectly as does his next film, To Be or Not to Be, and Benny's English accent is a bit hit and miss, but he milks his wig and bloomers for all they're worth. Also starring Kay Francis (Trouble in Paradise), Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street), Laird Cregar (Heaven Can Wait), and a very young Anne Baxter (All About Eve). Extras include a chipper commentary from film historian Randy Skretvedt (who rattles off dozens of Jack Benny anecdotes) and a goofy promotional short in which Benny, Tyrone Power, and Randolph Scott compare their upcoming roles. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

A forgotten favourite
It was with some pleasure that I learnt that this little forgotten gem from 20th Century Fox was to be released on DVD. Now my worn out VHS copy can be replaced.

In 1941, this film was as unexpected from Fox as it is today. "Charley's Aunt" is a famous British play which for many years was the staple offering of every English high school drama class. It is a rollicking farce about undergraduates at university, one of whom, Jack Benny, disguises himself as another's Aunt from Brazil "where the nuts come from". The plot is full of romantic misunderstandings all of which resolve themselves for a happy ending. Jack Benny is an improbable English student but it does not matter. This was one of Benny's best films because he is hilarious in drag and all scenes with Edmund Gwenn, the enamoured professor determined to win his hand in marriage, are priceless. The other standout performers are Laird Cregar, at the time in his twenties and easily immitating a man twice his age and Kay Francis, a model of class and sophistication as Charley's real aunt.

The film is simply directed, maintaining its stage bound roots. The print is immaculate preserving the crystal clear Fox photography and bright lighting. Only the accents of some of the players betray that this is an American production. The DVD has a detailed commentary, the best of which speaks of Benny and his career and the worst of which methodically rattles off biographical details about all the players and the people behind the camera. There is also a good short with Benny promoting the film, but cleverly using Tyrone Power and Randolph Scott to promote simultaneous Fox productions. Both actors are more relaxed and personable than they often were on screen. A couple of postcard size lobby cards are also included as well as some excellent liner notes which actually provide a much better summary of the production than the verbose commentary.

The film makes an interesting comparison to an English variation on the play released at about the same time, starring Arthur Askey. I like both versions.

Jack Benny. Superstar.
One of my fondest memories of my mispent youth was on Summer vacation watching re-runs of "The Jack Benny Program" on UHF. Sight unseen, I eagerly awaited the release of "Charley's Aunt" on disc. The film isn't a comic masterwork but it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half. Benny, predating Jack Lemmon's work in "Some Like It Hot", is a marvel as the English Earl posing as an Oxford classmate's aunt. His enthusiasm makes the film more than the sum of it's parts. The film also sports a great supporting cast that includes Richard Haydn, Edmund Gwenn("Miracle on 34th Street", and the late great Laird Cregar. If you need to see Cregar at his best check out the vintage noir "I Wake Up Screaming". Now if they would only issue "Buck Benny Rides Again" and "The Horn Blows at Midnight". It also wouldn't hurt if "The Jack Benny Program saw the light of day on disc.

Rollicking Fun Without Crudeness Or Foul Language
Jack Benny had a checkered movie career and he himself felt most of his films were tripe, but three stand the test of time for hilarity. Buck Benny Rides Again (wherein it helps if you know his radio persona and his supporting cast), The Horn Blows At Midnight, and Charlie's Aunt. I would add a fourth - To Be Or Not To Be - which Mr. Benny himself thought his best work, but he didn't regard it as an out and out comedy. If you're looking for laughs for the whole family you can't go wrong with Charlie's Aunt. Jack steps out of his character and into a british fop impersonating a grand lady and plays the role terrifically. This was forty years before Tootsie, or Mrs. Doubtfire, and while Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams were at the top of their game, they relied heavily on prosthetics and modern fx, while Benny relied simply on that "look". The walk alone is worth the price of admission. The movie is taken from a stage play that became the standard comedy of it's time for colleges and high school revivals, so it's audience was built in in the Forties. Largely forgotten now because it had the unfortunate timing to come out the year World War II began it is well worth rediscovering. You'll laugh. And you'll laugh again. Then you'll laugh some more. And after all, that's what you're paying for.