MovieChat Forums > The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) Discussion > It really is kind of bad.

It really is kind of bad.

posted 12 years ago by newtype_1
11 replies | jump to latest

It was! I watched it primarily because of all those jokes Jack Benny made about it on his show, and I wanted to give it a chance, but it really is not very good. So much makes no sense- why would a radio show have a complex automated coffee advertisement thing no one can see? Since when does coffee put you to sleep? How come the crowd threw Jack out of the swing club for his trumpet playing, when he was playing just as well as the rest of the band? Why would he climb the ledge when the crooks threatened him, when he knows no one can harm an angel? And even though I knew it was a dream the whole while, the sudden ending still felt like a cop-out.

Still love Jack Benny, but I could see why he got needled over this movie. It's also no reflection on any of the actors, they did what they were supposed to do but the plot is just too goofy. The special effects are really great here though, especially in the giant coffee pot scene. That part alone is worth watching the movie over.

[–] bwalright 11 years ago

Yes, kind of goofy slapstick but was a fun short flick. Crowd threw Jack out because he played too slow, not jive-jumpin enough for the young jitterbuggers. Luv the java prop, it's for the NY radio listeners to see when walkin down Broadway St, me thinks! Yes, it was bit of a bummer end SPOILER, but otherwise how would they get out of ending world, comedy style?

Great sets, props fashions, dance styles, hip lingo & great b/w cinematography!
Like TCM says; love finding old movies that are new to me!

[–] scarlettsdad 11 years ago

Frankly, this is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I never really was a Benny fan. But you do have to throw out common sense and just enjoy it for the goofiness and great one-liners that are easy to miss on the first viewing. I never knew the joke, "If I get any closer I'll be behind you," came for THBAM. The great coffee scene off the building is awesome. Movies like this, "It's Love I'm After," and "Rhubarb" aren't Oscar material by any measure, but are just fun to watch if you like goofball and don't take things very seriously and are some of my favorites. Sometimes it's okay to just not think too hard.

Signatures annoy me.

[–] ben-thayer 11 years ago

I agree....I love this film. I've seen it countless times and I never get tired of it.

True, it's no Citizen Kane or Casablanca. But let's be real, no one in their right mind could say it's trying to do that. It's just good, light-hearted fun...and on that note it succeeds.

I love how it's full of stock WB character actors, so many familiar faces...just listening to the voices you can hear many familiar tones. And a lot of the dialogue is pure WB gold...

"Am I really a fallen angel?"
"You ain't Little Bo Peep, brother!"

I particularly love the tremor scenes! "A relatively mild one...!"

And the scene where Benny is blasted out of his seat by the opening chord of the swing tune still cracks me up.

For me, the film is pure escapist entertainment with no attempt at taking itself too seriously. Plus, it gave Benny a lot of laughs over the years as he poked fun at it.

Ya did good, Jack.

[–] genekim 10 years ago

I never knew the joke, "If I get any closer I'll be behind you," came for THBAM.

Sorry to disappoint, but Groucho Marx said the same thing to Esther Muir (under similar circumstances) in A DAY AT THE RACES eight years earlier.

[–] cervantes-4 10 years ago

See also 'Bringing Up Baby'.

Never quit until you're tasered. (see 'Cops')

[–] ellbell65 9 years ago

I agree with you, scarlettsdad! It is funny and cute. And the stunt with the huge coffee sign was used years later in an episode of "Leave It to Beaver."

[–] donofthedial 10 years ago

why would a radio show have a complex automated coffee advertisement thing...

Just as an in studio promotion and maybe for the audience in attendance and....to show it to us.

threw Jack out of the swing club for his trumpet playing, when he was playing just as well

Oh, come on! That was a horrendous trumpet solo! That's why the dancers start booing and the rest of the band stops playing.

[–] ellbell65 9 years ago

This movie is of the fantasy genre. It's not SUPPOSED to make sense. The coffee prop is for the live audience of the radio show. It's a fun, harmless movie. Certainly not in the same league as "To Be Or Not To Be," but it's okay.

[–] PussyCrusher_Principal 9 years ago

I don't get the complaining about the film, but I also think Benny is one of those guys you either love or don't get (although the OP Said he liked the TV show, so who knows)...Benny never disappoints me, I think everything he does and every move he makes is funny. When he says to the diner guy "Dollas? What are Dollas? If I had some dollas I'd give you some..." (I'm paraphrasing), I cracked up, the delivery is everything, he's so dry, I love it.

Takes two to tumble it takes two to tango
Speak up don't mumble when you're in the combo

[–] Graeme Cree 8 years ago

Benny himself is fine. It's the screenwriter and the director who fail badly in this film.

People try to force themselves to like this movie just because of who the star was. They should be angry instead that he wasn't given anything better. (Bob Hope got The Ghost Breaker and Benny got this??)

As far as not "Getting" Benny, there's not much Benny here to get. The lead character isn't really his style of comedy at all. It's more of a Lou Costello type, particularly the way the female lead nursemaids him all through the movie, and makes excuses about how he's got a good heart even if he is a doofus. That's not a standard Benny characterization.

Jack himself spent years telling people that this movie was a Golden Turkey, you should listen to him. He never once said that he himself had given a bad performance, he said that the movie was bad. Which it is.

[–] liscarkat (16543) 5 years ago

It really is kind of good. It's a very entertaining movie with some hilarious moments.