Charley's Aunt

Director: Archie Mayo Archie Mayo

Overview

Jack Benny brings his own distinctive touch to Brandon Thomas' venerable (and oft-filmed) stage farce Charley's Aunt. Utilizing a gloriously unconvincing broad-A English accent, Benny is cast as Lord Fancourt Babberly, a somewhat overaged undergraduate at Oxford University. Babbs' roommates Jack Chesney (James Ellison) and Charley Wyckeham (Richard Haydn, in his film debut) are desirous of inviting their lady friends Kitty Verdun (Arleen Whelan) and Amy Spettigue (Anne Baxter) to their quarters, but first they must secure the services of a proper escort. When Charley's aunt Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez (Kay Francis) is detained, Jack and Charley coerce Babbs, who has dressed up as an old lady for a school play, to pose as the absent Donna Lucia. The fun really begins when, for reasons far too complicated to detail here, both Jack's father Sir Francis Chesney (Laird Cregar) and Amy's uncle Stephen Spettigue (Edmund Gwenn) romantically pursue the bogus aunt. The third-act arrival of the real Donna Lucia only adds to the comic confusion-but at least poor Babbs has finally found a lady friend closer to his own age. The female-impersonation angle in Charley's Aunt has been known to descend into vulgarity, but Jack Benny remains both hilarious and tasteful throughout. Understandably, the film was one of Benny's favorites.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/06/2018
UPC:	0024543586173
Original Release:	1941
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:21:00
Sales rank:	58,185

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Benny	Babbs Babberley
Kay Francis	Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez
Anne Baxter	Amy Spettigue
James Ellison	Jack Chesney
Edmund Gwenn	Stephen Spettigue
Reginald Owen	Redcliff
Laird Cregar	Sir Francis Chesney
Arleen Whelan	Kitty Verdun
Richard Haydn	Charley Wyckham
Ernest Cossart	Brasset
Morton Lowry	Harley Stafford
Lionel Pape	Babberly
Claud Allister	Spectator
Russell Burroughs	Teammate
Gilchrist Stuart	Teammate
John Meredith	Teammate
Bob Conway	Student
Brandon Hurst	Umpire
Bob Cornell	Student
Basil Walker	Student
Herbert Gunn	Student
Will Stanton	Messenger
C. Montague Shaw	Elderly Man
Maurice Cass	Octogenarian
William Austin	Spectator

Technical Credits

Archie Mayo	Director
William Perlberg	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The 1941 version of Charley's Aunt would be notable if only because it's one of the rare films in which Jack Benny is playing a real character, rather than a mere extension of his well-developed and recognizable personality. Oh, the trademarks are still there, but they're employed in the service of a character and a story -- and without the self-referentiality that so often accompanies them in other films. But Aunt has more going for it than this novelty, for Benny's performance is a delight. Sure, no one will buy him as English for half a second, and his American-ness sometimes is at odds with the style of the material. But he's so much fun (and so surprisingly energetic) that most will be willing to overlook these flaws. Benny understands that no one will for a minute would really accept him as a woman, and so doesn't go in for any real impersonation -- which of course makes him that much more amusing. He's excellent throughout, though perhaps his finest moment occurs when, disguised as the aunt, he gets the chance to give "motherly" kisses to the two women he is supposed to guard. The rest of of the cast is good, if clearly in his shadow; the one exception being, oddly, Kay Francis, who just doesn't seem to be giving the part her all. Many will find the screenplay creaky and the set-ups obvious, but the mechanics don't really get in the way too much as long as Benny is around.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler