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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Just What Do They Put In That Paradise Coffee, Anyway?, 24 April 2005
7/10
Author: gftbiloxi (gftbiloxi@yahoo.com) from Biloxi, Mississippi

In his long running radio and television show, Jack Benny often built jokes around THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT--a movie described as so awful that it put an end to his movie career. These jokes always got a laugh, but rumors of the film's failure were really only comic exaggeration; true, it had not been a major hit, but neither was it a major failure. And if Benny's film appearances were few and far between after 1945, this was more a matter of his incredibly popular radio and television series than with a lack of offers.

THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT is not a great film, but it is a very interesting one and quite often a very entertaining one. The story concerns a trumpet player (Benny) in love with a harpist (Alexis Smith)--who gets him a radio job on the "Paradise Coffee Program," which advertises a coffee that promises a gentle sleep and sweet dreams. And dream he does, but one would not call it sweet: he dreams he is an angel sent to earth to blow the trumpet that will destroy the world.

Although the script is a bit weak, it has some really great concepts. Heaven is a bureaucracy beset by an endless orchestra and a shortage of angel-power. Elevators take angels to earth, right to the lobby of a New York hotel--and tie up elevator traffic, much to the annoyance of guests. And fallen angels lie in wait to trip Ethanael up! The art direction is extremely fine, dribbling comic surrealism with tremendous flair. In perhaps the film's most memorable scene, Ethanael finds himself drowning in a gigantic cup of coffee. Paradise Coffee, no doubt! Benny, co-star Alexis Smith, and such memorable characters as Franklin Pangborn, Margaret Dumont, and Guy Kibbe perform the show with as much energy as they can muster, and at it's best the movie is hilariously over-the-top. The script lets them down once too often for comfort, but even so the whole thing makes for an entertaining show. Recommended as imaginative, often extremely clever fluff.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
An underrated comedy classic, 21 December 1998
Author: Michael Siebielec

This film was an ongoing joke with Jack Benny as at the time of its release it took a flop at the box office. However, time has treated this comedy/fantasy well and if you give it a try you will find a truly original comic masterpiece. Here is a film with many 1990's themes...angels, the end of the world, great visual effects, sex, and slapstick comedy. Maybe it was a little ahead of its time. Great performances from Jack Benny, Alexis Smith, and Guy Kibbee as well as a memorable "Looney Tune" style score from the great Franz Waxman. Give this zany 1945 film a chance as you will be surprised how wild they could get back then and how funny and strange an "old" film can be.

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Not as bad as trumpeted..., 28 October 2003
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

How can any comedy with Jack Benny and a supporting cast that includes Margaret Dumont, Reginald Gardiner, John Alexander, Allyn Joslyn, Ethel Griffies, Mike Mazurki, Franklin Pangborn and Guy Kibbe be that bad???

Well, it's easy to see why this one just fell short of the mark. The script is a hodgepodge about a trumpeter who must redeem himself by returning to earth on a special mission. His girlfriend is played by the lovely Alexis Smith who shows a flair for light comedy in this caper.

Relying on a succession of sight gags to keep things moving, it's all done in brisk screwball/fantasy style under Raoul Walsh's direction. You can spot the youthful Bobby Blake in the park sequence as the boy who won't give up Benny's trumpet.

The heavenly sequences are done with a certain style that is missing in the earthbound adventures--but the uneven film is not nearly as bad as Benny claimed it to be.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
A Comedy Classic, 3 August 2002
8/10
Author: Adam Rossen (arossen@swbell.net) from Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

If you have to watch one Jack Benny movie, this one would probably be the one to watch. As other reviewers have noted, this movie bombed at the box office after its release and Benny joked about this fact often in his monologues. Even though it was poorly received at the time it came out, its stands up better now. Its best when watched not just as a comedy but as a parable that has timeless themes, that are not just relevant to the 1940's.

Good versus evil, greed versus generosity, heaven versus life on earth. The "fish out of water" sequences where Jack Benny, as an angel, struggles to adjust to the realities of life on earth, are also very funny and timeless. All that and Jack Benny's warm and funny screen presence make this an appealing picture.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Enjoyable lightweight fantasy, 4 January 2001
9/10
Author: aromatic-2 (aromatic@ivillage.com) from New York, NY

Jack Benny and a magnificent supporting cast help keep your interest in this lightweight, yet highly imaginative, fanciful comedy about an angel in charge of destroying the Earth. Lots of great sight gags and double entendres keep things going. Additionally, the script if rife with sadistic ironies reminiscent of O'Henry and Mark Twain. If you've never seen it, pull up the ottoman and enjoy.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
a lesser-known film of the forties, but definitely worth your time, 12 January 2002
10/10
Author: (ajdagreat) from USA

Having just seen this film, I wondered why it's so unknown. I also wondered by why it was a flop at the box office. After all, much of the movie is brilliant: I love how Heaven is set up much like an office building, and all the times Athanael shows how unfamiliar he is with earthly customs (the scene in the restaurant is the best). There's a little romance, but not too much - it would get in the way of the jokes! This classic is definitely worth a watch.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
My favorite Jack Benny film., 26 January 2000
9/10
Author: leimeter

A funny and friendly fantasy from the forties; it shows Jack Benny at his comedic best. The writing is witty and the supporting cast is wonderful. The scene which shows the cast dangling precariously, and hilariously, above Times Square is worth the price of a ticket.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
The perfect comedy! See why it was called "Hollywood's Golden Age" ..., 14 April 2000
10/10
Author: Louis Rugani (x779@webtv.net) from United States

... and see how Hollywood somehow lost the knack to do this sort of screen chemistry, a pity.

But here it is, the picture that Jack Benny loved to joke about; yet it's really a terrific comedy, a rollicking "laff-riot" as the marquees used to shout out in front of the great movie palaces.

There's no wasted film here; the gags just keep on coming, and they roll along so quickly that you'll scarcely have time to ponder the subtleties. See it, and see it again to catch those missed subtleties, and a chance to wallow in its great 1940s art deco sets, swing music and costuming.

Don't miss the original "Heavenly Symphony" by the Great Orchestra And Choir In The Sky, and a quick gag cameo by flute-player John Garfield.

Mine is one of the many "10" votes on the IMDb ratings list, reinforced by my seeing "Horn" again yesterday and remembering (though I never forgot) just how great a film comedy it is, and how Hollywood used to know how to make us laugh.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A coffee lover's nightmare, 26 March 2007
8/10
Author: bernie-50 from Arlington Texas

In a dream Nathaniel (Jack Benny) an angle (just one of the masses of angles in a seemingly endless angelic orchestra) is honored by The Chef (Monte Blue) with a unique job of removing a planet (Earth) that destruction is the only redemption. This task requires the horn of Gabriel to be blown at midnight to Harold the destruction. Naturally two fallen angels recognizing the inevitable try to distract Nathaniel. Will he succeed or become a fallen angel himself? Will the angel Elizabeth (Alexis Smith) that got him his chance have to save him?

This is the movie that I think off when some one mentions Jack Benny. I especially liked the eating scene. You can see it again in some of the inexpensive pizza chains. However the whole movie was well done. Watch poor detective, Franklin Pangborn who asks if the elevator goes up forever and gets is answer. Just watching the trumpet traveling around make you want to jump in the movie and grab it. Other scenes make you want to put on your water wings.

Watching this is enough to give you the twinges.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Those Happy Days of Victory, 22 October 2006
9/10
Author: Fred (thurberdrawing@yahoo.com) from Long Island, USA

I saw this one New Year's night on TV when I was about eleven. The second time I saw it was last night when it was on cable. It was true to my memory. Jack Benny WAS stuck in a giant coffee cup and it WAS an extremely funny movie. The coffee cup gag is one of the most surreal things I've ever seen in a movie from Hollywood's golden age. Imagine a Tex Avery cartoon done in live action and you'll get an idea of the visual. Jack Benny really does look as if he's being filmed in a mechanized coffee cup/coffee pot/coffee spoon structure. It's incredible. Harold Lloyd would have been hard-pressed to match this scene. This scene itself makes this movie well worth watching. The mood of the movie is happy and bouncy as only movies made between 1945 and 1949 are. There must have been some optimism informing Hollywood's imagination as the Second World War wound down. Movies between then and the beginning of the Korean War practically burst with a sense of victory. THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT works as a testimony to a time when America felt itself riding on top of the world. There are other sight gags taking advantage of vertiginous views. People dangle from the ledge of buildings throughout. This is directed by the man who directed HIGH SIERRA, THE ROARING TWENTIES and a few other classics. The dialogue is very much like radio comedy. Jack Benny was, of course, a radio comic. The scene in the diner would have played quite well, if not even a bit better, on radio. I find it significant that a few years after this movie came out, Benny performed in a radio version of it. Others have commented on the fact that he turned this movie's relative box-office failure into a running joke which lasted the rest of his career. Benny's shtick demanded that he exaggerate negative qualities: He deliberately played violin off-key to highlight his radio persona's vanity; He pretended to feud with Fred Allen, when in reality there was no hostility between them. Both comedians boosted their ratings with their supposed feud. He was only playing his part by making people think THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT was the cinematic equivalent of his violin-playing. Not only was it up to Hollywood's standard comedic levels of that time, it surpassed them. Perhaps my familiarity with old-time radio makes me more partial to this movie than the average viewer. I am surprised, nevertheless, that many people find THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT a little pointless. The visuals are amazing, the dialogue is snappy and the music is great. You'll hear a tune which sounds a bit like the Looney Tunes theme. There's a reason for this. Carl Stalling was one of the people who worked on the music, and he worked on many Warner Brothers cartoons. If you like comedy you'll enjoy this movie.

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