SimonJack Forget about American or English accents in this film. The attempts themselves even add to the humor – almost as though they were contrived to have that effect. Forget that this was a stage play first, and that much of this movie seems as though it were filmed on stage. Forget about critiquing the qualities of the production. All of those things are OK here, but they're of little substance. Rather, the content, the plot and the characters and actors are what make "Charley's Aunt" a truly great film. It's one of the funniest, most outlandish comedies ever made into a move.Every scene in this film has some humor. Most are hilarious. Each character contributes deliciously to the plot. All of the cast are excellent in their roles. And what a marvelous cast 20th Century Fox assembled for this romp around Oxford. Jack Benny is the quintessential actor to play the lead double role of Lord Babbs Babberley and the stand-in Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez. His scenes as Donna Lucia with Stephen Spettigue are over the top hilarious. Spettigue is a money-grubbing, gold-digger who only wants to marry Donna Lucia for her money. And, he won't let his niece or her friend and his ward, Amy and Kitty, out of his clutches until he finds a replacement or better income for his stewardship. The talented Edmund Gwenn plays Spettigue, a role so out of character from his 1947 Kris Kringle that won him an Oscar for "Miracle on 34th Street." It's hard to believe this is the same actor, but he's a riot in every scene here. Reginald Owen is very funny as Dean Redcliff. The number of physical clashes he has with Babbs and Babbs as Donna Lucia are hilarious. Richard Haydn and James Ellison play schoolmates of Babbs (who is now in his tenth year at Oxford), Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney. They have their eyes on Amy and Kitty, played by Anne Baxter and Arleen Whelan. The girls have some wonderfully funny lines in helping the boys propose to them. Laird Cregar plays Jack's dad, Sir Francis Chesney. He has a riotously funny scene with Babbs as Donna Lucia, before he learns the truth. They play grab the whiskey bottle until it finally falls off the table and spills. Finally, Kay Francis lends some charm to the whole affair, with knowing approval after she recognizes Babbs as her pretender. She's the real Donna Lucia, and she has gone undercover to visit Oxford and check on the girl whom her nephew, Charley, wants to marry. She had heard from the Babberley law firm – headed by Babbs' uncle, that there are gold diggers on the prowl to marry young men who are wealthy or who may come into riches one day. The beautiful Donna Lucia had married a wealthy Brazilian, and he had died a while back. A frequent line occurs in the film about Brazil that brings a laugh every time. Charley, Babbs and others say it – "Brazil … where the nuts come from." This movie has many comedic twists. Donna Lucia is attracted to Babbs, and the hilarious film has laughs at every turn. Babbs holds all the parts together in his frantic changes between characters. Watching this marvelous comedy is a sure bet for an evening of laughter.

JohnHowardReid Thanks to the enthusiasm and capable acting by the entire cast, as well as the opulently mounted art direction by Richard Day and Nathan Juran, this venerable stage vehicle comes across rather well. True, Archie Mayo's direction is not particularly distinguished. Nor could George Seaton's screenplay be described as a model of cinematic adaptation. But the film was made in a workmanlike fashion and its gains kudos for its lavish production values. Jack Benny plays "Babs" with an endearing enthusiasm, and receives excellent support from Kay Francis, James Ellison, Anne Baxter, Edmund Gwenn, Laird Cregar, Reginald Owen, Arleen Whelan, Ernest Cossart and company. It's still very much a filmed stage play, despite its cinematic opening sequence which includes some particularly well-timed slapstick. But then it goes straight into the play which has been filmed mostly in long takes – though they are skillfully disguised by fluid camera movements and smooth inter-cutting. Sad to say, the play itself has now lost its position as the most successful (in monetary terms) comedy ever written. Its author, Brandon Thomas was not a professional writer. The son of a Liverpool shoemaker, he was born on Christmas Day, 1848. At the age of twelve, he became a shipwright's apprentice in order to support his mother who took in lodgers – mostly actors who were always behind with their rent money! Eventually, Brandon took up acting himself and started to write plays – both with the same lack of success. One day, W.S. Penley, a highly successful London comedian, happened to cast his eye over one of Brandon's manuscripts. "This isn't bad!" he told the young author. "Why don't you write a comedy for me?" Young Thomas scratched his head. "What sort of a comedy?" he asked. "You've played every character under the sun! Wait a minute! Have you ever thought of playing a woman?" The play's record-breaking London run of 1,466 performances was only outclassed – until Agatha Christie came along – by "Chu Chin Chow" (a play so popular that its author, Oscar Asche, became such a household word that in rhyming slang, "Oscar Asche" became a synonym for "cash". "Got any Oscar Asche?" my grand-dad would often ask.)

slothropgr Most cross-dressing films ("Crying Game" excepted) require a fundamental stretch of the imagination--that Dustin Hoffman, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon (and Tom Hanks for that matter) can all be accepted as women with only a wig, a dress and a falsetto voice. Hoffman took the disguise farther since "Tootsie" was a much milder farce, and almost succeeded, but still there was that voice. Jack Benny in drag requires far more of a stretch than the rest, as he is easily the uuuugliest cross-dresser ever. Wearing only a bad wig and a Mother Hubbard over rolled-up pants (from which much humor derives), he could well have been used as the model for J. Thaddeus Toad's female get-up in Disney's "Wind in the Willows." What makes it funnier is, he's the most reluctant female impersonator of all, and not above mixing it up in most manly fashion with the fellow students who have coerced him into this masquerade. You can get the plot from several other reviews. What's weird is that the two gorgeous ingénues in the flick (one of them Anne Baxter, long before Eve and Nefertiri) spend a lot of time necking with this supposed old lady, and not reluctantly. WE know "she's" a man but THEY don't, yet there they sit smooching it up with "her" and enjoying it. Kinky-winky, as Paul (center square) Lynde used to say. Fortunately for those who find all this a bit too odd even for farce there's the wavishing Kay Fwancis, wavishing indeed, as the title character and reason for all this foolishness, and along with Laird Cregar (playing it straight for once) the calm center of the storm. Quite funny even if some of it is unswallowable.

Film-Fan During his life Jack Benny often joked about the poor quality of many of his films, but "Charley's Aunt" doesn't deserve such criticism. This "drag" comedy never drags!Benny's humor, perhaps a bit subdued for today's audiences, nevertheless shines in "Charley's Aunt." It doesn't hurt that he's in drag for a good part of the movie...A man in a dress can always be counted on for a few laughs!But the basic story is amusing in itself, with Benny (broadly!) impersonating a maiden aunt and chaperoning for his buddies and their girlfriends. Naturally, there are a couple of older gentlemen who take a fancy to the "aunt" adding more complications to the story."Charle's Aunt" is rarely shown on television, but worth a look if you happen to stumble upon it.