SimonJack Some of the reviewers I regularly watch for have commented on this film, and most seemed to like it. But it didn't quite tickle my funny bone the way it seems to have others. I wouldn't put this in the class of great early screwball comedies. Films such as "My Man Godfrey," "Bringing Up Baby," "The Awful Truth," "The Philadelphia Story," "The Lady Eve," "My Favorite Wife," "You Can't Take it With You" and others used one-liners masterfully. And, they weren't dated so that a viewer, to get the humor, would need to know stars or particular characters or events that are fairly obscure today."It's in the Bag" resembles the early live TV comedy programs when the stars and guests bounced one-liners off one another in running dialog for long segments of the shows. Besides Fred Allen and Jack Benny, long- running one-liner comic shows included Milton Berle, Bob Hope, and Red Skelton. The humor was most often specific for the time, events and people. In other words, "current." Much of "It's in the Bag" was very current for its time, and thus probably would be missed by audiences of today. And, for others of us older viewers, I suspect the humor has just worn out. I think this may be the longest film ever made of almost constant one- liners. But, unless you're an "old-timer" yourself, or really enjoy old- time films, this may not be that funny to you. On the other hand, I wonder if my enjoyment of the film might have been affected by my cold and feeling a bit under the weather when I watched it today!? The five stars I give the film are mostly for the huge cast of notable comics of the day.

mark.waltz War era radio audiences got a laugh or two out of the Fred Allen/Jack Benny feud, and in this, Allen's only sole-starring film, he gets to not only slam his chincy rival but go after a few other top celebrities as well. A distant uncle leaves Allen his estate and the down-on-his-luck flea circus owner must trace down five chairs (as opposed to Mel Brook's 12) to find it after the uncle is murdered. A slew of wacky characters and sketches get in his way which includes a Hollywood Bowl sized movie theatre without even a single seat available, a group of "has-beens" (Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee and Victor Moore) reduced to singing (along with Allen) in a barbershop quartet, William Bendix as a health-obsessed gangster (by the same name) and Jerry Colonna as a wacky doctor. The sketches come fast and furious, some really like the goose that laid the golden egg, others just laying there waiting to rot.Binnie Barnes is truly funny as Allen's put-upon wife with tons of wisecracks, Robert Benchley an inventor with a wacky mouse trap, and John Carradine as the uncle's sinister estate lawyer. The Benny sequence will have you in stitches and make you wish that there was more of him. Some of the humor seems truly fresh and original, others seem older than vaudeville. A true "popcorn" movie, you won't be disappointed, but you won't be sore from laughing too much, either.

secondtake It's in the Bag! (1945)I watched this for the bizarre reason that I wanted to see William Bendix in a film I'd never seen. And here this presented itself.And Bendix does finally show up in the last twenty minutes. And he plays himself, William Bendix. I didn't imagine he ever had that kind of star power.But more interesting are the other characters, or actors, who make their own appearances as themselves, and who are far and away the bright spots in a patchy and silly movie. Jack Benny, for one, is great to see being Jack, but not just as a stand up comedian. And throw in brief appearances by Don Ameche, John Carradine, and Rudy Vallee to give it a little more fun. Finally, use the quirky, very 1945ish style of Fred Allen in his only feature film role to hold the whole thing together, from talking to the camera intro through all the various comings and goings, famous and not.But don't get me wrong. This is a horrible experience as a movie, in all. It's downright stupid, which isn't a word I use in reviews. A better word might just by corny, but that gives too much credit to the crude way the movie is directed and mashed together into an apparent cohesiveness. It's not cohesive, so enjoy the bits. In fact, you might just fast forward to the parts with the actors you recognize and get some little rushes from that, including the last long section where a kind of crime is enacted, including some campy thugs and a fake out that will certainly fake you out.Okay, so Hitchcock's wife helped with the screenplay. Not something to brag about, probably, though there are a lot of laughs here. In fact, if it's gags you want, hang in there, because there is a steady stream, including some classic Allen schtick. Good enough for Mel Brooks to do a kind of remake of it in 1970 ("The Twelve Chairs"). This wasn't enough for me, totally, but you know if you like this kind of humor before going into it.And I did get my William Bendix fix, however, which was worth it.

JoeytheBrit I was surprised by the quality of the writing in this forgotten exhibition of the comic talents of radio personality Fred Allen. The story is one of those madcap farces in which a virtually non-existent plot is held together by a relentless barrage of jokes and quips which, for a change, hit more often than they miss.Allen plays Fred F. Trumble Floogle, the penniless owner of a flea circus who unexpectedly comes into an inheritance when a distant relative is murdered. What Fred doesn't realise is that most of the fortune has already been siphoned off by crooked lawyer John Carradine and his cronies, and the few hundred thousand dollars that remains is hidden in one of a set of five chairs that have been sold at auction. There then follows a fast paced hunt for the missing chairs that leads Floogle into the paths of all manner of unusual characters. One of these is Jack Benny, and the film has a great time poking fun at his legendary stinginess. Two of the chairs have been sold to a nightclub where Floogle finds former stars Don Ameche, Rudy Vallee and Victor Moore working (Ameche has run out of things to invent in the movies so is reduced to working as a singing waiter to make ends meet.) The story continues in this vein for ninety minutes, but very rarely does the pace – or quality of the jokes – flag. Others have pointed out that many of the gags will be lost on those with no – or little – knowledge of the period, but there's still plenty of timeless jokes that still work today.