Twelve Hidden Yuletide Gems
On his radio show, Jack Benny riffed on this film for years, making fun of its box office failure. To hear Jack talk, you’d think this was a bad film. Welll….Actually, this film is a delightful fantasy trifle to be enjoyed on New Year’s Eve. While he’s best remembered on film for To Be or Not to Be, a dark comedy satirizing the Nazi takeover of Poland, this is a fun role and a must-see for Benny fans.
In a change of pace for the eternally-39 year old Benny, he plays both a narcoleptic trumpet player (snoozing during the breaks on the “Paradise Coffee Hour”) and an angel carrying Gabriel’s horn. At midnight, Benny is to blow the horn and destroy the earth, but before he can act, he’s set upon by fallen angels who hope to turn him. Fortunately, he’s also aided by his adoring girlfriend Elizabeth (the sweet Alexis Smith).
The Horn Blows at Midnight was not a great success in 1945; war-weary audiences were more interested in domestic and reassuring tales extolling the family, or film noirs, which revealed unconscious fears about change at home. Yet modern viewers – especially those who have heard Benny’s potshots before – should be pleasantly surprised by its gentle wit and surreal humor, which carried over into the radio adaptation.
The movie’s fanciful art and set direction are truly inspiring, a feat matched by few pictures even in Hollywood’s Golden Age. Its attention to detail and surreal touches bring to mind director Ernst Lubitsch’s quip, “I’ve been to Paris France and I’ve been to Paris Paramount. Paris Paramount is better.” St. Peter, take note. Here, Heaven is a giant office building, but even that visual is outclassed by the gigantic refilling coffee cup, saucer and spoon that figure into the plot. You’ll remember Paradise Coffee – the coffee that helps you sleep – long after the film has ended.
And let’s move onto another movie, a prescient film celebrating all the women out there who hate to cook and wouldn’t be caught dead watching the Food Network (okay, unless Iron Chef is on…who doesn’t like squid brownies, even if it isn’t a special occasion)….
