In this film, raconteur and professional clever-guy Robert Benchly gives a lecture on sleep and insomnia. It's intended to be a comedy and his droll delivery as he gave his long-winded speech apparently made people fall into the aisles laughing. Benchley has had a reputation for being one of the cleverest men in Hollywood. And, as a reward for his incredible cleverness, HOW TO SLEEP received the Oscar for Best for Best Short Subject, Comedy. He also had a long contract with MGM to produce similar shorts and he made a bunch of them. However, today, many decades later, I was struck by how painfully dull and unfunny this award-winning film was. Sure, I saw that several reviewers liked it, but I was in agreement with ccthemovieman-1--it was a terrible film! There were no real laughs throughout the entire 11 minutes--just Benchley narrating and acting like he was dang clever while we were treated to film of him and some other guy in bed (not together--this would have made the film a lot more interesting, though!). Not a single laugh or interesting moment. For more laughs, watch an army training film or a public health video about venereal disease.
Review of How to Sleep
