5/10
Not so hot air
30 March 2016
This is one of the lee than stratospheric flicks that sent Jack Benny screaming back to Radio. He seems rather bored to be playing an almost straight man to Ted Healy (who as usual seems lost without 3 stooges...and who tries to make up for it by being VERY loud and Very monotonous). There is a spooky line about Benny adding 10 years to Ted's character's life...ironic given his tragic end around five years later. Benny seems a bit happier to be playing a more or less standard romance with Una Merkel...who is given nothing to do but look pretty and whine at Benny to go straight...advice which he seems to have taken FAR too much to heart. Reliable buffoon Nat Pendleton scores a few smiles...and there is a very strange and oddly nasty cameo by what appears to be a real bald eagle which ends up being treated very roughly.

A more pleasant bit is played by future leading man Dennis O'Keefe who can be spotted nonchalantly dancing by the stars...and actually has a line later on as a radio announcer.

Watchable as a curio...and it may be an eye opener for some to see how primitive effect shots were in 1935...and check out the trailer which promises an "all star" laugh riot...it is nice to know that some things like high flying hype never change.
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