The Day of Rest

Day of Rest, The (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pretty good Robert Benchley short has him relaxing in his lawn chair when he tells viewers that he thinks part of the country's problem is due to people not using Sunday as a day of rest. He then shows us a family where the father tries to sleep in on Sunday but his kids, wife and maid all do things that wake him up and get him out of bed. We then see how one should try to relax but how this is often impossible as one good thing could turn into stress. One example is a quiet lunch in the country, which is an idea shared by many so you end up in a traffic jam. THE DAY OF REST is actually one of Benchley's better shorts with MGM as we get several nice laughs throughout the 9-minute running time. One of the best sequences happens when Benchley decides to work in his garden and comes across a root that just happens to lead over to his neighbors tree. Another funny gag is when he first wakes up and goes to read the Sunday paper only to find a couple problems. As usual, Benchley's humor is about as dry as they come, which might not sit too well with some. I think this is one of the more acceptable shorts because there are some nice supporting characters so that Benchley doesn't have to carry the entire thing on his own.