How to Figure Income Tax

How to Figure Income Tax (1938)

** (out of 4)

Another in the "How to..." series from MGM and Robert Benchley. This time out, as the title says, Benchley explains how those income tax papers work, what you need to know about them and what you don't need to know. The first six-minutes of this short is pretty bland as we get Benchley trying to explain the subject yet forgetting what he's doing or at other times he simply messes up on his wording or has to the look the answer up. None of this is particularly funny but Benchley is obviously working very hard trying to sell it. It's also known that Benchley had a drinking problem and I'm curious if there was something going on while making this because just watch his hands at the start of the picture as they're shaking fairly bad at times. As I said, the first six-minutes are pretty bland but we then get to the next subject, which is how to save money by telling lies on the paper. This leads to a fairly funny sequence as Benchley brags about getting away with it but sure enough there's a knock at his door and you should know what happens next. This is certainly far from a good movie but if you're in the right frame of mind you should find it mildly entertaining.

Robert Benchley stars in another of his shorts in which he tries to tell his audience how to do something, and both sides of the screen end up knowing less than they did going in.

He does this with various props, all oversied, including tax forms. I can assure you they haven't gotten simpler in the past 86 years.

Benchley had been doing this sort of fake lecture since he was an undergraduate at Harvard. In between writing for THE NEW YORKER, he did this in a Broadway show. He brought the earliest of his fake lectures. THE TREASURER'S REPORT, to the screen in 1928, and he was off and running in the moving pictures.

One thing for surelies --- filing taxes is still a complicated animal, then and now. Robert Benchley, in his own insane way, gives us some pointers.

PS: Keep the number of a good tax lawyer handy.

I agree with the last reviewer, this film short is yet another fine example of Benchley's fake lectures. Since he wrote the entire script (or outline), there's likely lots of ad-libbing, making it all up and having a blast. Robert begins by explaining (to the best of his ability?) where your money goes. You can be sure it goes somewhere! Then he addresses the tax form (in detail?), filling in all us good viewers as to how to input your calculations(?), line after line after line, somehow getting lost in the process.

CAUTION: By this point in the film you ALSO should be totally lost!

Last but not least, Benchley underlines how you could REALLY save money IF you're sneaky enough??? Catch his wry smile ... until there's someone knocking at his door.

The scene is a gem.

Directed by Felix E. Feist, behind many of Pete Smith's famous shorts and documentaries. He later branched into B films and tv.

FYI: Robert's character name here is Joe Doakes, an inspiration to producer Richard L. Bare, who created the goofy JOE McDOAKES comedy series in the 40s and 50s.

Always on MGM dvd, some shorts featured in film box sets, and series episodes remastered in a single box set. Thanks so much to TCM for bringing these oldies back for a new generation of fans.