The Meanest Man in the World

"The Meanest Man in the World" has a misleading title ... at least for audiences here in Britain where, if a person is called "mean", it means that he's a cheapskate. When I saw that this film starred Jack Benny (who usually played cheapskates), I assumed that the title referred to his legendary tightwad antics. I was wrong. In "The Meanest Man in the World" (based on a play by George M. Cohan), Jack Benny plays a nice-guy lawyer who's broke all the time because he hasn't any clients. When he picks up the phone in his law office to make a call, the Accounts department of the phone company is on the other end to turn off his service for non-payment.

This movie raises an interesting point: namely, that nice people are often much less successful than S.O.B. types. When nice-guy Benny decides to pretend to be a meanie, his law practice starts getting more clients. But in order to become a real success, Benny will have to become a real meanie. Is it worth it?

This movie is basically a character study. It isn't a flat-out comedy like most of Benny's starring films, so don't expect too many laughs. Eddie Anderson ("Rochester") plays Benny's factotum assistant here, but their relationship here isn't quite like Rochester's relationship with "Mister Benny" in their radio show.

There's one funny gag. Benny's one-man legal practice is in an office building full of law firms. When an ambulance drives past the building with its siren blaring, Benny hands his business card to Rochester and orders him to follow that ambulance. As Rochester rushes out into the hallway, all the doors of all the law offices open, and all the lawyers come running out with their own business cards!

Anne Revere (a talented actress whom I never liked, somehow) is wasted here in a poor role. The romance between Jack Benny and Priscilla Lane isn't believable, especially as Lane is far too young for him. "The Meanest Man in the World" was a popular stage play, but this film version has very little to recommend it. I'll rate this movie 3 points out of 10, only because I'm a Jack Benny fan.

As I stated, I love Jack Benny. One of those comedians who warms my heart just upon sight. Eve Arden (who would have been good in the Anne Revere part) is another example of that kind of persona whose mere presence makes me happy. Unlike the character he portrays in some movies and certainly on his TV shows, he was a very generous man with friends and strangers. No surprise there. He exudes that which makes his stinginess even more funny. This picture, with a lot of false starts and ending up nowhere, went off on the wrong track. Priscilla Lane was actually a nifty actress in so many of her films, almost surprisingly so. In addition, she is about as adorable as they come. (Benny often has some of the most appealing actresses to accompany him on his sprees.) Rochester, too, is a delight. Could have done without the black-face routine, but it was 1943 and awareness of this sort outrage was not yet in our craws. It did not go as far or as interestingly as it might have but what could have remedied it, I wouldn't know where to begin. "The Horn Blows at Midnight" is often claimed by Benny to be a failure and brought down his movie career. My impression is that it is more delightful than most of his forays into filmdom. Then of course he is in the utter classic "To Be or Not To Be". Nothing wrong with that one. And with him. And with Lane. It's just the film which isn't especially good. But so what? It has Jack Benny,

YouTube has this old chestnut. 'Meanest Man in the World'is a few minutes under an hour, and a good thing it is. The story is silly, yet Jack Benny, albeit wooden, remains the Jack Benny we know. And that isn't bad. And it's good to see Priscilla Lane as the love interest. She does a good turn when she's tipsy at a bar towards the end of the film. Then, there's Edmund Gwenn plays gleefully plays a meanie. And for once Anne Revere playing a secretary and not someone's suffering mother. But Rochester has star billing and the best quips. At a time when Blacks had walk on roles or a dance or song number as relief in a film, he plays the 'wise' Benny side kick who puts his finger in the eye of silliness, and manages to get Benny out of hot water of his own heat. An obvious boy gets girl film. And a pleasant hour of viewing, during the dark moments of the war against Nazi Germany and militaristic Imperial Japan.

... and this one is no exception.

In this amusing, if brief, comedy from 20th Century Fox and director Sidney Lanfield, Jack Benny stars as Richard Clarke, a smalltown attorney who moves to NYC in order to impress his prospective father-in-law. His girlfriend Janie (Priscilla Lane) can't wait to get married but she's unaware that Richard's law practice is going no where. It isn't until he starts acting cutthroat and mean that things start to become lucrative. Also featuring Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Edmund Gwenn, Matt Briggs, Anne Revere, Margaret Seddon, Helene Reynolds, Ralph Byrd, Edward Gargan, Hobart Cavanaugh, Lyle Talbot, and Tor Johnson.

This seemed like a filmed version of a radio play, as almost all of the humor is verbal, and maybe that is to be expected as Benny was so big in radio at the time. That's a nice change of pace when slapstick seemed to rule the day in film comedy of the period. Benny and Anderson are a terrific team, naturally, and they play off each other like the seasoned pros they were. I also liked Anne Revere in an atypical role as Benny's bored, underpaid secretary.

I was always a fan of JACK BENNY and his radio shows and later his appearances on TV after his movie career waned. But while I enjoyed some of his films tremendously (GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE, CHARLEY'S AUNT, THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT), I found THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD to be a huge disappointment.

Even though it runs less than an hour, it's a dud. Poor PRISCILLA LANE has a hard time convincing me as Benny's patient sweetheart that she'd have anything to do with the character Benny plays. He's a softy, with a heart of gold, but discovers that people pay more attention to him as a lawyer if he appears to be mean and ruthless in his dealings. So much for the ironic flavor of the plot.

Thankfully, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson is on hand for a few laughs and there are a few clever moments in the script, but most of it just lays an egg--a big one. If you want to enjoy Benny in films, I'd recommend GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE as one of his better comedies.