The Horn Blows at Midnight

Jack Benny is a trumpeter in a radio orchestra; Alexis Smith is the harpist. It's time for the commercial. Announcer Truman Bradley is speaking of the virtues of "Paradise Coffee," a.k.a. "The Coffee That Makes You Sleep." It has just that effect on our trumpet player, who is now Athanael, an angel and a trumpet player in the largest symphony orchestra ever assembled. A messenger arrives to tell Athanael that he is wanted by the Chief of the Planets (Guy Kibee) for a special assignment. Before he arrives, the chief has been arguing with Elizabeth (Alexis Smith) over whether Athanael can handle the job; Elizabeth has complete faith in him.It seems that the Chief is having trouble with one of the minor planets, a little placed called Earth. Wars, crime, hatred, it seems that no one can get along. He's sent them plenty of warnings-earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes- but they pay no attention. Taking out a trumpet, he gives it to Athanael, telling him that he is to return to Earth and blow it at exactly midnight. 11:59 won't do, 12:01 won't do, it must be upon the stroke of midnight! Then the Earth will be no more. And be careful! He once sent two angels, Osidro and Doremus (Allyn Joslyn and John Alexander) to do a mission on Earth and they never returned. If you meet them, they will do everything in their power to stop you.So Athaneal returns to his "home planet" and fails so miserably that both Elizabeth and the Chief have to come down to help him. At one point he goes to a delicatessen and orders everything on the menu (why would an angel need to eat?). Of course he has no money to pay, so he gives the owner his trumpet, telling him he will come back for it when he has the money. When he returns, he finds that the owner has given it to his son, which leads to a very long scene of Athaneal at an amusement park trying to take it away from the boy. And of course, he does meet up with Osidro and Doremus, who have plenty of money (and girls), and who have no intention of watching the Earth go up in smoke. They even fight with him over the trumpet at the end of the film. But I suppose that to satisfy the Production Code, the two "fallen angels" are punished every hour on the hour, when a bolt from Heaven makes them "twitch" for five minutes.I took a star away from the movie because of the "It was only a dream" ending. Yes, Athaneal (Jack) wakes up and starts to blow his trumpet. It's as though the writers couldn't think of an ending and gave us the old "dream conclusion."This was Jack's last starring role, and as far as I'm concerned, most of the fault lies with him. According to Robert Blake (who played the boy Junior Poplinski in the film), Jack made everyone miserable by constantly complainingabout Alexis Smith; he wanted a different co-star. I don't don't know why; she's a good actress and she's gorgeous in this film. Perhaps Jack felt that the audience would never accept the possibility of a romance between them. In 1945, Jack Benny was 51; Alexis Smith was 24.But the thing that did the most damage to Jack's movie career was the way he spoke about "Midnight" on his radio show. He would have you believe it was the worst movie ever made. Here are just two examples of many. Whenever Jack spoke to his bandleader Phil Harris, the subject of Phil's heavy drinking usually came up. Once, here's how Harris answered him: "And you were sober and STILL made 'The Horn Blows At Midnight."Another time, Jack was scheduled to give out the Best Actor award at the Academy Awards. Arriving at the theater, who should he run into but his constant nemesis Frank Nelson. The conversation went something like this: NELSON: Well, look who's here, Jack Benny! Mr. Benny is going to give out the Best Actor award. Let's see, your last picture was a Western called "The Horn Blows At Midnight." BENNY (amazed): A WESTERN??? NELSON: It must have been. I heard shooting in the theater. BENNY: That was the Warner brothers. Fortunately, they missed each other.Well, that will give you a rough idea.

While Jack Benny made fun of it, the picture is one of his best and by virtue of the fact it has an event happening at midnight, it has become a perennial family-favorite for New Year's Eve.The wonderful cast propels the picture and it is highlighted by some jaw-dropping special visual effects, too! As far as I am concerned, the DVD was a very welcome release of a picture that deserves to be rediscovered.

...Despite a few dull patches here and there(some of the Heaven scenes in and around Guy Kibee's office are pretty slow), this wildly imaginative novelty is more than just amusing---it's a real showcase for special effects in the year 1945. The amount of effects shots and set-ups is amazing, yielding a truly enchanting, off-beat film.The incredible "Heaven's Orchestra" shot, with the camera soaring and swooping across the eternal rows of angelic instrumentalists (accompanied by Franz Waxman's very sophisticated "Moderne" theme), the miniature spinning earth that descends at a diagonal in Guy Kibee's office, the bizarre, almost surrealistic carnival scene (which probably added significantly to the film's over-all budget), the celestial elevator, the cool miniature street with moving cars(complete with headlights) over which the characters often dangle from the rooftop penthouse.....all are major elements which contribute to the film's overall cartoon-like lunacy.And the stunt work----that's REALLY Allyn Josyln and John Alexander hanging on one another in the climatic scene, and Guy Kibee himself going over the roof backwards!Add to this the incredible giant coffee pot, cup, spoon, etc, so cleverly introduced in the opening recording studio scene....and you have one heck of an entertaining film. Yeah, some of the script is a bit forced and lackluster, but, overall...in light of the crud which today is dubbed "classic"----come on!--"The Horn Blows at Midnight" is a GEM!I love the tried-and-true device of seeing the real-life characters in the opening all appear in the dream in various roles. And the cast is magnificent, featuring (and wasting, in the case of Margaret Dumont) some of the best of the day. That Allyn Joslyn is a hoot--a fine, underrated actor who excelled in comic and straight roles. And to think that he and fellow "fallen angel" John Alexander had created the roles of two of the three Brewster brothers in "Arsenic and Old Lace" on Broadway just four years earlier (I know it's sacrilegious---but Joslynn should have been cast in the film version of "Arsenic"--he, with his wry, slightly fey mannerisms was obviously the way the playwright envisioned the character---not the hysterical mugging of Cary Grant--so out of his element in the "Arsenic" film).One more cool thing about "Horn"---it is an amazing visual document of the mid 1940's. The recording studio, the hotel lobby, the restaurant, the nightclub where Jack Benny unsucessfully "sits in" with the band --- all beautifully detailed and strikingly photographed.A truly unique and entertaining film.

The quintessential black sheep of Benny's movie career. The one he made the most fun of on his radio and tv shows and got miles and miles of laughter out of disdaining turns out to be one of the most entertaining films he made. The heyday of studio film making is evident in the fabulous set pieces and casting and in the overall production design. The wonderfully whimsical plot takes full advantage of Benny's mirror faced takes and his impeccable timing, which of course is what the movie is all about....timing!! I find it hilarious and every bit as good as 'Buck Benny Rides Again' or his masterpiece, 'To Be Or Not To Be'. Admittedly Benny's movie career (Charlie's Aunt and George Washington Slept Here being his only other decent efforts in my humble opinion) left much to be desired but he had nothing to feel ashamed about here. It's a funny screwball fantasy that he fits like glove.

you will like this movie it is full of fun. great movie.

it has been a long time since I've seen this movie, quite fun