IT'S IN THE BAG (1945)

Comedian Fred Allen had what’s known in the biz as a face made for radio.  Never catching on in tv or film, he’s now mainly remembered, if at all, for his long-running faux feud with fellow comic Jack Benny.  (Matt Damon & Jimmy Kimmel keep up a similar tradition today.)  At his peak on the air in the late ‘40s, Allen was considered the comedian’s comedian, deft & topical, he railed only half in jest against small annoyances & petty absurdities. 

Fred Allen/Time Cover

Catholic rather than Jewish, but not so far removed from Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David.  Here, he refers to someone as a goniff; twice!  (Yiddish for crook, has it been heard on screen before or since?)  The story is a darn funny adaptation of the classic Russian comedy about greed THE TWELVE CHAIRS*, with the treasure hunt for a lost inheritance reduced to Five Chairs.  Long disparaged, the film turns out to be a great way to discover the pleasures of Allen’s lost voice.  Sure, plenty of jokes miss, it’s the nature of these things, but plenty hit.  It’s also a chance to see some great radio regulars (Jack Benny, Rudy Vallee, Don Ameche, Victor Moore, William Bendix, goofy Jerry Colonna, John Carradine), plus a sprinkling of the Allen radio cast in support.  Journeyman helmer Richard Wallace keeps the pace brisk, the relationships clear (Allen’s young son is hilarious, with HUGE bags under his eyes), and a better structure than usual for these things.  Maybe it came from Alma Reville, doing story clean up here as she often did - with & without credit - for husband Alfred Hitchcock.  (Producer, Jack Skirball must have brought her in having worked with the Hitchcocks at Universal on SHADOW OF A DOUBT/’43 and SABOTEUR/’42.)   Lots of fun.  Long available in miserable Public Domain issues, now looking great on an Olive DVD.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Mel Brooks’ take on the original in THE TWELVE CHAIRS/’70.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/10/twelve-chairs-1970.html

CONTEST: The film shares a joke with THUNDERBALL/’65.  Indeed, Allen and Sean Connery’s James Bond deliver the same gag nearly word for word and with the exact same setup.  Name the joke to win a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of your choosing.