The Rounder (1930)

THE ROUNDER  (1930)  ¢ ¢
    D: J.C. Nugent
    Jack Benny, Dorothy Sebastian,
    George K. Arthur, Polly Moran
Jack gets home late from a night on the town, climbs a ladder up to his room, and discovers he's entered the wrong house. The rest of the movie has him negotiating with the woman who lives there over what she should pay him to marry her and what his duties as a husband should be. Benny honed his comedy in vaudeville and perfected it on radio and television, where he could milk a pained silence or a long, long pause for maximum comic effect. In this early sound short, the timing's not there and the material barely registers. Jack was not yet 39 when he made it - he would famously remain 39 for more than 40 years - so the movie predates one of the key jokes in his repertoire. If you really want to see his mastery at work, skip this and check out one of his old television shows.