Heil Myself!

Rating: 10/10 (30 October 2009)

This is the first Jack Benny film I've ever seen, though I knew who he was at a young age due to Warner Bros. cartoons. Without reading any back-story or plot for this movie, I watched it online today and it was marvelous! When it was released in 1942, most of the public found it distasteful to satirize such horrible events as Nazi-occupied Poland. And, after the initial comedy in the acting troupe with the main characters, there was no comedy for a while, so I wasn't sure if this was suppose to be more serious or what, but I'm glad it ended the way it did.
I laughed out loud too many times to count. That's a rare thing these days where a picture can get you to laugh hard without using any obscene jokes. Jack Benny is a master and after having grown up hearing his voice in cartoons, I felt right at home with his character.
The basic premise is that due to a mix-up, a handsome aviator played by a very young and almost unrecognizable Robert Stack falls in love with Mrs. Tura, played by Carole Lombard. Then a Nazi spy masquerading as a professor leaves Britain for Poland with a list of people for the Gestapo to round up, sadly and mistakenly adding Lombard's name to the list. After Mrs. Tura is detained by the Gestapo, it's up to the acting troupe, headed by Jack Benny(That great Polish actor, Mr. Tura) to use countless disguises and double-crosses to outwit "Concentration Camp" Ehrhardt played so delightfully by Sig Ruman. Ruman might even steal the whole show from Benny.
As a side note, I found many similarities between this film and Inglourious Basterds. Now, Tarantino may or may not have seen this movie, but he undoubtedly saw the Mel Brooks remake, which begs the question "how much was he influenced by the plot when making Basterds?" Don't rent this--buy it. You will get plenty of repeat laughs from this great feature. So glad I stumbled across it.