Customer Reviews

The Jack Benny Collection

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

For reference, here's a breakdown of the contents of this set:

Disk 1: THE MEDICINE MAN (1930; film)

Disk 2: THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (1/1954): w./ Liberace

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (3/1954): "Goldie, Fields, and Glide" (Bing Crosby, George Burns, & Bob Hope guest)

Disk 3: THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (2/1958): "Jack at the Races"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (4/1959): w./ Ed Sullivan & "Genevieve"

Disk 4: THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (12/1957): "The Christmas Shopping Show"

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM (1/1961): "New Year's Eve"

Disk 5: THE JACK BENNY HOUR (11/1959): w./ Danny Thomas, Raymond Burr, and the McGuire Sisters

As a long-time Jack Benny fan (who first discovered him during the 1980's in reruns on cable), I really found this to be a mixed set: sweets and bitters. There are some true Benny classics mixed in, especially on disk 4, which may have the funniest Benny TV program ever--"The Christmas Shopping Show." In this episode, Benny and Rochester try to go Christmas shopping for the gang, only to have a tangle with both Dennis Day, and, most notably, Mel Blanc, as an endlessly harrassed sales clerk. Best Mel line, said aside so Benny can hear, "Why did the governor have to pardon me?" The ending's rather shocking for its day--jet-black humor--but utterly hilarious. Also on DVD #4, is a very unusual late Benny program (early 1960's), in which his date with a bimbo waitress falls through, and he winds up spending New Year's with Rochester. It's actually somewhat bittersweet at moments, but it worked, and I really enjoyed watching it.

The other highlight in this set's located on DVD #3, "Jack at the Races," and it's unusual in having been filmed off location (not at the CBS studios) and starring Mary Livingston and Dennis Day opposite Benny. For good measure, Sheldon Leonard ("Hey, bub!") and Joe Besser (the least of the Three Stooges) show up and stay in excellent form. Benny heads out to the horse track for the day, where he runs afoul of his show's sponsor (whom he convinces to bet on a losing horse) and Joe Besser in a restaurant (where Sheldon Leonard offers Jack tips on the "best tables"). Wait until you see how Joe clears Jack and Mary's table!

I wasn't as fond of the rest of the Benny shows on the other disks (although "Goldie, Fields, and Glide" and "Liberace" *definitely* have their funny moments), due to the "variety show" syndrome creeping in ever more steadily. To my mind, what made Benny great were his recurring character actors (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Phil Harris--on radio, Dennis Day, Mel Blanc, and others) and once you see Jack opposite performing chimps or in a bad "Carol Burnett" style courtroom skit with Ed Sullivan, the show suffers badly. All of the running jokes we love so much ("Yes?") get tossed out the window also. It may have helped ratings along in the late 1950's and early 1960's, but it was a bad artistic mistake in retrospect.

You will either find THE MEDICINE MAN intensely interesting or hate it and find it dull. I fell in the first camp. However, Benny as actor in the film's nothing like his later "Jack" character, who wouldn't really come along until the radio show hit its stride in 1936 or 1937.

In general, the DVD menus are fun, but there are no extras. The print quality's O.K. for what are obviously public domain shows. Visually, they looked better than the DVD's released by either Alpha Video or Diamond Entertainment. I'm tempted to say you should support this set, as there's very little Benny available on DVD and perhaps the contents will be a bit more generous in future releases if the sales for this set warrant future ones. Unfortunately, MGM's sitting on the original shows hidden away in its vaults, so we can probably only expect P.D. shows for the foreseeable future. As much as I love Benny's show, I must admit that he's not as commercially bankable as he once was, as not as many people are familiar with his work now.

Good night folks, be seeing you soon.

I wish I had read the negative reviews more carefully before ordering this product.

Most singled-sided DVDs of TV programs contain about 4 hours of material, so I thought this 5-disc "collection" would contain about 20 hours of material. Yet each disc contains barely an hour of material.

And they're not even complete programs! No doubt in an effort to squeeze a few more dimes out of us, they didn't bother to secure the music rights, so all the musical numbers have been chopped out.

This "collection" is at most 2 discs worth of material. BTW, DVD#3 is supposed to contain "Jack at the Races." Both the box and the DVD itself are labelled as such, yet that episode is missing and in it's place is a detective sketch with Humphrey Bogart.

I bought a disc called "The Jack Benny Show" at the grocery store for $4.99. It has 5 programs, 2 of which are also in this collection, and a total running time of 2.5 hours.

I give 5 Stars for Jack Benny, but 0 Stars for this ripoff collection. Don't waste your money...if you really want to see these programs, purchase a used copy or borrow it from the library.

Don't even think about purchasing this collection.

From its minimal description - or lack of - I expected 5 discs of episodes from the Jack Benny tv show. Wrong.

This is a compilation of films and other shows, wastefully spread out over 5 discs - nothing to do with the beloved series with Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson. All that is included, here, could have been put on 2 discs.

Precisely like the disappointing GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN COLLECTION - this is misleading and irresponsible.

I think Jack Benny would roll over in his grave at what was done to his fabulous work as a comedian.

Can you imagine watching Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings DVD's and not in the corner but one third of the way in from the left and a quarter of the way up the screen there was a large logo stamped on the screen saying "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" and that this was present throughout the movie?

This is what they did to Jack Benny. You get to watch a large "The Jack Benny Collection" written on your screen throughout. I have no idea why. Is it an ad? ..for something you already bought? Very disappointing to say the least.

The other thing to note is that this is not really a 5 disc set. This is 10 Gigabytes of material spread over 5 discs. 2 gigs each instead of the 7gig average put on most DVD's. It is less than 1 ½ discs of material.

I love Jack Benny. I find it sad what they did to him.

Chris, Iowa

You can find all of these episodes on discs from other distributers, so patronize them. The songs have been cut from these copies (Dennis Day, Bing Crosby, etc.).

I purchased the Jack Benny Collection primarily for Disc 5 entitled: Danny Thomas/McGuire Sisters. I was so disappointed when the entire McGuire Sisters segment was cut - the cover said the McGuire Sisters sang, but truth is they only sang for 5 seconds. I would love to see this show in it's entirety.

This set is a complete rip off. Each disk contains about an hour of programming. I only saw the first disk. That was enough for me.

The movie, The Medicine Man, was only one hour and six minutes long. The picture and sound quality was shameful. The movie was not much better. It was a total disappointment.

I did not even bother watching the rest of the set.

The musical numbers are not included but the ads are. What a waste. Jack Benny was a genius, and it's a shame his shows can only be found on low quality, poorly done DVD's. If you really want Jack Benny shows, this is one of the few options available. Just be aware that you are being over charged for what you are getting.

In my childhood, the Jack Benny show was on during the afternoon. I didn't appreciate it, and it took some maturing, an addiction to amateur theatre, and studios shovelling dross in front of us for me to realise just what gold it was that was offered us by the old vaudeville entertainers. I was excited to find and order this collection, although I do think that 60 minutes per disc is parsimonious at least.

"Jack at the races" is mentioned in the studio review, but is replaced by a sketch with Humphrey Bogart that is wonderful. Seeing the old Hollywood tough guy camping it up was great fun. Most of the ads have been cut because cigarette commercials are now banned. Some survive, and give context to some of the jokes.

The collection is expensive for what it offers, but for the true fan, its offering is hard to ignore.

This collection seems to come from what is already available in the public domain market from other home video and DVD sources. Pretty good overall if you're a Jack Benny fan and don't have much of a collection. Medicine Man is an underappreciated Jack Benny film, but I have always been a big fan. It might not be for everybody and is a different performance from Jack Benny than what a lot of people are used to.