Hour for Lunch, An (1939)
** (out of 4)
MGM short has Robert Benchley playing host and telling us the best way to get the most done during your hour lunch break. Benchley also plays Joe, the poor soul who makes out a list of things to do on lunch but things don't go as planned. I've often said that Benchley is rather hit and miss with me with this one here missing the boat and almost completely. I was pretty surprised to see that not too much is done here or even tried for that matter. We see Benchley schedule a hair cut but there are too many people waiting. We see him try to get something to eat but the cafe is crowded. We see him trying to get on an elevator but too many other people are using it. None of this is very funny but the film doesn't even appear to be trying for it to be funny. Director Rowland keeps the film moving along at a nice pace and it's never boring but when a comedy doesn't feature any laughs then you must consider it a failure.