Despite his over-the-top billing in Astor's re-issue posters, Jack Benny's role is small and incidental. This is just as well actually, because Benny is not in good form and is obviously having difficulty adjusting his style to the movie medium. In fact, Benny's unsure performance is the reason Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round figures in my list of the "Almost Best", disregarding the fact that it is one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm also not partial to movies that go backwards. As far as I'm concerned, it's an over-used and unwelcome device simply because that it's exactly what it is – a device! Sydney Howard is also a minor irritant. I think most viewers would agree that he out-stays his welcome. Over-glum Carlyle Moore doesn't take my fancy either. An actor with a bit more charisma and a larger range of facial expressions was needed for this role. On the other hand, there are so many things I like in this expansively-produced movie, it would be impossible to list them all or even attempt any sort of order. At random then: The Boswell Sisters, Mitzi Green, Jimmy Grier's Orchestra, Sid Silvers, the Ceballos-Lee take on Busby Berkeley, Nancy Carroll, Gene Raymond, Sidney Blackmer, Sam Hardy, and last but not least, Robert Elliott, way down the cast list but spinning sunshine in a major role. Ben Stoloff was not a major director, but he sure handles this assignment with admirable assurance.
Review of Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round
