Notwithstanding the status of the main players, I was left aghast at the first sight of the house Ann Sheridan's character tried to pass off to screen husband Jack Benny as a place in which to build their future dreams on. Holy smokes! The place was literally falling apart and posed a serious death trap to anyone entering it. Sort of like a motel for buzzards the way Bill Fuller (Benny) described it. Did anyone else think there was some slight overkill here?
My rating of the film probably puts me in the category of viewers who 'hated' the movie, and though I didn't actually hate it, I thought a lot of the premise was wasted with Jack Benny's playing against type as an aggravated husband who gets shanghaied into a house in the country on the whim of his wife. Speaking of which, if it was possible for one half of a married couple to mortgage a house without their spouse knowing about it at one time, then obviously those days are long gone.
As for Ann Sheridan, she's been my favorite actress of the era for a long time, but her role here was played with just a bit too much sugar coated ambivalence over a decidedly poor decision to buy a house from hell. Personally, I prefer Sheridan cracking wise against someone like Cagney the way she did in "Angels With Dirty faces". I didn't doubt that the ramshackle building would gradually turn into a House and Garden fashion statement, but that early going was something of a stretch to start out with.
You know, you have to hand it to old Uncle Stanley (Charles Coburn) here for an idea that seems pretty novel that might bear exploring as I reach retirement age. I wonder how long one could get by traveling around on limited means by staying with friends and relatives for a month at a time. It beats a mortgage payment and property taxes, and could go a long way stretching out the old social security check. Something to think about.
As a product of a simpler time, "George Washington Slept Here" is a family friendly flick that old timers like myself like to run across when the opportunity presents itself. Fans of Jack Benny and/or Ann Sheridan should have a good time with this one.
My rating of the film probably puts me in the category of viewers who 'hated' the movie, and though I didn't actually hate it, I thought a lot of the premise was wasted with Jack Benny's playing against type as an aggravated husband who gets shanghaied into a house in the country on the whim of his wife. Speaking of which, if it was possible for one half of a married couple to mortgage a house without their spouse knowing about it at one time, then obviously those days are long gone.
As for Ann Sheridan, she's been my favorite actress of the era for a long time, but her role here was played with just a bit too much sugar coated ambivalence over a decidedly poor decision to buy a house from hell. Personally, I prefer Sheridan cracking wise against someone like Cagney the way she did in "Angels With Dirty faces". I didn't doubt that the ramshackle building would gradually turn into a House and Garden fashion statement, but that early going was something of a stretch to start out with.
You know, you have to hand it to old Uncle Stanley (Charles Coburn) here for an idea that seems pretty novel that might bear exploring as I reach retirement age. I wonder how long one could get by traveling around on limited means by staying with friends and relatives for a month at a time. It beats a mortgage payment and property taxes, and could go a long way stretching out the old social security check. Something to think about.
As a product of a simpler time, "George Washington Slept Here" is a family friendly flick that old timers like myself like to run across when the opportunity presents itself. Fans of Jack Benny and/or Ann Sheridan should have a good time with this one.