Radio review - Ford Theatre -"The Horn Blows at Midnight" (1948) **

Jack Benny famously made fun of this movie all the time - it's not that bad, but it is whimsy, which is hard to defend when the knives are out. The premise is apocalyptic - God (Claude Rains!) decides after WW2 that the world has had enough chances and decides to destroy it! So he sends down an incompetent angel (Jack Benny) to blow the trumpet of judgement day or whatever it is. He runs into a few people, doesn't really form any emotional connection with any of them, until the end when a little concentration camp survivor talks him into talking God into it. I thought there were supposed to be other angels down on earth but they're not in this production. (NB I just looked it up - apparently the script was heavily reworked for this production.) Mercedes McCambridge and Hans Conreid lend support. Fletcher Markle, series producer, makes a crack to Benny at the end about how he didn't want to go see the film "because he doesn't like being in empty spaces" - which is a bit mean. Why did he decide to adapt it then? Benny is good as always.