Of course the dean's daughter gets jealous and Bonzo senses things are not going well for his happy home. Fascinated with pretty jewelry, Bonzo steals a valuable necklace from a store. Peter is accused of having trained the chimp to steal (heredity wills out as it were) and is jailed. Fortunately Jane and Bonzo are pretty much smarter than the rest of this crew put together and we have a happy ending.
Reagan's performance in this movie is solid, with just the right touch of conviction and exasperation as he deals with the upstaging chimp in scene after scene. Think about how hard it is to act with a chimp: look what Cheetah did to Johnny Weismueller. Walter Slezak as Professor Neumann is a great second banana in this film, but Reagan makes "Bedtime for Bonzo" work. He makes this whole crazy story believable and that is what you need in this type of film.
Just think of all the people over the years who have watched this film to ridicule Reagan and who had to end up admitting this is an entertaining little film that deserves to be remembered as more than a curious footnote in Reagan's acting career. "Bedtime for Bonzo" is directed by Frederick De Cordova, who would eventually be better known for directing television shows like "The Burns and Allen Show, " "The Jack Benny Show" and "December Bride" as Freddy De Cordova. Most people today would remember him as the executive producer of the "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson.
Reagan's performance in this movie is solid, with just the right touch of conviction and exasperation as he deals with the upstaging chimp in scene after scene. Think about how hard it is to act with a chimp: look what Cheetah did to Johnny Weismueller. Walter Slezak as Professor Neumann is a great second banana in this film, but Reagan makes "Bedtime for Bonzo" work. He makes this whole crazy story believable and that is what you need in this type of film. Just think of all the people over the years who have watched this film to ridicule Reagan and who had to end up admitting this is an entertaining little film that deserves to be remembered no matter what happened to its leading actor (no, I am not talking about the chimp in "Bonzo Goes to College").
