Inept reporter Bob Hope (Kittredge) gets fired after being the only newspaper reporter out of all the different newspapers who doesn't get a story about the Nazis attacking Russia during WW2 – his report says to ignore the rumours as it will never happen. He really is a terrible reporter. However, he has a contact John Abbott (Vanescu) ready to tip him off about a big spy ring operating in the USA which could win back his reputation. His girlfriend Dorothy Lamour (Christina) is there to help him with things and the film follows his antics as we get misunderstandings, the enemy wanting to kill him and a lot of Bob Hope, so if you find him funny, you'll enjoy the film.
Bob Hope is one of those actors that I want to find funny and I keep giving his films a chance. Unfortunately, I don't get it. I found him completely unfunny (again) in this film to the point where I was bored. The plot skips about and I had to remind myself on a couple of occasions as to what the storyline actually was as Bob Hope managed to kill the film with his unfunniness. The worst scene in the film is the thoroughly pointless drawn-out routine with Donald Meek who plays an old man who's gone bonkers. It's contrived and moronic. A similar example of unfunniness is the entire end sequence when Hope is pretending to be a dummy sitting on a bicycle. This is not humour – this is pure annoying foolishness with the emphasis on annoying.
However, set against this, I found that Dorothy Lamour played her role well and I think she should have had more screen time. Where was her song? I thought she always got a song? She didn't get one but showgirl Marion Martin (Gloria) did. This provided the best sequence of the film with a great song and an outcome that will shock. It didn't seem to belong in this lightweight comedy.
So, it's a thumbs down from me but I still want to like Bob Hope. Curious, isn't it? And this film does serve as a blueprint for shorthand technique.
Bob Hope is one of those actors that I want to find funny and I keep giving his films a chance. Unfortunately, I don't get it. I found him completely unfunny (again) in this film to the point where I was bored. The plot skips about and I had to remind myself on a couple of occasions as to what the storyline actually was as Bob Hope managed to kill the film with his unfunniness. The worst scene in the film is the thoroughly pointless drawn-out routine with Donald Meek who plays an old man who's gone bonkers. It's contrived and moronic. A similar example of unfunniness is the entire end sequence when Hope is pretending to be a dummy sitting on a bicycle. This is not humour – this is pure annoying foolishness with the emphasis on annoying.
However, set against this, I found that Dorothy Lamour played her role well and I think she should have had more screen time. Where was her song? I thought she always got a song? She didn't get one but showgirl Marion Martin (Gloria) did. This provided the best sequence of the film with a great song and an outcome that will shock. It didn't seem to belong in this lightweight comedy.
So, it's a thumbs down from me but I still want to like Bob Hope. Curious, isn't it? And this film does serve as a blueprint for shorthand technique.