My Favorite Blonde

source: My Favorite Blonde

Released in 1942 - In this "Bob Hope" comedy-vehicle, it certainly wasn't Hope, himself, who shone the brightest. It was, none other than, his sidekick, Percy, the cutest, little penguin that you've ever seen, who repeatedly stole the show and upstaged Hope whenever he made an appearance on screen (which certainly wasn't enough for my liking). I think that if they had built this movie around Percy, rather than Hope, it would have been a so much more pleasant and enjoyable comedy to watch, in the long run. I guess that I'm not much of a Bob Hope fan, 'cause if My Favorite Blond (MFB, for short) was a sample of him at the top of his form, then I certainly felt very let-down by Hope's apparent "knock-em-dead" abilities as one of Hollywood's top comedians of his day. Even though MFB's story remained very good-natured throughout its 80-minute running time, its rather far-fetched story wasn't funny enough to hold my rapt attention and its one-liners, being on the decidedly weak side, didn't bowl me over with their intended hilarity. Set in the days before the USA entered into WW2, MFB was a screwball comedy that tells the tale of NYC vaudeville performer, Larry Haines who gets inadvertently (and reluctantly, at first) involved with the beautiful, blond, British, secret agent, Karen Bentley, who's just arrived from England. As Haines soon discovers (when matters begin to get seriously out of hand), Karen's dire mission in America is to deliver a top-secret, coded message on micro-film (cased inside a chic, scorpion brooch) to a Colonel Ashmont in Los Angeles. With enemy, German, espionage agents hot on their trail, Karen & Larry (on their journey across the continent), spend a good part of their time doing whatever is necessary to escape the ruthless clutches of the evil Madame Runick and her no-good henchmen. MFB's story certainly had a lot of hilarious potential, but, far too often, it fell quite short of its comic possibilities for me to seriously consider it as a memorable, Hollywood classic.

My Favorite Blonde is not just one of Hope's very best films, but an excellent introduction for new fans. Hope's usual roles were as a vaudevillian or radio comedian who finds himself having to reluctantly participate in some dangerous intrigue which is way over his head, and this movie shows the formula at its cleanest and most smoothly executed. Madeleine Carroll plays a British agent delivering a coded message who has run afoul of Nazis operating in the U.S., and Hope, a ne'er do well road company performer who does an act with a penguin, meets her on a train and bravely (well, sort of bravely) pitches in to keep her safe. The cloak and dagger nonsense on the train is a deft nod to Carroll's star-making turn in The 39 Steps, and this movie has much of that earlier film's energy. Carroll and Hope banter amusingly as they are chased across half of the U.S. The bright dialogue is the film's best feature and Hope's reluctant hero persona, introduced in The Cat and The Canary and Ghost Breakers, is a fully polished comic gem at the the film's center. The look of the film is very 'film noir' with looming shadows and danger on staircases and other now-familiar devices, but it still comes off as fresh entertainment even now. This one movie alone was enough to convince me that Hope is one of the great comic actors in all of movie history and this is an excellent showcase of what he could do. Also a must see for fans of the deliciously sinister Gale Sondergaard, here at something near her best.

Larry Haines is a vaudeville entertainer who's act involves a roller skating penguin. He becomes entangled in a war time plot when British agent Karen Bentley is forced to use him as cover to help her get American bomber plans into the right hands and keep it safe from the Nazis. It's a shame that this film has eluded me until the great man himself has actually died, but it was to mark his passing that this film got screened on television recently. The plot is largely meaningless but is good natured and involving enough to keep the film moving along as a thriller of sorts. However it is really no more than a nail from which to hang a series of quips, one liners and wise cracks from Bob Hope. These are scripted well and the film manages to be very funny even more than half a century later. Hope is at his best here as the cowardly, self-depreciating performer who is sucked into the plot with his trademark unwillingness. His lines are still sharp and his delivery here is as good as some of his best work. Madeline Carroll was never going to be able to share the limelight with Hope given that she has to carry the plot side of the film, however she does really well and has some laughs herself. The nazis fail to make a significant mark in the film and I struggle to remember them other than stooges even a short time after watching the film. Regardless of this, the film should and will be enjoyed for it's main selling point – the wise cracking comedy of Bob Hope. This film seems to be forgotten against some of his other works but it is a fine example of the wisecracks, jokes and delivery that made Bob Hope famous years after he left show business and will keep him famous for many more years yet.

This early wartime Bob Hope comedy is one of his best, and is from a time in the comedian's career when his movies hadn't become routine, and when his was a bit less buffoonish and incompetent than in his later efforts. Aided by the lovely Madeline Carroll, Bob is up to his neck in Nazi spies in this satire of Hitchcock-type thrillers, and the "straight" scenes are menacing enough to give the story real bite. The supporting cast is lively and eclectic, and includes George Zucco and Dooley Wilson. Gale Sondergaard is on hand, and as was so often the case in the forties she seems to be doing a send-up of Judith Anderson's malevolent Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca. She does it very well, but one wonders why this beautiful woman was never cast as a female lead. My Favorite Blonde is fast-paced and has some good lines from Hope regulars Frank Butler and Don Hartman. Watching this movie always makes me wonder why Hope's later films, which also tend to be spoofs, are so sloppy, since he is so much funnier and more effective in early vehicles like this one, which are played at least half-straight, and far better for it.

Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll star in this film about going to California and dealing with German spies in the midst of World War II. The film is a comedy. Hope and Carroll do a fantastic job together. They have great chemistry. Bing Crosby makes a cameo. The film is quite a decent comedy and enjoyable. The film is a light-hearted adventure with the great Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll and a memorable cast of the old Hollywood stars.

I found this a really funny film when I was young, and then again when my daughter was young, but now I find time has taken its usual toll on once-treasured items. Maybe I saw it ten times too often. Sure, it stills makes me laugh at various scenes, Hope has a relentless supply of memorable class-A killer quips, and there's a beautiful glossy Paramount atmosphere, but the laboured contrivance around the microfilm McGuffin and the farcically flat ending now get in the way too much for me. Alluring British secret agent Carroll forcibly enrols mediocre vaudevillian Hope to help her escape from the clutches of an omnipresent Nazi gang who are after her secret warplane plans. Their slapdash flight to California is littered with witty scenes and romantic humour, but some were also flat and even embarrassing too (eg the baby psychologist scene). Favourite bits: Carroll and Hope's deliberate violent fight about her birthday and their subsequent icky sticky reconciliation in the police car; Hope's comical discomfiture at being gradually surrounded by unsmiling Nazis in the train club car; the impeccable Zucco/Sondergaarde partnership; the sight of Percy the Penguin in his monogrammed pyjamas and the gargling Hope chiding the porter for keeping the passengers awake; only study Hope's slapstick expressions upon ordering the cab driver to "follow that cab"; the entire Mulrooney sequence but especially with Toirk the Joirk; many others. The last 20 minutes or so slow it down and spoil it imho, but even so there's still plenty of smart ass one liners from Hope in there. With its flaws I certainly couldn't call it the greatest American comedy ever made like another commenter here has: it's a very pleasant time filler which I've confirmed to myself many times – and not quite even My Favorite Hope movie, but certainly in the top 10.

Pleasant comedy about a guy (Bob Hope) who has a vaudeville act with a penguin getting mixed up with a British secret agent (Madeleine Carroll). It's not the funniest comedy you ever saw but darned if it isn't one of the most likable. Hope and Carroll have nice chemistry and their banter is great. Lots of snappy lines. The villains are played by George Zucco and Gale Sondergaard. It's pretty much impossible to have a bad movie that features both Zucco and Sondergaard. Nice cameo from Bing Crosby. Very funny bit about halfway through between Edward Gargan and James Burke over who is really Mulrooney (watch and you'll see). It's a good comedy with a fun spy plot and a great cast.

Entertainer Bob Hope (Larry) gets dragged into World War 2 spy shenanigans when British agent Madeleine Carroll (Karen) attaches secret information onto his jacket via a brooch as she is being chased by a Nazi unit headed by the always excellent Gale Sondergaard (Madame Runick). Can Bob and Madeleine reach the authorities before they get caught? Well, it's a comedy, so no guesses….. Our two leads really do get involved in a lot during the course of this film - planes, trains and automobiles. The story keeps going at a fast pace and keeps the audience watching. Not sure it's a very good film, though. I thought it was OK but it may ultimately depend on what you think of Bob Hope and stories that are completely unrealistic. Carroll seems to be able to do everything including flying an aeroplane. It's a comedy so there are funny moments as would be expected by the law of averages, but there are also scenes that aren't particularly funny, eg, the whole Irish are stupid stereotype thing. The best part is the appearance of Bing Crosby.

Madeline Carroll is British spy Karen Bentley, she has in her possession British aeroplane plans that the Nazis obviously want, so she's on the run with the baddies in hot pursuit. During one escape she hides away in a theatre and comes across Larry Haines (Bob Hope) and his performing penguin Percy, she doesn't have to work hard to get Haines smitten with her and he helps her escape. This sets us up for a mad cap cross country chase movie with quips aplenty and incredulous scenes to enjoy. Hope is on prime form and the chemistry between Carroll and himself is one of the film's chief bonus points, and in view of the back story to the film it's not hard to see why the pair were a believable duo. By all accounts Hope really had the hots for Carroll and she spent the whole shoot fighting him off since she was happily involved with Sterling Hayden at the time. It's a fun film that takes a while to get going, but once it does it doesn't disappoint on the fun front, and Bing Crosby of course turns up for one of his many cameos. 7/10