Overall, I thought "Paris Holiday" was a very funny movie. It was the first film I'd seen with Bob Hope, and i was very pleased. I could not stop laughing during that ridiculously cheesy helicopter scene! However, one of the main reasons I got the movie was because I thought Anita Ekberg, of whom I am a big fan, was a main character. She was one of the stars to get top billing, so naturally, I thought she would be in the film quite a bit. This was not the case. Her character is important to the story line, but she is not shown much, which was a little disappointing. Overall, the movie was very good, VERY funny, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for an Anita Ekberg movie.
Paris Holiday
Ha! People are allowed their own opinion i guess. I, personally, loved Paris Holiday. My 3rd year French class watched it today, and it was perfect. There was just enough French in it to make it extreamly interresting... Plus, the really cheezy story line and special effects really made it worth while.. It's just one of those old crummy flicks that you grow to love.. the bad guys after the good guys... the good guys winning it all in the end.... only to find out that they may not really have won.. Plus all the pretty girls. It's a great movie, if you like the type!!!! :D
Beware--another cheapjack ripoff DVD
I have been wanting to see this film for years, because I'm a fan of Hope's early films and the ones with Crosby, and this one has the reputation of being better than the losers he began to crank out in the '50s and '60s; because Gerd Oswald directed the superb (long unavailable because of the dreadful remake) A Kiss Before Dying; and because Preston Sturges appears in it as an actor. I should have known when I saw the low price tag and the unknown logo (Brentwood) that this would be a bargain basement ripoff. To begin with, it's pan and scan; just the credits are letterboxed--then you apruptly switch to seeing only a third of the Cinemascope image. The print itself in not good, a lot worse than a decent VHS tape, with drifting colors. As for the movie, I lasted midway; the jokes are definitely late Hope, smirky and obvious, and the action is slowed considerably by the fact that Hope plays opposite Fernandel, who speaks only French--you have to wait while another character translates what he says or watch him looking confused. Still, is the movie really as deadly as it seems? I'm not sure. Oswald proved in his others pictures that he knew how to fill a Cinemascope screen and it's possible that that in the correct aspect-ratio this picture as some style; the letterboxed pre-credit sequence is certainly more watchable than what follows. What's really troubling is that this same company is putting out a bunch of Hope's films, including some of his best (ie The Seven Little Foys). Are all the DVDs in the series as lousy as this? Has anyone made the mistake I made with this one, of actually buying one? Let's hear from you.
Mr. Hope stars as Freddie Hunter, a reporter who is chaperoning a troop of scouts aboard a ocean liner. The scouts see it as their duty to save Freddie from himself by making sure he doesn't smoke, drink or enjoy the hug of a woman "other than his Mom". The fact that the head boy of the troop is the son of Freddie's boss doesn't help Freddie when he decides to flirt with the Duchess Alexandria. But women are the least of Freddie's troubles. There is a killer on board. This killer decides to frame Freddie for his murderous deeds. Fortunately, there is a detective on board, hot on the trail of the true murderer, but wait, Freddie discovers the body of the murdered detective. How will Freddie prove his innocence? This is an entertaining film for the whole family. It also stars Rhonda... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bob Hope - Rhonda Fleming Director(s): Alexander Hall DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Bob Hope plays a small-time con artist with a fondness for lemon candy in this film based on a Damon Runyon story. When the Lemon Drop Kid accidentally cheats gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark) out of his track winnings, the Kid promises to repay Moose the money by Christmas. Creating a fake charity for "Apple Annie" Nellie Thursday, the Kid tricks his gang into donning Santa suits and "collecting dough for old dolls" like Nellie who have nowhere to live. Radio personality Marilyn Maxwell assists as the Kid's girlfriend, while William Frawley and Jay C. Flippen play the lovable, gruff crooks that fall for the Kid's Santa scam.
Hope is great as the fast-talking sharpster, and the comical gangsters are well worth the price of admission. Music by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bob Hope - Marilyn Maxwell Director(s): Frank Tashlin - Sidney Lanfield DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2000 Special Order
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"Monsieur Beaucaire" (1946), this is Bob Hope at a top performance for a Costume Comedy at the style of "The princess & the pirate". The action occurs in the courts of France and Spain, nations on the verge of war. Bob Hope is Monsieur Beaucaire, the King Louis XV's barber forced to impersonate a duc named Le Chandre, or lose his head. At the same time, in Madrid, the traitorus Don Francisco commander of the spanish Army, wants to prevent the upcoming marriage of Le Chandre with Maria (a Spanish princess) and plans eliminate a Bob Hope, in order to destabilize the crown, unleashing a war between the countries. At the end, we see a Bob avoid the homicidal plans with lots of comic situations and gags. Very very Funny!
"Where There's Life" (1947), a year later Bob had a royal performance,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bob Hope - Signe Hasso Director(s): Sidney Lanfield DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Jane Wyman . . . and a monkey! And Leslie Nielsen, by the way. Not to mention a stereotype of an Eastern guru, and a swipe at 1960s youth culture, including rock bands Postnasal Drip, The Frozen Fishschticks, and of course The Comfortable Chair (who sound pretty good, actually).
This isn't great movie-making, but that's why it's so great. Bob Hope gets to do his comic magic, Gleason is as Gleason as ever, and the whole story actually holds together quite nicely. But don't get me wrong: this is not Academy Award material. And thank goodness it isn't.
Maybe it was meant for the parents of 1969 while the kids were at Woodstock, but I like the pace, the perspective-- Bob and Jane, having a drink, sitting in their easy chairs (comfortable, no doubt) listening to... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Norman Panama DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2000 Usually ships within 2 to 4 weeks
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Why this film was a commercial failure and is critically loathed is beyond me. No, this is not one of Bob's best, not by any means. But Hope himself is in fine form, and while the film is uneven, there are enough good one liners and sight gags to satisfy his fans. Hope is ably supported by an ace supporting cast, including Phyllis Diller, Dick Sargent, and Jeffrey Hunter. Just sit back, relax, and laugh. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Frank Tashlin DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2000 Usually ships within 4 days
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