Review(s): DVD My Favorite Blonde / Star Spangled Rhythm Double Feature
Inspired Coupling Makes an Entertaining Time Capsule
"Star Spangled Rhythm" is a must see for anyone who wishes to visit or revisit the 1940's at the very beginning of the Second World War. It is a variety show with enough of a plot to lend continuity and some acts that are still entertaining today. So many of the Paramount stars participate that it is hard to single out any. It is wonderful to find this coupled with a very
good comedy, "My Favorie Blond", a very funny Bob Hope spy picture that gives an insighr to some almost forgotten aspects of his skill. As a frustrated vaudeville performer whose partner is a higher salaried penguin, the laughs start early on. Madeleine Carroll plays a British agent who serendipitously seeks refuge in Hope's dressing room. Hope thinks that Miss Carroll is deranged but she is very persuasive in asking for aid. They then are on their way to their destination, Los Angeles. Their odyssey across the United States includes an amusing homage to Miss Carroll's appearance in "The 39 Steps". They are always delightfully in danger from the likes of the sinister appearing George Zucco and the glamorous but also sinister appearing Gale Sondergaard
Samuel DeLong
Bob Hope At His Best
My Favorite Blonde is not just another Bob Hope vehicle, it has substance. It's a great spy flick. I love spy movies, but when you add Bob Hope you get a lot of laughs. The Penguin scene with the monogram pajamas is classic. Bob is not crude in this movie like he is in the road pictures. He is very funny. The part when they are on the bus is very funny. If you want a good movie that is also funny, get this one. You will find out why people thought Bob Hope was funny. I still laugh at it and so do my kids. A real winner!
Two Good Paramount films of the 1940s
Both of these films represent the type of film Paramount was famous for in the 1940s: brash, energetic, we're-all-in-on-the-joke type comedies that appealed to young men and women of that era.
My favorite of the two is "Star Spangled Rhythm." Make no mistake, this is no more a Bob Hope film than it was a Bing Crosby film when it was marketed as one on VHS in the 1990s. This is more an Eddie Bracken-Betty Hutton film, but also features every star on the Paramount lot during World War Two. This is by far one of the most bizzare films anyone will ever see, with a convoluted plot featuring a Navy man who thinks his dad runs Paramount, but who, in reality, is the security guard at the front gate. So.... the first half of the film deals with trying to keep that secret from Eddie Bracken, while at the same time trying to convince the Paramount stars to perform in a show for the Navy. Along the way, there are plenty of breezy and brash musical numbers that totally epitomize the Paramount musical comedy of the war era. Then, the second half of the film is the actual show they put on, while trying to hide everyone from the "real" head of Paramount. These skits are hit and miss. Some work, others don't. But the kicker is the patriotic finale featuring Bing.
As noted before, this is the most bizarre film I've ever seen, but it's one that I really love despite, or maybe because of its unbelievably strange nature.
Related DVD's My Favorite Blonde / Star Spangled Rhythm Double Feature
Yet another fine disc in the Bob Hope Tribute Collection offers up two more classic Hope films, along with trailers, production notes, and cast and crew bios.
In "Louisiana Purchase", Bob is the unwitting vicim of corrupt Louisiana politicians who stick him with the blame when a crusading senator from Washington comes to investigate. Bob has to finagle a way to deflect the senator from his witch hunt, and enlists the aid of a Viennese beauty played by Vera Zorina. The senator is wonderfully portrayed by Victor Moore, a pious Republican who longs for the Presidency.
Interesting to note here is the opening scene, which was shot in color, but on a set designed for black and white film. The producers did this on purpose, hoping to lead up to the spectacular color sequences later on in the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Irving Cummings DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
"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
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
I borrowed this movie from the public library. It was my first encounter with Bob Hope. I never really expected him to be as funny as he was. This movie made me laugh so hard I fell out of bed. I thought this movie was hilarious. There were some scenes more funny then others but the movie has a lot of witty humor. The ghost effects in this movie are pretty good. I just thought the whole plot was pretty goofy and fun. Much of the humor is still relevant today. I plan to watch more Bob Hope movies now that I know what sort of comedian he is.
Bob Hope, known for his dedication to entertaining our soldiers from World War II through the Persian Gulf War, stars in two pre-WWII military roles in this wonderful double helping of Hope humor.
"Caught in the Draft" co-stars Hope leading lady Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, and the inimitable Clarence Kolb. A bit weak overall, the comedy is nevertheless a fun farce as a weak-kneed movie star (Hope) finds himself drafted into the Army when all he really wanted was to con his new girlfriend into marriage so he can avoid the draft. To complicate matters, his girl is the Colonel's daughter, and the Colonel finds Hope to be a poor soldier and an even worse choice for his daughter's hand!
There are at least two really fun bits; one is a wild tank ride, and the other is when Hope has to go... More Info about this DVD Director(s): David Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
Bob Hope is in top form in this Technicolor parody of pirate pictures, doing his best vaudeville shtick as an inept performer trying to save princess Virginia Mayo from the evil clutches of governor Walter Slezak and pirate Victor McLaglen. It's all ridiculous fun, of course, but if you're a fan of Hope, you never tire of his self-effacing gags and double-entendres. His out-of-place show biz jabs were always clever, and they're all the funnier in this period setting--particularly the Bing Crosby jokes. But Walter Brennan nearly steals the film as a wacky pirate scheming to steal buried treasure, and tattooing the map on Hope's chest. Yet the two best routines are when Hope tries to conceal his chest while taking a bath with Slezak, and when he tries to impersonate McLaglen as "the Hook."... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bob Hope - Virginia Mayo Director(s): Sidney Lanfield - David Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 17 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
