My Favorite Blonde / Star Spangled Rhythm Double Feature

Rating:
Summary: Breakthrough Hope Classics...
Review: Bob Hope had for some time said on his radio show that Madeleine Carroll was his "favorite blonde". The actress called to thank him, and a movie pairing soon followed. A parody of spy films (most notably "The 39 Steps"), the film delivers the laughs as British agent Carroll evades the Nazi bad guys with unwilling help from a penguin-toting vadevillian performer played by Hope.

Gale Sondergaard plays the spy chief with a prerequisite dose of iciness. Sadly, she isn't featured as much as one could wish, but her henchmen fit the bill as the heavies.

"Star Spangled Rhythm" is a welcome, but odd inclusion on the disc. The story is a classic screwball comedy mixed with a dose of "Stage Door Canteen". Unfortunately, the numbers in the big show not only defy logic (the size and scope of the production is rediculously larger than believability can allow), but on top of that, they are mostly dull, overlong, and uninspiring.

The majority of the big names touted in the credits are more or less confined to appearing in the big morale show, save for two nice turns by Cecil B. DeMille and Preston Sturges. Bing Crosby is limited to what amounts to an extended cameo, while Bob Hope fares little better. Only two numbers really stand out from the show. One is a nice number with Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, and Veronica Lake in "A Sweater, A Sarong, and a Peek-a-boo Bang". The title refers to the famous trademarks of each star (Goddard's sexy sweaters, Lamour's island-movie sarongs, and Lake's vision-obscuring hairdoo). The other number is the balletic winter dance sequence in which a GI dreams about his girl back home.

"If Men Played Cards As Women Do" is a Vadevillian piece that was first performed back in 1929, and unfortunately, shows its dated quality. By today's standards, the characters come off as simply "femme" given the subtlety of the act. The point of the skit is similar to that commercial where burly men say things like, "Do these jeans make me look fat?" Of course Ray Milland and Fred MacMurry, et al, are lots of fun, but the skit just doesn't hold up.

Back on the Paramount lot, however, there's a fun number about defense workers called "Swing Shift". And then there's an interesting scene where Betty Hutton tries to gain access to the Paramount lot by literally going over the wall, with next to no help whatsoever from a pair of helpful passerbys.

While Bob does emcee the big event, and helps Betty with some of her scheming, he isn't really the star here. As such, the film, while nice to have, is kind of out of place in the Bob Hope Tribute Collection.

Either way, it's a good disc for Bob fans. Production notes and trailers are included for each picture.

Rating:
Summary: Two Good Paramount films of the 1940s
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Bob Hope At His Best
Review: 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!