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My Favorite Brunette

My Favorite Brunette

List Price: $3.88
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A private eye that does not get the picture of the situation
Review: A photographer turned private eye by accident and becoming involved in a very important plot to eliminate a couple of people in order to appropriate a uranium mine. Every single detail is hilarious, upside down, wrong. This poor photographer does everything the wrong way and misses all the details or fails all the possibilities, and yet he succeeds because of his great luck. Nothing much more can be said without reducing the fun of the film. So go and rush to it. Its worth a good laugh.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour reunite in entertaining comedy
Review: Bob Hope made many movies for Paramount during the 1940's when he was at the peak of his career. "My Favorite Brunette" is one of the best and is well written with some very funny comic situations. Hope is reunited with his co-star from the "Road" series - Dorothy Lamour - and they work well together. "Brunette" has an impressive supporting cast including Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr, John Hoyt, Ann Doran, Reginald Denny, Ray Teal, Jack la Rue, and features a couple of surprise star cameos.

Hope plays baby photographer Ronnie Jackson but his heart is set on becoming a private detective ("All my life I've wanted to be a hard boiled detective like Humphrey Bogart, or Dick Powell, or even Alan Ladd!"). Dorothy Lamour is Carlotta Montay and she mistakes Hope for Sam McCloud who is a qualified private detective and has the office next door to Hope. Lamour hires Hope to look for her missing uncle who has been kidnapped but after various misadventures she realises just how inexperienced he is! After being exposed to great danger and becoming a target for the villains Hope begins to regret his deception. ("I don't know how much more of this I can take - you've had me in hot water so long I feel like a tea bag").

Some favourite lines from the film:

Bob Hope (to Peter Lorre): "Nice cheerful place - what time do they bring the mummies out?".

Bob Hope: "It always looked so easy in those Tarzan pictures!".

Hope was best known for his series of "Road" comedies with Crosby and Lamour but in "Brunette" proved he could handle a leading role on his own. Around this time he also made "My Favorite Blonde" with Madeleine Carroll and "My Favorite Spy" with Hedy Lamarr but played different characters in each film. The Bob Hope films of the forties were popular light hearted entertainment and can be viewed with increasing pleasure over and over again. Clive Roberts.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Spoof Noir
Review: I enjoyed this movie overall. Would I watch it again--not for a while. The sound quality is a bit low, it looks like it could use a bit of remastering visually as well.

As far as the actual movie goes--it takes a few moments to get into the plot as it is a framed narrative, most of it taking place in the immediate past getting the viewers up to date with the current situation (Bob Hope in San Quentin). It gets very enjoyable after that, a few confusing moments--a result of a bit of sloppy spoofing. However, mostly it is done very well, anyone familiar with the hard boiled detective genre, film or book will enjoy this for its light hearted take on it.

Lamour and Hope play perfectly off each other there is also a nice blink and you miss it cameo by their on the road co-star, Bing Crosby.

I really did enjoy this though, but not the very very very best. But quite good.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Hope
Review: I grew up familiar with Bob Hope as a movie comedian and my memory of his humor was fairly positive. I hadn't seen any of his movies for years and when I had the chance recently, I came away disappointed. I was beginning to wonder if I was a poor judge of humor in my youth but I think "My Favorite Brunette" set me straight. This is a funny movie and brings out all of Hope talents as a comedian. It helps that the movie itself is a satire on the "Film Noir" standard of the '40's and early '50's. Alan Ladd does a cameo appearance as the hard-boiled private eye that Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) aspires to become. An opportunity falls in his lap and off we go. Hope bounces from crisis to crisis alternating his expert talent at wise-cracking with his own self-deprecating humor. I thought the movie was aided by a decent cast of characters including the likes of Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. There was enough of a mystery in the plot to add to the interest level. However, this movie was a vehicle for Bob Hope and it suceeds because of how well he delivers.

I was glad to be able to "rediscover" Hope as a comedian and I thought about how I got misdirected recently. I realized that what I had been watching of late were "Road to..." movies where he teamed up with Bing Crosby. I realized that, despite the popularity of this team, those movies stifled Hope's talents. I remembered some of his movies that I liked so well from my youth and I realized that none of them included Crosby. It's just a theory but I enjoyed the way that Hope plays his style of humor off everyone and I think it suffered when he had to focus that style primarily on one ploy (Crosby). Maybe I'm not giving enough credit to the writers but watch "My Favorite Brunette" and then watch any of the "Road" movies and see if you don't detect a noticable decline in the quality of Hope's screen persona. I'm fired up to check out some more movies with Hope doing his solo act.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OUTSTANDING BOB FILM!!!
Review: I just don't understand the reviews of some people. They spend their entire review talking about the quality of the DVD and never even discussing the movie. Don't they know that their review of movie will be seen whether or not you look up the DVD or VHS movie? Sure...One DVD version may be of poor quality but what about the other DVD versions...the VHS versions? Let me know about the film, people!

San Francisco baby photographer Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) has unfulfilled ambitions to be a private detective like his neighbour in the next office Sam McCloud. When Sam goes out of town Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour) comes in seeking help and mistakes Hope for the detective who thinks this could be the big chance to prove himself but as usual in a Hope film he runs into more trouble than he can handle. Lamour persuades Hope to look for her uncle who has been kidnapped by the villains and a double put in his place. The plot thickens as he accompanies Lamour into many ludicrous situations, unforeseen danger and one hilarious episode after another.

Bob Hope is very funny in this enjoyable light comedy. The plot is deliberately crazy and implausible, but creative, and it sets up some funny situations. The rest of the cast is good too, and it all works very well as light entertainment.

The film was directed by Elliot Nugent who had directed some of Bob's best films of the 30's and 40's. But the thing that really raises the bar and fun factor in this film is the villians played by Horror heavies Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney jr!

Great Film!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great Movie, Terrible DVD...
Review: If you're a Bob Hope fan, this movie rates at least 4 stars. Bob Hope was on the top of his game in the 1940's, and this is one of his best. Unfortunately, the movie is practically unwatchable due to one of the worst transfers to disc that you will ever find. The sound and picture quality are bad beyond my ability to describe. Maybe someday they'll get this one right, but stay away from this edition.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic Bob Hope comedy
Review: In this crackpot comedy from 1947, Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who dreams of becoming a detective. When an exotic brunette by the name of Carlotta Montay (Dorothy Lamour) mistakes him for a detective, he decides to throw caution to the wind and handle her case himself. A detective only needs smarts, courage, and a gun, and he has a gun; he has even invented a camera that takes pictures through keyholes. Carlotta says her husband is missing, although she later changes her story to say it is her uncle. When Jackson comes out to the house, he meets the missing uncle and starts to believe Carlotta is rowing upstream without a paddle, but Ronnie Jackson (Bob Hope) is not one to leave a gorgeous brunette in distress. To him, being a detective basically involves making time with beautiful female clients. Soon, as there really are all sorts of thug-induced shenanigans going on, Jackson is in over his head, eventually finding himself framed for a murder he didn't commit.

My Favorite Brunette features vintage Bob Hope comedy. He has one-liners for even the darkest of occasions; he even complains jokingly about his last meal when he is locked up in the hoosegow awaiting execution. Dorothy Lamour's character remains serious and reserved throughout, but this doesn't slow Bob Hope down, as he quite easily carries the movie's load of comedy single-handedly. As always with Hope, the comedy comes out in so many ways, particularly in the facial expressions; I don't think the man could ever have been not funny if he tried. The ending of this movie screams deus ex machina, but it really doesn't matter. My Favorite Brunette features an hour and a half of Bob Hope comedy in its most concentrated and effective form, guaranteeing a ton of laughs for anyone with a funny bone in his/her body. There's even a very special dessert at the end of this comedic buffet, as Bing Crosby puts in a quick but noteworthy appearance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour at their Greatest
Review: My Favorite Brunette is a hilarious spoof of the spydrama.... Bob Hope plays a baby photographer who has a friend who is aprivate eye. One day, when the detective is on a trip, Bob is snoopingaround his office, and Dorothy Lamour comes in to hire adetective. Bob doesn't tell Dorothy that it isn't his office andbefore you know it, he's on the job.

Before long, Peter Lorre andLon Chaney Jr. are trying to kill Bob Hope.

This movie starts andends with two very funny surprise cameos and is one of the funniestfilms Hope and Lamour ever made together.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Classic Bob Hope comedy undone by poor DVD tech
Review: This is one of the all time great Bob Hope films. But this DVD
is barf technology. A dupe of a dupe, muddy contrast, fuzzy sound. Too bad. Beware.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Above Average Bob Hope Movie - LOUSY DVD!
Review: This review refers to the Alpha (Gotham Distribution, as listed on Amazon) version of this movie on DVD. The print used for this DVD is absolutely horrible. The opening credits are barely readable, and the movie itself looks murky and has tons of scratches and dust. It's a shame that Alpha couldn't find a better print, but from some of the reviews I've read it seems that some other companies have had the same problem. It would be better not to release it at all than to use such a bad print. This is a really fun movie, and it deserves a lot better than this. Wait for a cleaner copy to surface - one will eventually.


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